Fall Break: Part 3 (and last)-Sorrento

Wow!

It's December 1 and I'm finally posting the last part of our Fall break to Italy.  December 1- that means we've been in Ukraine for 4 months now.  The time seems to be going by quickly.  In just two more weeks we will be on Winter Break from December 14 until January 7!  More travelling is planned for December.  I figured out this morning that I will only have to tolerate the cold weather for 11 days this month.  The other 20 days will be spent much closer to the equator; 4 in Abu Dhabi and 16 in Tanzania.  But more about those adventures later... Here's the rest of our trip to Italy...which, by the way, was also warm and sunny.  Yay!

Sorrento, Italy

We left Rome and headed south on a fast train to Naples.  Fast really means fast!  We were moving along the Italian countryside at 300 km/hour (about 186 mph)!!  The train was sleek and clean and comfortable; very different from the next train ride we would take to get from Naples to Sorrento!  What we hadn't thought about was the fact that we would be switching trains during "rush hour".  The second train we took was a commuter train that was absolutely packed with people and stopped at least 20 times before we arrived in Sorrento.  Of course Sorrento was also the final stop for the train, so the passenger manifest did start to decrease the closer we got to Sorrento, making the ride much more comfortable.  I think I was finally able to sit down at about stop #17.

This was one of the stops on the way to Sorrento.  We were on a bridge across from the one you see in the picture.  Weird place for a stop, right?

There were lemon groves everywhere!  This one was so full of trees and lemons, they were pushing their way through the fence.  

One of the days in Sorrento we took a ferry to the Island of Capri.  This is a view of the harbor in Sorrento as we walked down to it.  It was a long way down...

and a lot of steps!

 

 

Capri

Some pictures of the island as we approached it from the water.

Of course we had to buy tickets to see The Blue Grotto.  It was another short boat ride around the island and then a small rowboat ride into the cave, but it was worth it.  It is so touristy and silly, but it's just one of those things you have to do just to say you did it.

I think we had the only red-headed, freckled Italian in all of Italy rowing our boat into the Blue Grotto.  (That's him on the far left of the picture)  There were several rowboats going in and out of the cave manned by these "singing captains".  Later, I got to thinking that Marco, our singing captain, reminded me of Danny Bonaduce (is that an Italian name?) from the Partridge Family.  Now that I think about it again, maybe red hair is not that uncommon in parts of Italy-Mario Batali also has red hair and freckles...What do I know?  I'm still a bit naive, if not ignorant, about most of the world.  I'm trying to change that!   

It really was BLUE!

 

 

After our short excursion to the grotto, we spent some time touring the rest of the island.  The weather was beautiful and so was the scenery.

We rode the funicular from the marina up to the main streets in town.

Unfortunately we didn't have our bathing suits, but I did roll up my "Capri" pants and wade into the Tyrrhenian Sea.

Back at our hotel in Sorrento that evening we sat out on the roof-top bar looking at Mt. Vesuvius, the reason for the next tourist stop in Italy:

Pompeii

Another evening on the rooftop before heading out to dinner...

and a final look at the amazing coastline of Sorrento. 

 

 

After three days in Sorrento we returned to Rome to catch our flight back to Kiev. As we boarded the plane, I recognized some of the passengers as the same ones we rode with before.  It was a much more sober flight than the one to Rome.  I guess all of us were quietly reminiscing about our week in Italy and dreaming of the day we might return again.

Fall Break: Part 2-Vatican City



 

The Vatican

We spent most of the day on Monday (October 21) touring Vatican City.  First, we went into the main square outside of St. Peter's Basilica (above).  We arrived around 10am and the place was packed with people.  We couldn't even find the end of the line waiting to go inside the church.  So we decided to visit the museums instead.  Luckily, we were advised to purchase our tickets on line before we left Ukraine because the ticket line for the museums, including The Sistine Chapel, wrapped around the block outside The Vatican.  Instead, we walked directly into the museum lobby, paid for the audio headsets, and started our self-guided tour starting in the courtyard seen below.



 

 The Pinecone Courtyard-The Vatican Museums

 A hall of sculptures inside the Vatican Museums

 A young artist drawing one of the statues

 Looking back up the spiral staircase we just descended, inside the museum

Of course seeing Michelangelo's painting on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel was a highlight, but also a bit of a letdown.  There were so many people packed into the chapel, being herded like cattle from one end to the other,  that it was difficult to stop and appreciate the wonder and beauty of being there.  For us, the inside of St. Peter's was more awe-inspiring.

By the time we returned to the square, the mob of people had dispersed and we were inside St. Peter's in less than 10 minutes.  Our timing for the day couldn't have been better!

Inside St. Peter's Basilica

 One of several Catholic masses taking place inside the Basilica.  I really wanted to take communion, but I was afraid of what would happen if it was discovered that I'm not Catholic.  I guess if I'm going to be an "educator on the edge" I need to start taking my chances. 

 Back outside workers were setting up for an event which we assumed would include The Pope.  The next night we found out we were right. There was a news report on TV about it but of course it was in Italian so we didn't really know exactly what had taken place.  All we know is that we missed "him" by one day!

Vatican Guards

 

 

We left Vatican City around 3 o'clock and made our way back to our room, stopping at a cafe along the way for an afternoon snack.  It was our last day in Rome so we wanted to go out later for a nice dinner and stay up late.  As it turned out, dinner was great, but we couldn't find the energy to stay up late.  Besides, we had to check out early the next morning and catch the train to Sorrento.

 

 



Fall Break: Part 1-Ancient Rome

Students and teachers at Kyiv International School enjoyed a week-long fall break from October 19 to October 27,which also included a time change on Saturday night, October 26, adding an extra hour to our time off.

Jay and I choose to spend our "holiday" in Italy, three days in Rome and three days in Sorrento.  The flight from Kiev to Rome was only three hours and it turned out to be quite entertaining.  It seems taking an Italian vacation was a popular idea among lots of Ukrainians, and they were just as happy and excited as we were to get there.  We couldn't remember ever being on a plane where so many people were out of their seats during the flight.  In addition, there must have been several groups travelling together because it was also the noisiest flight we could remember.  The people sitting behind us spent most of the flying time trying to speak Italian and laughing at each other as they translated Russian (or maybe Ukrainian) words and phrases into Italian.  It was like a dual language lesson for us!  Jay and I called it the Ukrainian Party Plane and we clapped right along with the rest of our fellow passengers when we landed at the Leonardo da Vinci Airport on Saturday afternoon.

                             A view from above: Islands off the coast of Croatia in the Adriatic Sea

Rome

We conquered Rome in three days!  However, we weren't sure how much of Rome we would be able to see after finding out that we arrived on Day 2 of several demonstrations taking place around the capital city.  In fact, when we asked a policeman for directions from the train station to our hotel, although patient and helpful,  he told us that if we needed any further help we were to ask other people on the street, NOT the police.  I guess they did not want to be distracted from their anti-riot campaign.

As it turned out, things never did get ugly, at least not where we were.  In fact the only sign of any tension was the constant whirring of the helicopters hovering over us as we spent the rest of Saturday afternoon visiting the remains of the Ancient Roman Forum and Palatine Hill.





 The Roman Forum

The Temple of Romulus

The Rain Nymphs

The Stadium

"A View From The Top" of Palatine Hill

Another shot of the forum

Examples of Roman engineering

Our first glimpse of the Colosseum as we walked through a park coming from our Bed and Breakfast

"Salut!" to our first dinner in Rome with an awesome backdrop

We stayed at a guest house (B&B) called Domus Diana.  This is the courtyard behind the building.

Each room in Domus Diana had an elemental theme: Earth, Fire, Water, Air, etc... We had the water room

Domus Diana from across the street. 

 Our room was the one on the left with the shutters open and the blue (water) drapes.  That's a Trattoria right below us which came alive about 9pm, as did the entire street.  We were serenaded by an accordion player begging diners for tips two out of the three nights. It was like the Italian version of Bourbon Street!

Day 2

Going up the steps inside the Colosseum

Listening to our audio tour

It's crazy to imagine what this was like when it was being used to entertain the Romans!

"The Colosseum Cat" 

We saw him running around earlier, but at the time I took this picture he sat still with his eyes closed for several minutes as if no one was there while lots of people snapped photos.  He's actually a real celebrity; there was a children's book in the gift shop about him!

A street festival on Sunday afternoon.  The banner says "street games"  By this time the demonstrations had ended and life in Rome was back to normal.

Here's the coin we threw into the Trevi Fountain.  I guess we are destined to return to Rome again some day.

Piazza di Spagna - the Spanish Steps

We crossed the Tiber River to find a place called Beer and Fud, a microbrewery and pizzaria recommended by our travel book.  The beer was good, but the homemade potato chips and ketchup were even better!

We watched the old movie "Roman Holiday" a couple of weeks before our visit to Rome, so of course we had to stick our hands in the Bocca della Verita (the mouth of truth).  I'm happy to report that both of us still have two hands.