Relaxing in Rome

After putting our bags away at our new B&B we went to find a nice spot for lunch before our 2:30 Vatican tour. Again, we went to a place recommended to us by Rick Steves, and again we were impressed. It was a 9 euro lunch buffet that had everything from pizza, pasta, lasagna (veggie!), cheeses, meats and more. TONS of veggie options. We had that along with some wine, and again we were happy campers.

After a leisurely lunch, we walked a short distance to where our Vatican tour started. It was a 3 hour tour, and it was great!  We saw so much it's hard to keep it all straight. Aside from the Sistine Chapel, the thing I am most impressed with is the method of frescoing. I always just thought fresco was a style of art, not a method. But it is when you take plaster and color it while it is still wet. This means no layering of colors to shade or anything. Every color you see on a fresco was mixed beforehand and applied directly to the plaster. And since plaster dries so quickly you can only do small sections at a time. That's what makes the Sistine Chapel even more impressive!

It started raining a little when we were done with our tour, so we went to an Internet cafe to kill some time. I got to see a few wedding pictures!  So exciting!  I think they turned out great!

For dinner I really wanted to find some good gnocchi. We haven't had any yet and I wanted to try the fresh local pasta. We stumbled upon a little family owned restaurant that was fantastic!  The couple sitting next to us were at a table for four and it was completely covered with food!  Tons of salads and veggies and fresh cheeses and foccacia bread. They turned to us and asked us if this was a typical Italian meal. Ha!  Not like we've seen.

Apparently their hotel recommended this place and told them to tell the owner he sent them. After that, the waiters just brought them food without them ordering anything. They had so much food they literally couldn't eat it all. So we helped them with their mozzarella :)  Turns out they were also on our ship. Small world. Either way, my gnocchi was among the best pasta I've ever had!  I'm so happy we found that place.

Eating our Way Through Naples

Today was our last port--Naples. We booked an all day tour before we came on the cruise. The morning would be spent in Sorrento and the afternoon in Pompeii. I'm so happy we booked this trip!

We started out very early (7:30) and got on our bus heading toward Sorrento.  Before we got to downtown, we stopped at a farm. This family operated farm produces olive oil and wine. They also grow tomatoes, lettuce, zucchini, lemons, hazelnuts, and they have pigs, cows, horses, ducks, quails, goats, peacocks, cats, and dogs. It is a beautiful farm!

When we got there, our host--one of the daughters-in-law of the owner--gave us a demonstration of how olive oil is pressed. She had a huge machine behind her and walked us through the steps. Then she showed us how they make soft cheese like mozzarella. She showed us what happens 30 minutes after milk and rennet are combined (the milk starts to curdle). Then she put the curdled milk in boiling water and pulled it out of the water, put it in cold water and then formed a little ball. And there you go. You have mozzarella!

We got a great plate full of bruscetta, cheeses, and roasted veggies. All drizzled with olive oil. We asked for vegetarian, but everyone else had home-cured meats. It was such a great experience.

After looking around the farm and sampling their limencello, we got back on the bus and went to downtown Sorrento. Even though we had just eaten all of those antipasti, we knew we had to have a pizza from the Napoli region. We made our way to a pizzeria that was recommended to us by the guidebook. I'm so glad we did! This was true pizza. Crispy flat bread, gorgeous bubbling cheese...what more could you ask for?  We had a carafe of wine to make the meal complete and just enjoyed life.

After that we headed toward Pompeii. I've been looking forward to Pompeii since my last trip to Europe. We were supposed to make it down here, but then Leah, unfortunately, sprained her ankle pretty badly. It all worked out in the end as we spent the remainder of our vacation in Greece instead. Anyway, the point is that I was really excited about Pompeii. I am happy to report that it did not disappoint me. I loved every second of it!  Our tour guide was pretty good. He showed us many of the sights and told us what the significance was and who lived there, etc. But really, most of the spectacular sights spoke for themselves. The plaster cast bodies showed the fear and surprise of the citizens of this ancient city. The brothels, in particular, were amazing to see because of how well preserved it was. The one we saw (only one of about 20) still had the pictures above each room describing what would take place behind closed doors. It was like a menu for all the foreigners who didn't speak Italian. It was awesome!

The rest of the city was great too. It just really gives you an insight as to what living in Pompeii in 79 AD must have been like. After Pompeii we did a quick stop at a cameo shop where we learned how they're made and saw a master at work. I didn't know they were made out of shells. They were so beautiful, but way out of my price range--damn euro!

Venice On Our Own

Day 2 of Venice. We basically did everything we wanted to do yesterday, so today was more relaxed. We started at a glass-blowing demonstration off the square. I've seen it before, but it is just so impressive how someone can take that hot lump of glass and make it into beautiful designs. We didn't see anything we wanted to buy, so we moved on.

We wanted to do a tour of the grand canal, which started near the Jewish ghetto. It took us nearly 1 1/2 hours to get there by foot. We saw a lot of parts of Venice that most tourists never see. Nothing too interesting though. Mainly just houses and stuff. The canal tour was on our iPods and used Venice's public water taxi as a guide. We got on line #1 and Rick Steves narrated about each stop. It was pretty cool.

After the canal tour we meandered back toward St. Mark's Square, stopping to get a gigantic scoop of gelato.

We came back to the ship, took our regular afternoon nap, worked out and then got ready for Shabbat services. The cruise ship provided a room, wine, candles (electric), prayer books, and challah. There were about ten of us gathered in the little conference room. This was my first time as a married woman at a Shabbat service. I decided that when I got married I would cover my hair in any religious setting. So I spent about 20 minutes in the room trying to figure out exactly how to do that. Eventually I was able to tie my scarf around my head. It actually looked OK. I'm excited to keep that tradition up. The service itself was very truncated, but it was nice. I said a few words about how the community in Split inspired me. I think people appreciated it. After services Dan and I went upstairs to take pictures. We ended up playing a round of mini-golf. It was actually really fun. Dan beat me by one stroke.

Tomorrow we're in Dubrovnik!

Canoli and Volcano in Sicily

Today we landed in Messina, Sicily. We were scheduled for a tour of Taromina and Mt. Etna.  Taromina is around 30 minutes from Messina. It is such a cute little town! We saw the ancient Gecko-Roman amphitheater, which is still in use today. We sampled the Sicilian specialty of almond nougat, and we just wandered the streets. Of course we had to have a gelato (almond and melon flavors today) and a fresh canoli, another Sicilian specialty.

Taromina is also famous for their marzipan fruit. I wanted to buy some for mom and dad, but it was ridiculously overpriced. After an hour of free time in the city, we got back on the bus and drove to Mt. Etna. It is an active volcano that last erupted in the early 2000s. We started with a traditional Sicilian meal at a restaurant halfway up the mountain, which was included in our tour. Luckily they were accommodating for vegetarians. The unnamed bottle of wine on the table was delicious; the pasta was just OK. We've had better on our trip.

Next we got to explore the volcanic craters where the lava flowed. It was so cool! I've never seen a volcano up close. It looked like a foreign planet.

Then the day turned sour. We had such a beautiful day and then our money belt was stolen :( At the port in Messina we were told to take it off to put it though the metal detector. Dan was wearing one for the two of us and didn't want to put it down. He wasn't given a choice. There was a long line and a lot of chaos. Suddenly the belt was gone. I ran to the boat to ask the people in line before and after us if they accidentally grabbed it. Nope. Boat security wouldn't/couldn't help us either. We tried to file a police report, but the station that was two blocks away was closed. Since we were on the all day tour our boat was literally ready to pull away. There was nothing we could do.

Thankfully, it was only money. Our passports were safe and sound on the ship, as was my ATM card and some American cash. We lost our only credit card, Dan's ATM card and some Euros. We've put a hold on the cards and we'll just use my ATM from now on. Thank goodness our cards weren't together. Oh well. We're not going to let a little thing like this spoil our honeymoon.

Florence by way of Pisa

We had to get up really early today to catch our tour bus. The group met at 7:30 and was off by 8:00. It was raining today too, which was unpleasant, but at least it wasn't as bad as yesterday.

Our first stop was Pisa. We got out and did all of the obligatory Pisa tourist pictures. I think that even though they're overdone, the pics of Dan and I holding up the tower are really cute.

After around 45 minutes in Pisa (which was plenty of time), we set off for a 2 hour drive to Florence. I was sleeping most of the time, but when I was awake the scenery outside was beautiful! It was exactly what you think Tuscany should look like--rolling hills and green vineyards, little sheds painted in bright colors--gorgeous!

We got to Florence just in time to make our 12:15 reservation at the Ufitzi. Again, we did a Rick Steves mp3 audio tour and it was great. Rick pointed out details I never would have noticed. He compared paintings to show how the renaissance changed art. It was really informative.

Although I love the Birth of Venus, I have to say that another artist's Venus was my favorite. It is of a Venus that is quite seductive, giving a look to the viewer that is unmistakable. She just looks so real. I also loved the Adam and Eve paintings. There were two sets side by side. I liked the ones that were a bit more scandalous. The smoldering look between Adam and Eve says it all. Maybe I just like these paintings because I'm on my honeymoon :) Who knows.

Anyway, after a great tour of the Ufitzi, we walked to the Ponte Vechio. I love the feel of this city. Walking down the streets you can really imagine yourself living here in the middle-ages.

We were starving, but short on time so we grabbed a foccacia flat bread and ate on the run. Seriously this was one of the best meals we've had so far! Mine had cheese, artichoke hearts, olives and mushrooms on it. Fantastic! Then, of course, we followed it with a gelato. I had whipped cream flavor with pistachio flavor! Great combination!

We were trying to find a nice leather jacket for me, but it just didn't work out. The nice jackets were around 700 euro ($1,050)!! There were some for a more reasonable $250, but the quality was noticeably less. I tried on a bunch, but no luck. Oh well.

Florence Is Still Beautiful in the Rain

We got up around 8:30 to make our way to Florence. We had to take a shuttle from the port into the center of Livorno. From there, we took a bus to the train station and then a 1 1/2 hour train to Florence. Unfortunately, we missed our first train by a couple of minutes, so we had to wait another hour. We finally got to Florence at 12:45.

Once in Florence we headed straight to the Bargello, a museum that our guidebook said was an "underrated treasure." I can't really say I agree. I mean, it was nice, but for 7 euro, and compared to the Uffitzi and Academia that we saw later, it wasn't worth it.

Next we went to lunch at a cute little Italian restaurant recommended to us by our guidebook. The menu was not in English, and all of the patrons were Italian.  Good signs. We had delicious ravioli and a tomato soup that is very traditional. Abigail has made this soup for us before. I think she leaned it from her house-mom when she studied abroad in Florence. It was fantastic!

Of course, our meal wouldn't be complete without gelato, so we stopped and got some. Again, delicious. While eating our gelato, we explored the Duomo. I love it! I think it is just absolutely stunning. The fact that the church was built with a hole on the top just waiting for the day when technology would allow for dome-shaped roofs, is mind-blowing.

We reserved our tickets for the Academia in advance, so we made our way there next. Even though I've seen it before, the David is so awe-inspiring! I didn't want to hype him up too much for Dan, but no worries. Dan was just as impressed as I was. How could you not be? We did a Rick Steves audio mp3 tour that we brought from home. It was very helpful and informative.

We didn't have much time left in the day before we needed to head back to the ship. So we raced to go see the synagogue. On our way to the synagogue, we saw a kosher deli! We just had to stop and get some deli meat for a make-shift Shabbat dinner. Since it was our first Shabbat as a married couple, I wanted to do something Jewish to help set the tone for the rest of the marriage. This would work. We got turkey, pastrami, salami and even goose! I'd never had it before so I was really excited about that one.

By this time, it was POURING rain! We had an umbrella, but the rain just laughed in our faces and came down horizontally. We made the decision to just head to the train station and go back to the ship. By the time we got there, we were completely drenched. But, we ate our meat and enjoyed the ride back.

Unfortunately, we heard that there was a going to be a train strike starting tonight at 9:00 p.m. and ending tomorrow at 9:00 p.m. This meant that we wouldn't be able to get into Florence tomorrow. So Dan had a great idea of just booking an excursion through the ship. We rushed to get to the desk before they closed at 9:00 and found one tour that was a combination of Pisa and Florence on Your Own. It would only provide transportation back and forth and was about 10 times the price of what it would have cost us on our own, but at least we'd be able to get to Florence.

We almost missed dinner by the time we sorted everything out. Luckily it all worked out and we're off to Pisa and Florence tomorrow.

First Port-of-Call Portofino

This morning we went on our first port-of-call--Portofino. We heard there really wasn't too much to do in Portofino so we decided to walk along the coast to Santa Margarita. It was about an hour walk, but it was so nice. The coast is absolutely beautiful! Portofino and its suburbs are known for their pastel-colored buildings with 3-D paintings on the facade. It really looks like all of the buildings have balconies and elegant window treatments, but it is all fake. It looks amazing though!

We stopped on our way in Paraggi beach, which is supposedly a very exclusive beach. Our guidebook said that just for the privilege of sitting on the beach, hotels can charge you 50 euro! We stood on the tiny patch of public sand for a minute and then went on our way.

Once in Santa Margarita, our first stop, of course, was gelato. Not as good as in Rome, but still delicious.  then we had a coastal specialty--Napolitana (anchovy) pizza. Gross! Dan loved it though.

We had fun just wandering around looking at all of the butchers and specialty food stores. I've never seen so much parma ham in one place! Poor Dan was salivating at the thought. 

Back on the ship jet lag finally caught up with us and we took and extended nap by the pool. It was lovely. Tomorrow we're in Florence!