Assisi

Today we visited Assisi, home of Saint Francis and Saint Clare. Assisi is a stunning hillside town that can be seen from miles away. It's exciting to approach on the drive up the mountain with the huge Church of San Francis dominating the landscape. Assisi is another medieval village, complete with castle and watchtowers. It has three sets of city gates as the town expanded over the years. In both our homebase of Todi and in Assisi, it's difficult to process how old the buildings really are. I'm simply unable to explain what it's like to know that you're touching and walking on surfaces from the middle ages.

The town of Assisi was busy but not overly crowded. The Church of Saint Clare is on one end of town and the Church of Saint Francis is all the way on the far end of town. We visited both and visited the remains of the saints entombed in their resprective churches.

We saw many priests, nuns, and pilgrims. We ate and drank sparingly, so no food photos for today. Maybe tomorrow we'll be able to report on a sumptuous dinner.

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Orvieto & Todi

Yesterday we left Rome and drove north to Umbria, a beautiful region called the "green heart of Italy." We stopped in the town of Orvieto, a medieval village built high on a hill. This was the site of a eucharistic miracle in 1289, and the pope had a beautiful cathedral built there to commemorate the event.

While in Orvieto we visited a culinary institute and had a cooking demonstration by Chef Carlo.

He showed us how to make fresh pasta (one kilo flour, 11 eggs, two tablespoons oil, and four pinches salt), and we learned about the different sizes from tagliatore to lasagne. The pasta was so thin and delicate it seemed like a crepe. As we watched the demonstration, we ate antipasto and drank the local white wine, which is similar to sauvignon blanc -- and let's just say the wine flowed freely. I can't believe we forgot to take photos of the food, because dinner was an exquisite feast beginning with the pasta the chef made during the demonstration. We then had bruschetta with truffle mousse -- mama mia! -- lasagne with a light pesto cream sauce followed by a main course of guinea hen. Dessert was some kind of fluffy cream with caramel drizzle -- all accompanied, of course, by all the wine we could drink.

After trundling off to the bus and managing to navigate the cobblestones, hills, and the funicular, we headed to Todi, another medieval hill town. This morning (Wednesday), we went on a tour of the village and saw the main church, the underground cisterns, and the museum. Todi was an affluent place to live back in the olden days where the inhabitants were actually Roman citizens, and it still seems like a well kept, prosperous town.

We are spending a quiet day here in Todi to rest and relax after the hectic pace of Rome. The view from the town is spectacular. We had a leisurely lunch at a restaurant with a panoramic view and a liter of local red wine. (Who knew that a liter is so much bigger than an American wine bottle?) Tomorrow we will head to Assisi.

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The Vatican

Today we toured the Vatican, including the Vatican Museum, the Sistine Chapel, and Saint Peter's Basilica.

Our tour guide was truly exceptional. She covered in depth the history of the popes, Michaelangelo's involvement, Greek art, and the baroque design of Saint Peter's. The Vatican was very, very crowded. Apparently more than 30,000 people a day visit there. The Sistine Chapel was shoulder to shoulder. It's kind of a shame that it's not possible to enjoy a spiritual experience in the presence of all that beauty. But, enough about that!

Catherine and I have adopted Taverna Flavia as our favorite neighborhood restaurant. Catherine loves the food, and Tricia loves the scenery.

In the evening, we took a bus tour to see Rome lit up at night. This tour was quite an experience with three tour guides speaking four different languages, including English, French, Japanese, and Russian. It drove us all around the city and we got to see the major landmarks awash with light. The Colosseum and Saint Peter's are especially impressive at night. The final stop was at Piazza Navona. Our tour guild said it's the most beautiful piazza in Rome, and we believe her! The fountains at night were spectacular, and the piazza is filled with artisans and street performers.

Tomorrow, we're leaving Rome and heading to the town of Todi in the region of Umbria. We don't quite know what to expect!

Via Veneto

We had a very full day touring the Colosseum and the Roman forum. Our tour guide was thorough and knowledgeable, and we came away fulfilled with history and a bit exhausted. But, enough about that.

We visited a pizzaria near our hotel for lunch and ran into our airplane friends. After some delicious pizza (ham, mozzerella, artichokes, and olives), a bottle of Chianti, and some great conversation, our waiter brought us a complimentary limoncello liqueur. It was then we discovered the secret of limoncello -- it was mixed with milk, somewhat like Kalhua and cream or a white Russian. Catherine described it best as tasting like lemon meringue pie. Our waiter overheard us and seemed delighted by our laughter and festivities, so he brought us another. What a wonderful, typical casual meal, al fresco, in Italy!

After that, we were a bit sleepy and retired to our hotel for a short siesta. We decided to walk along the Via Venetto, the place in Rome for meeting handsome men and to have dinner at Harry's Bar, which seems to be an iconic location that has been frequented by many celebrities.

By popular demand, we will now photograph our food. I had a fabulous pasta with lobster, and Catherine had cheese stuffed veal, accompanied, of course, by a bottle of Chianti. We are definitely embracing the local culture and enjoying every minute of it.

Tomorrow, the Vatican. Who knows -- maybe we'll get to see Il Papa. (Catherine is wearing a skirt, just in case.)

Today, Roma!

We left the beautiful Amalfi coast this morning to head for Rome. Along the way, we stopped at Montecassino Abbey, home of Saint Benedict. It has been destroyed and rebuilt four times with the last destruction taking place during World War II. If I understood correctly, it was the Americans who bombed the abbey, thinking that Germans were hiding there. There are a few original areas left, but almost everything has been reproduced. Something original is a rock with an indentation just the right size for an elbow. Traditional holds that one time when Saint Benedict fell, God softened the rock and his right elbow sunk into it in order to protect the arm and hand that he wrote with. We all had the opportunity to rest our arm in that very same place.

Both Saint Benedict and his twin sister, Saint Scholastica, are entombed there. It is high on a hill with an awesome view of the the surrounding countryside. We spent about an hour there and got to see the room where Saint Benedict lived, which is now a chapel, as well as the main church, which holds the remains of the saints.

After our visit to Montecassino and a stop for lunch, we headed into Rome. Our tour director took us on about a two-hour walk to orient us to the city. We visited the Spanish Steps and had our first gelato. It was very crowded at the Spanish Steps with a "flash mob" dancing in unison at the base of the steps. That was quite an experience. We then walked to the Trevi fountain, and here is Catherine enjoying the experience after tossing in a coin and making the wish to return to Rome.

We had dinner on our own tonight in Rome, and it's a little bit intimidating to find a place to eat among all the possibilities. We are very proud of ourselves that we found a great "taverna" where we had a wonderful meal in pleasant surroundings. We shared the "special" salad of greens, mozzarella, shrimp, and cherry tomatoes. I usually don't like tomatoes, but the Italian ones are an exception. Bellisimo! I also had spaghetti carbonara that was to die for, and Catherine had mixed grill -- a combination plate of beef, veal, pork, and chicken that was also delicioso. We meant to take a photo of our food, but we forget :(

That's all to report today -- it doesn't sound like much, but we did a lot of walking and are looking forward to resting our feet. We're both holding up really well with no blisters or any other maladies to report. We will tour the Coloseum and the forum tomorrow, and then on Monday, we'll visit the Vatican. We're hoping to visit the catacombs, but that's not on our tour, so we'll have to see if we can arrange it on our own.

Pompeii, Sorrento, & Amalfi Coast

Today started with a tour of Pompeii, which was a stop on Catherine's bucket list, and it did not disappoint. Catherine was amazed at the size of Pompeii. It's not just a few dilapidated rocks -- it's a full city! We had a great local guide, and our tour director continues to be wonderful, too.

After we finished the tour, Catherine and I needed to exchange dollars for Euros, and our Pompeii guide walked us to the post office, exchanged a few words, in Italian of course, with the guy at the window, and voila -- we had our Euros at the great exchange rate of $1.27 = 1 Euro -- 22 cents better than the airport rate. We had fabulous Margharete pizza for lunch. The Campania region of Italy, where we are right now, is famous for buffalo mozzarella, which is actually made from buffalo milk. Apparently there are herds of buffalo in Italy.

We then went to the beautiful coastal town of Sorrento and had some time on our own. We bought a bottle of local wine to take back to the hotel, which I'm drinking right now while I'm blogging.

Then the fun really started as we headed down the Amalfi Coast. What a wild ride! Disneyland doesn't have anything on the Amalfi Coast, and our bus driver, Jean Lucca, was masterful. I wish I could share a video because it has to be experienced to believe it. At times, we were millimeters away from the retaining wall and the oncoming traffic. It was also unbelievably beautiful -- similar to the Big Sur area of California but much more built up with tile-roofed buildings hanging off the cliffsides. The town in the photo is Positano.

It turns out that Catherine and I were not the last to arrive on our tour. We got to the hotel at 6:30 PM yesterday, and Bill and Noreen, who we met on the original aircraft, arrived around midnight. We were very happy to see them this morning, and we are now bonded as the result of our shared experience, which is now just a distant memory.

Everything is going well, and the tour with Odyssey is exceeding our expectations. Tomorrow we're off to Rome with stop at Montecassino, home of the Benedictine order. 'Til then -- ciao!

Yay! We're in Italy!

We're so excited to be here and are very grateful that all our "alternative" plans went smoothly. As I noted briefly, our original flight got canceled, but there is so much more to the story. We were in the air when the pilot announced there was a problem with the landing gear and that we were returning to San Francisco. Upon arrival, he then proclaimed our flight to be canceled. This was a huge 747 airplane, and United now had all those passengers who needed to be rebooked. They set up a few special agents to help with rebookings, but essentially we were on our own to find a new way to Naples. Our first attempt was fruitless. After spending 3 hours on the phone with Punjeep in India, we found out we'd been booked on standby for an Air Canada flight leaving that evening -- and, we didn't make it onto that plane. So, we were back to square one. The line for booking agents was still long, but by some miracle, we encountered an agent named Suzanne, who wasn't even on duty at the rebooking counter. She ended up being our angel and seems like the only United Airlines employee who actually knows what she's doing. She was able to book us through to Chicago, to Munich, to Naples, with us arriving a little more than a day late.

By the time we got rebooked, it was after midnight, and we received a voucher for a nearby hotel. When we got there, however, there were no rooms available, so our shuttle driver took us back to the airport. Thankfully, another United employee was on the ball. He let us wait on the shuttle so we didn't have to schlep our luggage yet again, and made arrangements for a hotel in San Jose, almost an hour from the airport. We got there around 2:30 AM and were able to get a few hours sleep. After that, our luck changed, and everything went off without a hitch. We found that our standards for satisfaction changed drastically. No longer did we care about middle seats or room in the overhead bins. Just getting to our next destination became paramount. Oh, and I had my first encounter with an Italian male and boy was that disappointing. He was quite handsome, I must say, but also surly and a seat hog. But, again, it didn't faze me. I was just happy to be headed in the right direction.

We were met at the Naples airport by a respresentative from our tour company, and he drove us directly to our hotel on the Amalfi Coast, giving us a nice guided tour along the way. We arrived just in time to meet up with our tour group for dinner at the hotel. Our hotel is a knockout. It's right on the cliffside with all rooms overlooking the coastline.

Dinner was superb, with fried mozzerella and scorpion fish pasta to start and a savory roasted chicken with sausage and a potato/eggplant medly -- simple but delicious fare. We had a local red wine that reminded me a bit of a California cab/syrah blend -- dry and fruity with just a bit of tannin. The wine was Montesole Campania Aglianico -- not something I've ever seen at Trader Joe's, but something I might look for at Total Wines.

Our tour guide is very nice. She was waiting to greet us with a special welcome and a bottle of Limoncello. Tomorrow is Pompeii, and all is well with Tricia and Catherine.

Airline woes

We are still in San Francisco. After taking off, we had to return to the airport because of a mechanical problem. More about that later. Right now we just hope the shuttle shows up to take us back to the airport from our hotel in San Jose.

About Our Trip

Catherine and I have been planning this trip for over two years, and on May 22, 2012, it is finally going to happen! We are doing a tour called "Portrait of Italy" through Odysseys Unlimited, a tour company that specializes in small groups. We'll be covering a lot of territory from Pompeii and the Amalfi Coast in Southern Italy to Venice in the north; our route is shown on the little map to the right. Last summer, Catherine did a tour of the Greek Isles with Odysseys and was well satisfied with the service, itineraries, and accommodations, so that's why we booked with this company.

We will be traveling in a group of 24 with people from all over the country. Catherine and I seem to be the only "singles" (even though Catherine is married), but we'll probably be inundated by other women who want to hang out with us when they get tired of their husbands (tee hee). Both Catherine and I have a "thing" for Italian men. Poor Catherine -- she has to be good, but I don't!