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Viva Italia – Day 5 Continued – Sorrento

By sunshineandholly on January 17, 2012

10/25/2011

Y’all…Sorrento is probably one of the most beautiful places we’ve ever been! The view from our hotel room is breathtaking. Getting to the hotel, however, was a little difficult. The local train that I was worried about really wasn’t that big of a deal. Pretty similar to Marta. However, it was PACKED. We were barely able to get our bag onto the train and had to stand for most of the trip. It was a long ride – over an hour. Josh and I weren’t able to stand together either, which made it a little scary.

This one older man got my attention, pointed at his eyes, and then at me – telling me to watch my purse for pick pockets. There was also a woman, well – girl really, on the train begging while holding a baby. Josh told me that he read that pick-pockets in Italy will carry around a baby doll and pretend it’s real. Then, they’ll pretend to trip and throw the doll at you and pick your pocket or steal your purse while you’re freaking out about them dropping the baby. But this was a real baby. And the girl didn’t drop him or throw him. Thank goodness!

When we arrived in Sorrento, we had no idea where our hotel was or how far it was from the metro stop. Luckily, there was an info desk. I went up to it and did my usual, “English?” to see if the girl working there spoke English. Turns out she’s from Florida! I asked her how far the hotel was – it was far. BUT – there was a shuttle and it was arriving in 10 minutes. How perfect! Josh and I have this international traveling thing DOWN!

We got to the hotel (beautiful, beautiful, beautiful hotel and views!!) checked in, took some pics and then took the shuttle back to town to get some lunch. We had a hard time finding a place that was serving food (since it was like, 3pm by this time) but we found a little mom-and-pop place and had some awesome pizza!

Hotel in Sorrento – not really much to look at…but the door behind the curtains – that led to a balcony with the most amazing views ever!!

The floor in the hotel room.

The bathroom…with the bidet!

The VIEW!! And thanks again to my boss at work for letting us borrow the company camera for Italy so we could get these awesome pics!

The hotel

Olive tree at the hotel.

A sign in the elevator. We decided it said you couldn’t wear pants in the restaurant. Lol!

After lunch, we strolled around Sorrento. Right in the middle of the city, in an area that wasn’t touristy at all, we saw these two murals and a sign that said “Free Entry” in English. We couldn’t figure out what it was, but we decided to venture in. It was a lemon grove!! Right in the middle of the city!! It was soooo pretty and so quiet.

We walked around for a while, hand in hand, just taking in the sights and enjoying the smell of the lemons. We were the only people there – it was very romantic. At the end of the grove was a little stand with a woman selling limoncello made from the lemons from that grove. We got to try a sample – mmmmmmmmm!! And of course we bought a couple of bottles! The grove was such an awesome unplanned surprise. One of my fav memories from our trip.

After walking around for a while, we caught the shuttle back up to the hotel and took a much needed nap. When we woke up, we didn’t feel like taking the shuttle again, so we decided to eat dinner at the hotel…bad idea. It was the worst meal yet. It was 25 euros per person too. Our 1st course was pasta – which was pretty good. Then Josh had seafood (fish with too many bones) and I had lamb – which was SO tough and overcooked. And they only gave me a butter knife to eat it with! So that was disappointing…

Chug!

Just kidding – see, it’s not even opened!

One of my most fav pics from the entire trip!!!

Shrimp heads…gross…

Cute gatto at the hotel.

Tomorrow is our full-day Amalfi Drive Tour! So excited!

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fun | Italy | Travel | Uncategorized | vacation

Viva Italia – Day 5 – Sorrento

By sunshineandholly on January 16, 2012

10/25/2011

Arrivederci Rome!

That morning we slept in, packed up our bags, took a cold shower (hope our next hotel has better hot water and water pressure) and walked about a mile with all of our luggage to the train station. One of our bags was HUGE so I was dreading this part, but it wasn’t too bad. However, today it was hot hot HOT in Rome. Thank goodness I wore a short sleeve shirt – I was so sweaty when we got to the train station. Ew. The station was kind of confusing, but we finally figured out where to go. We were on platform 9 and ¾. 😉 Just kidding. We were on platform 10. The first class cars are nice – way better than the plane. I’m soooo nervous about the small local train we have to take from Naples to Sorrento. I’ve read reviews about how yucky and scary it is and about pick pockets. Hopefully it won’t be any worse than the subway in Rome. (We though we saw a pick pocket in the subway there, but it was just some guy’s friend messing with him!)

One quick story I forgot to write about before –
On our tour of the Colosseum, an older lady thought the tour guide said the ancient Romans played football there. She asked if they played it on the sand. The tour guide has said the shape of the Colosseum is like a modern day football stadium. They didn’t play football back then. Bless her heart! Lol!

And one thing I’ve learned –
Girls: always make friends with the women in line with you for the bathroom. When you get up to the front of the line and there’s no toilet paper, they’ll be nice and let you borrow a tissue they brought with them. Already happened to me twice! Now I’ve learned to carry my own tissues. And don’t forget your euros – it almost always cost money to use the bathrooms.

I’m on a train!

Obligatory stoic picture looking out the window. Too bad we hadn’t left the station yet!

Writing on the train.
(I love that cute, old Italian guy sitting behind me in this pic.)

I’m so clever…

Shakespeare couldn’t have put it better himself!

I’m a word-play genius!

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Josh said, “Holly, you’re so beautiful!”

So then I did this!

And I guess I should include one pic of my cute hubby. 🙂

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Viva Italia – Day 4 – Rome

By sunshineandholly on December 28, 2011

Today was great! Early morning tour of the Vatican (thank goodness for Skip-the-Line tours – a MUST here) and the Sistine Chapel (beautiful!).

The God of Wine 🙂

A random toe.

At the Vatican, I took a picture with Diana, the goddess of fertility. I posted the pic on Facebook, tagging my mom and my mother-in-law saying, “I took this picture for you two!” Lol!

The Sistine Chapel really was amazing. My neck hurt after we were done from staring at the ceiling! You couldn’t talk or take pics in the chapel – they even had 2 guards in there that kept chanting, “Noooo phoootooos” and then they’d say, “Shhhhh!” It was pretty funny.

Even though you weren’t supposed to talk in the chapel, our guide was able to point out a few things right before we left. There were 2 places on the ceiling where Michelangelo painted his likeness/face into the mural. One was in the picture of the last judgement – St. Bartholomew was holding his skin (in the bible he was skinned alive) and Michelangelo painted his face on the skin. Creepy! The other spot was in the back on a picture of a guy laying headless on a bed and two women carrying his head in a basket – that head had the face of Michelangelo.
And the BEST part of the Sistine Chapel – the DRAAAAMAAAA that happened! Again, picture us in the chapel – this beautiful, sacred place where people we just staring in awe at the beautiful murals. We were PACKED in like sardines in there – it was crazy crowded. And hard to move around. One of the older, American ladies that was with our tour, apparently got bumped by an Asian woman from another tour. Well the American lady turned around and PUSHED – like SHOVED the Asian lady, almost knocking her over!!! I still can’t believe that happened! I mean, who does that? The Asian lady just stared the American lady down. (Good for her! I might have started a fight if it had been me!) THEN the American lady turned to her husband and started complaining about the “stupid Japanese tourists.” Geez. No wonder everyone hates Americans!!

We couldn’t go to St. Peter’s because the Pope was having mass. Seriously – someone should have told him Holly and Josh were coming so he could have rescheduled!

On the way back from the tour, we got off the bus right at the Trevi Fountain and toured around a bit more on our own. We walked around the outside of the Colosseum again too. Our feet were killing us, so we took a break on some steps overlooking the Colosseum. It was fun sitting there and people watching! Josh and Holly, just sittin’ and relaxin’ in Italy. Normal day, right? Ha!

The place we choose for lunch that day was alright…def not the best meal we had. I had gnocchi with 4 cheese sauce and Josh had spaghetti with seafood. I had caffe after the meal, which was the best part – mmmm!

Just sitting outside a ristorante in Rome, watching people walk by on the street, drinking caffe, with the Italian Flag in the background. You know, a normal day. 🙂

This pic cracks me up! Josh took a bunch of these pics of me looking sideways – we were just trying to take an artistic picture. The lady behind me must have wondered what I kept looking at – so she looked over too!

For dinner, we tried to go somewhere new, but after sitting at a table for 20 minutes we figured maybe the waiter didn’t want to serve us because we were American? We left and went to the same restaurant we went to the first night – yum! At the restaurant, the waiter (which was the same guy we had the 1st time) told us we ordered wine the wrong way (the American way). He said Americans order wine before they order the food. The Italian way is to order food and then pair the wine with what you’ve ordered to eat. We figured he was just trying to talk us into buying a more expensive wine. But he was really nice and fun to talk to, so we let him suggest something. I can’t remember what it was, but it was delish! I had steak with rosemary oil and Josh had some type of pasta…can’t remember more than that.

We had a great time in Rome, despite our dinner adventures on our last night. Off to Sorrento tomorrow!

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Italy | Travel | Uncategorized | vacation

Viva Italia! – Day 3 – Rome

By sunshineandholly on November 22, 2011

10/23/2011

1st full day in Rome! WOW!

We started out with a little breakfast, which was served in our room at the romantic bed and breakfast!

We thought we were going to miss our tour since we didn’t realize the meeting point wasn’t walking distance from the bed and breakfast. Oops! But we made it to the Metro and all the way to the Coliseum in a 1/2 hour and got there right on time!

The tour was so awesome! The Coliseum was just…wow. Just SO cool! HUGE and so old. It was was amazing to think of all the gladiators that fought there. After the Coliseum, we went to the Forum – also crazy to think about how old the monuments there are. We saw Cesar’s remains and the Temple of Vestas. The history was so interesting! We also saw lots of Triumph Arches. After an emperor won a battle, they would have a parade and build a huge arch to pass under in remembrance. Then every emperor after that would have to pass under the last guy’s arch and remember the battles that were won before him.

Gladiators!

Professional tug-of-war players.

Caesar’s remains.

After that, we walked to the Trevi Fountain. On the way, we saw Mussolini’s balcony and Emanuel’s Plaza (our guide said that Italians call it the wedding cake because it looks like a huge white wedding cake). I threw a coin backwards into the Trevi Fountain – that means that I’ll come back to Rome one day!

Next, we saw the Pantheon – it’s weird to think of how when it rains, it rains right into the Pantheon!

Lunch that day:

Josh – Fungi ravioli
Holly – Fettuccine with salmon and shrimp
We also split an antipasto platter which was super yummy. It had mozzarella cheese (that almost squirted all over me when I tried to cut it) 3 types of meat, artichokes, sun dried tomatoes, olives and some tiny peppers. Mmm!! And we had our first gelato!!!!! I had caffè and Josh had limoncello.

Half of the antipasto platter

Yum!

After our tour, we walked around a bit more and then went back to rest a while at the hotel.

For dinner, we went to a little pizza place that had a brick oven. The guys making the pizza seriously twirled the dough up in the air. So much fun! We split a pizza with 4 flavors – (1) margarita pizza with rocket (tomato sauce, mozzarella, basil and arugula), (2) something that started with a D (onions, smoked mozzarella and peppers), (3) gorgonzola, (4) fungi (mushrooms). We also had another tasty bottle of red wine and more tiramisu.

Awesome day in Rome!!

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Italy | Travel | Uncategorized | vacation

Viva Italia! – Day 2 – Rome

By sunshineandholly on November 17, 2011

10/22/2011

Ok – getting here SUCKED! But we’re here in Rome now and I’ve had a nap and a shower…so I feel a tad more human. The flight was SO long and I couldn’t sleep at all…

Woke up at 7:30am yesterday morning.
At work by 8:30am, worked until noon.
Drove home, finished packing, drove to the airport.
Flight left at 4:45pm ET.
We arrived in Italy at 8:35am (which was 2:35am ET).
3 hour van ride to the bed and breakfast – arriving around noon (6am ET).
Our room wasn’t ready, so we walked around Rome for 2.5 hours (8:30 am ET).

So I was up 25 hours with no sleep. I’m surprised I didn’t die!

When we arrived at the bed and breakfast, the van driver (who was probably in a bad mood from the stupid American girls who were riding with us that were being very rude) dropped us off in front of this old building and sped away. Luckily, Josh saw a tiny sign with the name of our bed and breakfast on it. So we walked into the building, dragging our luggage behind us. We needed to get to the 4th floor, and the building had the crazy old elevator that looked like it was built in 1910. Josh was brave and made us get in. I was super scared!

But we made it…and then our room wasn’t ready. *sigh* By this time, we were so ready to crash. We left our luggage there and walked around Rome for a few hours. I swear – we probably looked like zombies. We had our first meal in Italy – some pizza (mozzarella, tomatoes and evoo – mmmm!) and looked around in some shops.

First meal in Italy!!

When we were finally able to check in to our room, we took a nice 3 hour nap.

The bed and breakfast room is so pretty, and it has a lovely balcony!

The view from the balcony!

Off to dinner!(Later that night)

Dinner. Was. Amazing!!!

We went to this little place recommended by the front desk clerk of our bed and breakfast. Josh had pasta a la carbonara. I had fettuccine bolognese. Both were so good!!! We split a bottle of the most tasty red wine ever and had some awesome tiramisu for dessert. Yum-o!

Super excited for tomorrow! We’re touring the Coliseum and the Forum, and seeing the Trevi Fountain!

Buona notte!

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