The tour of the colosseum was unbelievable. How in the world did the ancients build something of such mass and detail without any of today's modern technology? The guides tour was just ok, I don't think we felt it was worth the money after all was said and done although some of the facts were interesting. The Romans were such barbarians but I guess we'd do the same with out iPods, TV and blogs, right? From the colosseum we decided to head back and prepare to go to dinner. I yelped a place that was amazing - Mama Angela's Trattoria. Steve and I decided to do dinner "Italiano style" and enjoyed some prosciutto with melon and some bruschetta and prosecco to start. For our first course we had saltimbocca which is veal with prosciutto and a white wine sauce. It was delicious as though Steve said it reminded him of McDonald's breakfast sausage - whiiiiich I guess is a good thing for him since he enjoys that so much. We had some penne arbiatta which was fantastic - some of the best pasta I think we had ever had. Since all that was delicious and we were finishing up a bottle of wine we decided to go big or go home and get another pasta dish - carbonara which was incredible. The sauce was so tasteful and creamy - the pasta perfectly al dente. We finished up with some limoncello as a "digestive" although as Americans we took it like a shot instead of sipping it - whoops! We slept like babies which was good size we had only gotten a few hours of sleep the night before and were up early the next morning to head to Florence!
Florence was so beautiful- such a change from Rome with its quaint cobblestone streets everywhere and the river running through. We waited a few hours to see the David mostly to check it off our list. We had our first taste of Italian gelato - oh. My. God. Steve got mint chocolate and I got half chocolate half hazelnut and I think after tasting mine- Steve wished he had been a bit more adventurous. We walked the streets of Florence to see several of the plazas - signorino, and several others and saw such amazing beauty. We also visited one of the churches which was absolutely incredible. The area scenery just doesn't compare - each house and shop seems to have its own different taste. We walked through one of the plazas filled with Italian leather, handbags and trinkets. It was so tempting to get a handbag but it was hard to tell which ones were real Italian leather and which were going to be a rip off and disappoint - I passed and hoped I wouldn't later regret the decision NOT to get one. We had lunch of fresh pizza and sat on the steps to people watch. The pizza was amazing - I've never met a pizza I didn't like but this was exceptionally delicious. We decided to head to Michelangelo piazza were there were supposed to be beautiful sites of the city. It was quite a trek and in the heat even more so. We stopped for some wine - I had a primitivo, a surprisingly delicious red wine and Steve had a white of sorts. We continued our trip to Michelangelo piazza and were not disappointed by the views. There's a David replica up there and panoramic views of the entire city. After waking around and visiting the church up there, we took a break and had a drink and split a spicy salami and mozzarella panini. After a long day - we decided to head to the last suggested site we wasted to see, the market - but failed and decided to eat instead. We went to zazas as recommended by the mrs Jackie schwarz and had a caprese salad, gnocchi with Gorgonzola and rigatoni with pomodoro. Amazing - the gnocchi was a loath smushy for my liking but the Gorgonzola sauce really hit the spot. Exhausted - and 12 hours later, we make the trek back to Rome where we'd prepare to make the longer trek to Naples, Pompei and the amalfi coast.
We had an early start but made it quickly to Naples - thank goodness because from there, we took a train similar to the cta to Pompei were we walked around the acres upon acres of ancient ruins. It was so incredible to see just how vast the town was and how advanced their thought processes and abilities were. Although it was super hot, the homes were cool as a cucumber. They had theaters, schools, bath houses, laundromats - it seemed like they had a lot of what we find in modern day and this was all B.C.! We stopped for some Napoleon pizza right by the train station (do you see a pattern with my food choices so far in Italy?). I had one with "sausage" which was more like thin slices of what tastes kind of like Italian sausage but more deli meat style. Steve stayed basic with a margarita pizza which he devoured and then finished off mine. We hopped back on Italy's cta (circumvesuviana) and went on our wh to sorrento. Sorrento was so picturesque. A seemingly small town which so much character. We checked into our hotel and quickly left so we could spend a few hours on the island of capri - said to be one of the most beautiful islands around. We took a hydrofoil which got us to the island in under 30 minutes and were able to take a million (ok not literally) gorgeous pictures. Of all the wonderful places I e traveled so far I have never in my life seen water quite as blue as this. It looked straight out of magic waters where blue dye is thrown in to create the illusion of water. We docked and right away hopped on a speed boat tour to get us to the blue grotto - one of the sites the island is known for. We actually got out there to see a tiny little cave opening with rowboats of people going in - if you aren't sitting down, or have your hands out of the boat, you will get rocked by...well the rocks. Imagine how small an opening that is. Rowboats people, normal sizes rowboats with the passengers sitting on the floor because if they were on the seats, they'd be squished. We rowed our way in there just barely hitting the cave walls to glowing bright blue water - kind of like what one would see in a lava lamp. The rower started to sing in Italian and his voice was so beautiful and it echoes throughout the small cave. We were in and out in five minutes but the view was worth it without a doubt. When we got back to town we took a gander at the beach - it was so bizarre. There was no sand at all, only large white pebbles and people were just sleeping on it like it was a sealy posturepedic. The rocks hurt - I can guarantee you that. We went into the little shops around town and had a creme limoncello sorbet which was a party on the palette. We walked back towards our hotel which included 158 stairs up from the port - exhaustion. We decided that since we've been non stop since we left Chicago that we'd take advantage of some great air conditioning and nothing else to do and grab food to eat in our hotel. We stumbled upon a place called Tony and Rosie's where we ordered food and while we waited for it to cook, has some fresh arrancini (Italian rice balls with tomato and cheese) and these sandwiches for which the bread was like breaded mashed potatoes and then it had salami and cheese in the middle. I'm still trying to figure out what that was other than absolutely delicious. Steve had - surprise, margarita pizza and I had a caprese Stromboli which I enjoyed quite a bit. We cashed in early and didn't even notice we fell asleep.
Today was to be the relaxation day we were looking forward to - we were having a tour up the amalfi coast. For the first time in days we weren't going to be walking several miles. Instead - we had a Mercedes's van, driver and someone else's itinerary for us - heck yeah! We started with breakfast which was typical Italian and a nice surprise from the hotel. We drove up the coast and had our first stop in positano where I had a pair of custom, Italian sandals made. I picked out a style, picked out the colors and has them made to fit my Fred flinstone feet perfectly. They were a bit expensive but worth it for the quality, their uniqueness and the fact that I experienced a show lovers dream - seeing someone make a pair of shoes that were special JUST to you and knowing no one else will have a pair quite like them. Positano was stunning - the views from the coast, the beach, the streets - all equally amazing. The town itself has such a small entrance that cars aren't even allowed into the town. I can't imagine what it's like to love there and have to take the steep, cobblestone steps to and from ones house day after day. We headed back up the coast towards amalfi - busy little tourist town with black sand beaches, abeautiful church and plenty of sun and limoncello. We got some lemon sorbet here with fresh strawberries - now that's Italian ice! We chose to mostly relax here and enjoy the weather and opportunity TO relax. Back in the car we went - we leaned so many near things along the way. Alllll the way on the top of the coast is a cross - our guide explained that in ancient times when people fell ill with the plague, they would send them up there to quarantine them and to die. The cross symbolized a huge tomb but also that religion oversaw the town. The amalfi coast itself became popular in the 50's when Sophia Lauren filmed movies there and it's beauty started to gain traction. There is an island that looks like a woman laying down and this is known as the island of sirens. It was said that one of the ancient rulers would bring women there to fall in love or put trances on men. Through one of the roads we saw a full model of the village created into the mountainside. There was a nativity scene in there as well which is lit up during christmastime. Finally we headed to Ravello - a super small but very beautiful town along the amalfi coast. Here we had lunch at Cumpa cusino - a rustic Italian trattoria where family recipes prepared the most amazing homemade ravioli, penne and tiramisu I have ever had. We cook and owner served us at a tucked away table that made me and Steve feel like celebrities. I'm sure my big Sunday and red dress and steves charmingly good looks made then wonder if we were important. When we got back to sorrento 9 hours later we sampled limoncello - bought some and started on our journey back to Naples and then to Rome. The circumvesuviana was quite an experience this time around. Granted the first time a rowdy group of twenty something men played soccer, cheered and did pull ups in the entry way - but this definitely topped our first experience. We got on in sorrento and avoided a car full of teenagers as we had read plenty about the stereotypical pickpocketers. Shortly after we got on - a loud, overweight man and 6 kids got on the train - all in nothing but bathing suits. What first caught my attention was the very over sized five - seven year old girl in nothing but jean shorts and a pacifier carrying on and throwing a temper tantrum. In case you missed the first part - super chubby, probably closer to seven, boobs bigger than mine, shirtless, pacifier sucking, temper tantrum throwing girl. She carries on and on, the dad got angrier and angrier, his butt crack was hanging out, his other kids were eating coconut in water straight or of beach buckets - what the heck was going on? The next thing we know the dad is making friends with a guy who must have been selling handmade items earlier in the day - and then, as the guy sits down, he starts stealing from him! Placing the necklaces on his temper tantrum throwing, pacifier sucking daughter and stuffing his pockets. Then all his kids were running around, taking the necklaces from him, stuffig their pockets so he could steal more and running about. On top of all that chaos - a young couple was hardcore making out and staring at me as Steve as they did it. Haha what in the world was going on?!? Where were we? On high alert that's for sure. Any move those kids made had me and Steve in attack mode- watching every zipper on each of our bags. See, in Chicago, if someone wants something they just shoot the person and take it, here, they're much craftier and would be long gone before we knew we had been robbed. Wow - what an experience. Needless to say, the amalfi coast makes it to the top of my list of places to revisit and spend more time - Naples, not a chance.
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