Wordless Wednesday

Honeymoon Day 5: Relaxing in Sorrento

After three full days of sightseeing in Rome and a day of travel we were ready for a break in Sorrento.  We had almost four days on the Amalfi Coast and I had big plans for three of them.  We quickly decided that Friday would be our "off" day.  We also decided it would be a laundry day.  But first we decided to explore our hotel grounds after a breakfast overlooking the Bay of Naples.

Part of our view during breakfast

Outside the hotel

Tribute to the gods on the front lawn

Hotel garden

Enjoying our terrace before heading out for the day

We were staying at Parco dei Principi which is approximately a mile from the town center and a little further then that to the port and train station.  We discovered quickly that the hotel shuttle only ran a few times in the morning and again in the evening and that a cab cost close to 16 Euros even though it was only a mile!  As nice as the hotel was, if when we go back to Sorrento I think we would choose to stay closer to town.  Walking is of course an option but we found after a full day of sightseeing (or when carrying bags of laundry), walking another mile was generally the last thing we wanted to do.

After walking the grounds we decided to gather our laundry and head to town on one of the morning shuttle runs.  We had purposefully only packed clothes for a week with the plan to do laundry about mid-way through the trip.  We found a place to do laundry and chatted with an older American couple who were traveling for three weeks through the country while we waited for our machines.

Happy to have clean clothes!

 While the clothes were cycling through we explored Sorrento.  Sorrento has an adorable town center and side streets full of ceramic shops and little markets with delicious looking produce.  We decided for lunch we would buy some of the unbelievably cheap tomatoes and cheese and make salads on our terrace back at the hotel.

Sorrento town center

I wonder if Disney knows they have a store in Sorrento..

Hill above the town

After our laundry was finally done, we grabbed a cab to take our clean clothes, food and some wine back to the hotel.  It was a nice afternoon so the husband put together some salads and we enjoyed lunch on the terrace.  It was the most relaxing thing we had done since the trip started.

Fresh salads with Mt. Vesuvius in the background

We spent most of the afternoon enjoying the terrace before heading out to dinner in the town square.  The restaurant we went to seemed really nice and we did enjoy parts of the meal, like the seafood.  But the pasta we had was the most disappointing of the trip.

Seafood appetizer

Gnoochi that tasted like it came from a can

After dinner we wandered through the streets and explored some of the little shops before taking a cab home for the night.

Raggedy Robins

Growing up my mom made these every once in awhile, they've always been one of my brother's favorites.  She taught me at a young age how to make them myself since I've always loved to bake.  The name I've heard the most is Chocolate Oatmeal No Bake Cookies, we just always called them Raggedy Robins.  I hadn't made them in years but the other night the husband told me he had a craving for chocolate and peanut butter.  Instead of heading out in the bitter cold we have been experiencing in DC, I told him I had the ingredients to make him something at home.

For Raggedy Robins you need

2 cups sugar

4 tbsp cocoa

1 stick of butter

1/2 cup milk

1 cup peanut butter

2 tsp vanilla 

3 1/2 cups oats

In a medium size saucepan bring sugar, cocoa, butter and milk to a boil for about a minute.  I always add the butter first and let it melt a little to coat the pan.

Rolling boil

 Mix in oats, vanilla and peanut butter. 

Ready to be put on wax paper

Make sure you have the wax paper ready because the contents of the pan will start hardening right away.  Use a tablespoon to drop cookies on the wax paper.  They're not the prettiest looking cookies but they are delicious!  Plus they take less then 10 minutes to make.  The hardest part if waiting for them to cool!  I made a half recipe since it was just the two of us and it turned out to be exactly what the husband needed to satisfy his craving.

Honeymoon Day 4: Rome to Sorrento

Our last morning in Rome we decided to visit the daily market at Campo di Fiori.  We didn't buy anything but we enjoyed walking around and checking out the vendors.  We got lunch in the square which as I mentioned before has a lot of restaurants catering to Americans.  After three days of delicious pasta, we both were craving salad which is not a common item on an Italian menu.  The restaurant we choose though had exactly what we wanted.

Pasta

Beautiful flowers even in November

Balancing out all that pasta

After lunch we had some time to kill and the weather was beautiful so we walked along the Tiber River before catching a cab to head back to the hotel and grab our bags to go to the train station.  

Vatican in the distance

The Tiber

We had tickets on a 2:45pm train to Naples and we had booked first class tickets and enjoyed the 45 minutes ride on the high speed train.  I had read in our guide books and on multiple blogs that to get from Rome to Sorrento, you take the train to Naples and then switch to the regional commuter train, the Circumvesuviana and it would be another hour.  Simple right?

270 km/h or 172 mph!

When I read local regional commuter train I was thinking something like in New York or DC like this

Instead we ended up on this

The process of getting on the train was exactly as described.  The problem was it was 4pm at this point and apparently a lot of people commute from Naples to Sorrento.  We waited in line to purchase tickets and then tried to catch the next train, which was an "express" train, and it was so crowded we couldn't get on with our luggage.  We waited 30 minutes for the next train and that point the platform was getting really crowded and the husband was not pleased.  It was the one part of the trip he did no research on, as he kept pointing out.  

When the next train came we were determined to get on and shoved our way with everyone else onto the train even with all of our luggage.  Of course I had read that the Circumvesuviana was a haven for pickpocketers which we were ready for, plus we stuck out like a sore thumb as the only tourists on the train.  The husband keeps a dummy wallet in his back pocket while traveling and sure enough someone went after it while we were boarding, which didn't help his mood.  We managed to stake out a place next to a luggage rack and we stood on the packed train next to our luggage.  Since we missed the express train it took close to an hour and a half to go 36 stops and was uncomfortably crowded almost the whole trip.  Needless to say that neither of us was in a very good mood when we finally pulled into the Sorrento station.

Luckily there were plenty of cabs outside the train station and we made our way to our hotel.  We were pleasantly surprised that we were upgraded to a room with a terrace overlooking the water.  The view was amazing but we were starving and not easily distracted.  We asked the concierge for a recommendation and headed to a place in town.  We got locally made cheese and meats and pizza.  It was easily the best pizza I've ever had.  Mine was suckling pig and mushroom and it was to die for.  After a few beers and all that delicious food we were in much better moods then we had been on the train from hell.

For some reason this cracked me up

The important lesson learned that day is when going from Rome to Sorrento DO NOT TAKE THE CIRCUMVESVIANA.  If you are not looking to drop the high cost of a private car for that trip, I noticed advertisements for coach buses from Termini in Rome to the Sorrento station, I would recommend looking into that.  The other option is taking a ferry from Naples to Sorrento, which we did on the way back.  It was nice but you'd have to find your way from the train station to the port.  I cannot begin to imagine what that train ride is like in the summer when the trains are full of tourists and their luggage in addition to a normal weekday crowd.

Wordless Wednesday

Honeymoon Day 3: Eating our way through Rome!

We woke up Wednesday ready for our last full day in Rome.  The husband had booked one final tour and it was a food tour!  The tour was in the Testaccio neighborhood of Rome which is known for being where Romans live and not being as touristy. We made sure we ate a light breakfast before hopping on the metro and headed to the Piramade stop for our 10am tour and it turned out we had a full agenda.

Our tour was booked through Eating Italy and our tour guide, Alexandra was charming and fun.  And the food was amazing!  We started at a cafe to see examples of Italian breakfast where we sampled cornettis and little tiramisu cups.  

Tiramisu cups

After that we went to a pizza place which is ranked one of the highest in the city.  We also learned the history of pizza and how it came to Rome.  Apparently pizza went from Naples to NYC before it ever made it to Rome.  Who knew?  At this point we actually had not yet had pizza in Italy so we were pretty excited to finally try some and of course it was the famous Margherita pizza with fresh basil on top.

Margherita pizza

The owner loves posing for photos

Next was a local shop which was a third or fourth generation establishment to try cheese and meats.  We had a chance to shop and the husband purchased some 30 year balsamic which we have used a few times with strawberry and ice cream for an amazing dessert. 

Meats

Cheeses

At this point everyone was full from the food we had tried so Alexandra led us to the neighborhood cemetery where John Keats was buried for a break.  It also was incredibly beautiful with lots of trees and flowers.

 

Keats grave

From there it was time to walk to the Testaccio market where we visited the cheese and produce stands to make a Caprese salad and then the baker to get fresh cannoli.  I also learned that you only want to buy cannoli that doesn't already have the filling in it to make sure the shell isn't soggy!

 

Cheese shop

Caprese salad made with fresh buffalo mozzarella

Fresh cannoli shells

For lunch we sat down to sample the three pastas dishes that Rome is known for.  Two are ones we had already tried, the black pepper and cheese and the carbonara and the third was a tomato sauce.  At that point I was near busting but it was worth it.

 

So much good pasta

Even though I was starting to feel uncomfortably full I still sampled the food at the next top, the Sicilian friend rice balls known as Arancini, which just made me excited for Sicily.

Fried deliciousness

And finally, of course, was the gelato to round out the "meal".  The owner was an older gentleman and the shop had been in the family for several generations.  The gelato was delicious and we learned how to tell real gelato from gelato made from mix.  The downside of this is we only had gelato two more times in the trip since most of the gelato in Italy is not real.  Then again, maybe that was for the best!

 

Hazelnut and chocolate with homemade whipped cream!

At this point we had been on the tour for four hours and we were nearly waddling.  We really enjoyed it however and it was well worth the price.  If visiting Rome consider doing an Eating Italy Tour to get to see something different.  The tour guides give you some history of the neighborhood and foods but keep it light and entertaining.

 

After we were done stuffing our faces, we decided to spend the remainder of the afternoon wandering the streets to work off the food.  We made our way back to the Colosseum for more exterior pictures but unfortunately it was too late in the afternoon to see the Forum, which was the one site we missed this trip.

 

Despite all the food we had earlier in the day we did have one last dinner out in Rome.  We ate again near the hotel but we were much less impressed then we had been the night before.  The food was still good but it was not particularly special.  We did enjoy some limoncello and chocolate cake at the end of the meal.

Honeymoon Day 2: Colosseum and the Vatican

Jetlag had us up on Tuesday before breakfast was served.  The weather was wet and rainy but not unexpected since November is the rainiest month in Italy.  We decided not to let it keep us from exploring the Colosseum before heading to a scheduled tour of the Vatican.  When we got there we were pleasantly surprised that our Roma pass that we got for unlimited use on the subway also got us into the Colosseum.  

As an engineer the Colosseum has always been high on my list of must sees.  What the Romans could do with arches and concrete is mindblowing.  I loved that they had the basement level with the staging area used for the animals and gladiators before they were brought up in ancient elevators to the Colosseum floor.  The Romans definitely loved their theatrics.

Exterior of the Colosseum

Modern Bracing

Interior View

Artsy shot through the one of the tunnels

After we were done our self tour of the Colosseum we needed to head across town to the Vatican for a tour we had scheduled for the afternoon.  This was actually when the rain really picked up.  After a quick lunch we met up with our tour guide and another American couple for our tour.  Unfortunately our tour companions were a little bit snobby and kept trying to show up the tour guide which was obnoxious.

We used the same tour company that we had used for the tour of Rome, Roman Empire Tours and we enjoyed both.  The Vatican is one of those places where you could spend days and still not see everything.  It was nice to have someone show us some of the highlights and still get some of the history. 

Sculptures

Believe it or not these paintings are 2-D

Map of Italy in the Hall of Maps

Raphael painted himself into the School of Athens

Michalengo's Pieta in St. Peter's

St Peter's Basilica at night

After the tour of the Vatican and wandering through St. Peter's it was still too early for dinner by Italian time so we headed back to the hotel.  One of the things that was hard to adjust to in Italy with jetlag is that most restaurants don't even open until 7, so we were often one of the first tables of the night.  The husband had read about a restaurant in our neighborhood he wanted to go to and asked the concierge to make us a reservation.  Unfortunately it was closed for the season so he asked for a recommendation for a good home cooked Italian meal.  

After a few wrong turns, we finally managed to find the restaurant the concierge recommended.  After we were sat with our English menus, we realized quickly that everyone there spoke Italian.  The place was loud and crowded and we were excited.  One of the best signs you're in a good restaurant is when there are no tourists.  We got house white wine before ordering lasagna and more spaghetti with pepper and cheese which is common in Rome.  After enjoying a our dinner and wine we headed back to the hotel to get some rest since we had been up since dawn!

Rome... where wine is cheaper then water..

Lasagna

Spaghetti