AS WE START HOME

May 22.

The predicted rain arrived, but between showers, Gary managed to make a couple of purchases and we all got to use the umbrellas we lugged all this way. Our final day in Sorrento was a quiet, down day. Needed to rest and pack for our next-day trips.

May 23.

   We all took the Circumsuviana (subway) train from Sorrento to Naples. Then we took the Trenitalia line to Rome. Bob & Stew got off in Rome and Gary stayed on the train to Chiusi.

   Gary will meet up with Alberto, an old friend, and spend a week in Sienna before heading back to Tucson. We head home to Tucson on Thursday morning. Arrived at our B&B in time for a late lunch and gelato and a stroll around the neighborhood between the Termini and the Colosseum. We'd never explored this area of Rome, but discovered we hadn't missed much. Tomorrow calls for an early departure for the airport and a long flight home. Taxi picks us up at 7 (the B&B doesn't even start breakfast until 8!).

More when we get home.

ON THE ISLE OF CAPRI

May 21. Capri.

Capri

   Despite predictions of rain which never came, we went to Capri and headed straight for Villa San Michele. Well, not exactly straight, since the road winds back and forth going up and up and up. The whole island is only 5 miles long, 1½ wide and over 2 miles high at its top—in other words, a tall, rocky place with amazing views of the Bay of Naples and the Amalfi Coast.

   The villa was built over many years in the last part of the 19^th and first part of the 20^th centuries by Axel Munthe, an eccentric but brilliant Swedish doctor. He practiced medicine in Rome and Naples treating rich and poor alike without charge. He was fascinated by antiquities and nature, both of which are highlighted in the villa he designed and apparently built much of himself. The terrace is particularly striking and rivals the one in Ravello that Stew had wanted to revisit. Munthe, who died well into his 90s, left the house and grounds to Sweden to administer for cultural and scientific purposes.

   The villa is just outside the town of Anacapri, a comparatively laid-back part of the island. After lunch, we took a bus down from there to the hyper-fashionable town of Capri, where top line shops overcharge for everything. For a while, we were lost in the maze of boutiques on narrow streets, but eventually, not one penny the poorer, we found our way back to the grubby little port for our jet boat back to Sorrento.

View of the Port of Capri from San Michele

The Study at San Michele

The Bedroom at San Michele

PS: I (Stew) meant to mention that in the Correale Museum, I saw something I'd never come across before: a 16^th or 17^th century clock you could see at night. Some Pope—an Alexander, I think—wanted to know what time it was at night, so he had a clock made that showed the hours by number (like a digital clock) lit from behind by a candle! Neat!

PPS:  for Jean...On Capri...just outside San Michele...is the place that is credited with inventing Limoncello! Stopped in and watched the 'laboritorio' but did not sample the product. It was way too early in the day for me. Stew said it was really different. And good! But at our restaurant, they give us limoncello every night after dinner. The first shot is gratis...then it is 2 euro each! So civilized.

MAY 19TH & 20TH IN SORRENTO

REMEMBER, YOU CAN CLICK ON AN IMAGE TO SEE A LARGER VERSION

May 19.

   A down-day. Gary did some laundry, we did some errands, took naps and didn't do much else. Town jammed with tourists...on weekends tourists from other parts of the coast come to Sorrento and add to the horde of multi-national tourists already buzzing about. Like us!

   After breakfast, headed in town to gather information about our planned trip to Capri tomorrow. We will need to walk to town, take a bus down to the port and then ride a ferry out to Capri. Since we want a somewhat early start, we wanted to know where to go to catch the port bus. Took some asking around, but got the information.

Da Filippo

   Stopped for a light lunch and—yet another—gelato. Bob's fatigue syndrome is acting up so sleeping was in order before heading out to dinner.

"Our Waiter"...Salvatore

   Our first night here we went to Da Filippo for dinner and really enjoyed the food and the atmosphere. Tried a different place in town on the second night and found it lacking...and more expensive. Last night, we went back to Da Filippo with two other guests from the B&B. Da Filippo is our nearest restaurant, and since we are on a hill, walking back and forth is a consideration...and a climb. Tonight, with it being a Saturday, we are heading back there a little earlier to avoid the crowds. Like many restaurants in Italy, they don't open until 7 and serve until midnight. (Much too late for us old folks!)

May 20. 

Correale Museo

   We'd planned to go to Capri and visit the Villa San Michele, but when Stew checked its web site, he found that it said it was closed on Sunday. So, instead of an early start, we hung around the hotel until after nine, when Raffaele, our host, called them. Oh no. We're open. No problem. But by then, it was getting too late, and we'd heard horror stories about the hoards of tourists there, especially on weekends, so, we postponed the trip. Instead, we visited the Correale Museum, a four story villa donated to the City in 1924 by a couple of wealthy brothers. It houses mostly art and artifacts from the local area including 19^th and early 20^th century painting, exquisite inlaid furniture, ceramics, etc. No photos allowed. However, the views of the Bay of Naples from the upper floors are stunning, although today the far shores were shrouded in mist as the sky clouded over.
   Here are some views of Sorrento looking back from a hotel balcony:

Frank, Colleen, Gary, Bob & Stew

   Had dinner again with our Canadian 

friends from the B&B...Colleen and Frank...at Da Filippo. Got there early expecting a big bruhaha because tonight was the final for the Italian Soccer Cup...Naples versus Juventus. Naples just won in a 2 – 0 victory. Fireworks have been going off outside our room. Can't blame them. 

   Think this is the first time Naples has won the Cup!

   By the way...interesting sign in our bathroom. I direct your attention to Rule Number 2...especially those of us from Arizona!

May 17. Sorrento

Our Room - No English Speaking TV

   Just walked around town today, but since Bob forgot his camera, there's no visual record of the trip. Sunny, but on the chilly side in the wind off Naples Bay. Town pleasant, but lots of tourists.

   Our B&B rates highly on TripAdvisor, but it is difficult to match the reviews with our reality. Things have been far less than impressive. “Adequate” is the term that comes to mind.

View from our balcony

Bay of Naples from our balcony

May 18 Day Trip to Amalfi.

Cemetery on the hill - Amalfi

   Took the bus to Amalfi. It was crowded, but we had seats from which we could enjoy the views and hold our breath as we looked at the thousand foot drops to the sea. Since we were running late, we decided to skip Ravello. Stew was disappointed, since he remembered it so fondly, but we later heard that people who did go up there could not catch a bus back down to Amalfi, since there was a three or four hour bus strike in the afternoon.

Approach to Sorrento from the sea

   

In place of the crowded bus back to Sorrento, we took a half-empty ferry, which made the trip in half an hour less time. Italy...what can we say? The crowds of tourists did lessen the pleasure of the trip, but the place is still as beautiful as we remembered it being when we were here in November twelve years ago.

Finally, Sorrento and ONLINE!

May 13 Barcelona

    Having been here for almost a week only a year ago, and it being a Sunday so the shops were closed, we did not do much except stroll up the Rambla to the hotel where the Kesslers had stayed and back down parallel streets to the ship—about three hours.

    As before, we were awed by the beauty of the city—its amazing buildings and broad boulevards—but having documented all this so fully last time, Bob did not take a single photo. Something for which he duly apologizes. (But if you look at earlier entries on the blog, the photos from a year ago may still be there!)

May 14. Villefranche

Villefranche from the ship

    This little village on the French Riviera is only 3 miles east of Nice, where we visited the Chagall Museum. I (Stew) was not impressed. By the time we were through, it was getting cold and we were hungry, so we skipped the Matisse Museum (next time--next spring!) and headed back to the ship. 

   We stopped on the way to the train station to have a small sandwich from a sidewalk vendor. All three of us chose a Croc Messieur. A big mistake. Though the sandwich was tasty, the vendor could only heat one-at-a-time...and even then the insides were still icy! Gary had to have his heated 3 separate times before the vendor got the message. Sometimes the simplest things go wrong the most!

May 15. Livorno

   We decided to take it somewhat easy and not try to go to Lucca or Pisa. Instead, we wandered around Livorno...which we found was more of a small city than the sleepy seaport we expected. It was a good half hour's walk from the shuttle bus depot to the Museo Civico Giovanni Fattori in the Villa Mimbelli and not too easy to find, but worth the effort. Built in the late 19^th century, it has two floors of heavily decorated rooms where the Mimbelli family lived and entertained. On these and a third floor are paintings by a local, late 19^th and early 20^th century artist (Fattori) and some of his contemporaries. They evolve from realistic scenes to more impressionist ones.

After, we wandered around an open air market, had a light lunch and a gelato, and made it back to the ship in plenty of time to pack for the next day's early departure for Sorrento. Weather was sunny and beautiful. We really lucked out here.

May 16. Sorrento

    It was a  very hard day. We started from the ship at 7:30 am and took a train to Naples and then a local from there to Sorrento. The latter was like a NYC subway at rush hour! There was literally no room for another person in the area near the doors. I (Stew) ended up standing the entire way (just over an hour) guarding the luggage. Arriving about 3:00 pm, the total travel time ship to B&B over seven hours. 

   The B&B is just outside of town up a steep hill, and quite basic. Dinner, though, was at a local Italian place ("Da Filippo" recommended by by the B&B owner) with incredible food and wine. We treated ourselves, having earned it. Food prices are very much higher than in the US!

Note:  We are back online regularly with the B&B having Wi-Fi service. Starting tomorrow we should update the blog regularly and actually get to answer emails! What a novel idea!

PALMA DE MALLORCA

   Finally found the Cybercafe in Mallorca. It was very difficult.

   After eight days at sea, it was good to see land, even though they lowered the gangplank directly under our window way before wake-up time.

Tenerife - from the ship

   Tenerife, the largest of the seven Canary Islands and part of Spain, lies about 180 miles off the coast of Morocco. It has Mt. Teide, Spain's highest mountain and the world's third largest volcano, but we just wandered around Santa Cruz, the largest city on any of the islands. The total population of the islands is around 900,000, but they entertain around 5 million tourists a year, most from Europe.

   We did visit the city's major art museum, which boasts one poor painting by Breughel and not much else, and a couple of parks in need of cleaning up. A stop at a hotel with a slow but free internet connection allowed Bob to post some of this blog, but not all of its photos. We had no time to read our email. Later he found out that Microsoft was trying—at the same time and in the background—to download 21 “important” updates—this after he'd loaded lots more “important” updates just before we left home. Since then, he has turned off the automatic update option! Better luck two days from now in Mallorca.

Our Stateroom #3542

   Just a note on our accommodations. We have a tiny stateroom with a large window; Gary, who booked later, has, by comparison, a gigantic stateroom for a disabled person. He's far from disabled but enjoys all the extra space.

MALLORCA:

Beautiful day. Took the ship's shuttle into downtown and toured the Cathedral and then the Royal Palace. After that, we walked up to the 'Gaudi' buildings and through the shopping area. A slow walk down Paseo de Born (very much like Barcelona's Las Ramblas) we then took the shuttle back to the ship for lunch at 1 pm.

NOTE: We will most likely not be online until we are in Sorrento on May 17^th. Carrying the computer all around is really a drag...

TENERIFE!

May 1 – 8 AT SEA.

The Royal Caribbean's Mariner of the Seas was seven days in dry dock before we boarded, and much has yet to be finished. One night as we were having a soft-serve ice cream on Deck 11, we were suddenly surrounded by security guards with yellow, crime-scene tape. We looked guiltily at our cones, but they only escorted us away so that the crew could put a coat of varnish on the floor. Around 40% of the crew is new and 100% of the computer system, so there are lots of problems. But generally, we like the ship and the service.

What do you say about eight days at sea on a cruise ship? A typical day starts with breakfast at 8am in the Windjammer (ship's buffet deck). Multiple food stations and plenty of seating. Then we exercise. Gary goes to “Shipshape Spa” (the exercise facility), Stew does his 4 miles on the Promenade Deck and Bob often splits his time between the exercise room and the jogging track. After a shower, it's time for lunch. This ship changes the clock at 11:30am...so we go to lunch at 11:30 and suddenly it is 12:30!

Lunch is usually in the main dining room. They have the most fantastic salad bar there...several kinds of lettuce, shrimp, chicken, tuna, egg, corn, etc., etc., etc. And great Honey Mustard dressing.

Come to the gym!

Afternoons are time for reading and naps. Bob has been having one of his 'fatigue' bouts so sleeping has been a high priority for him. Gary has worked diligently to finish reading Debt of Honor by John Clancy. And he did it! He has now moved on to the Donna Leon series with Commisario Guido Brunnetti. Stew finished Stephen King's The Green Mile, which Bob is now reading, and he's now onto reading Gary' book. The ship's selection consists of only a few dozen titles. Literally. And half of those are in another language. Pathetic.

Tomorrow is Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, our first port. Hope to update the blog from there. Meanwhile, Stew likes to record candid comments from fellow passengers

*************

“You come prepared,” said Gary to our waitress after she spilled some water on the table and immediately produced a towel to mop it up.

“I'm a professional,” she replied.

~

“They don't have whales,” said a lady with a heavy Brooklyn accent, as she gazed in disgust at the empty sea. “They don't even have dolphins.”

~

“How was your dinner last night?”

“Don't remember.”

~

Young man to his father: “This ship is filled with the living dead.”

~

MESSAGES FROM GARY:

Jen:.................................food excellent – try Vidalia Onion Tart!

D&K:..............................eating too much and getting lots of R&R

Ron, Diane & Mike:......This is one 'Big Boat!'

Chuck & Katie:..............Working out every day

After Tenerife, we have two days at sea before we arrive in Palma de Mallorca. Then it's a new port everyday. Hope to be online more often!

MARINER OF THE SEAS

     Woke to mix of sun and clouds. Went down the street to Einstein's for bagels and coffee and then stopped at Walgreen's. Just hung out at the hotel until time to taxi to the ship.

     We won't be posting until we find a hotspot. The ship's internet service is just too expensive ($.55-.75 per minute!). Tenerife in the Canary Islands is our first stop on May 9tha. Maybe we can get online there.

     Until then...smooth sailing!