School In Our Jammies

Good evening from Tuscany.

Due to technical difficulties in several crucial spheres tonight, this post will be brief.

We spent the day in Siena, which is where the color of that crayon comes from.

We made Jane and Dave climb the tower while we drank cappuccino and liquid chocolate.

We followed the blue dot onto a freeway which was under construction and had to back up a long, long ways.

That part was scary.

My faithful but slow  laptop decided to update to Windows 10 right in the middle of this post, so I’m forced to use Dave’s iPad.  I can’t type on this thing, so that’s it for now.

Ciao!

Hill Town #1:  San Gimignano  (SAN Jim-KNEE-an-yo, yo.)

Getting there was half the fun because they don’t call ’em “hill towns” for nothin’…and Italians drive (mostly red) Fiats.   The countryside is lovely with patchwork fields of grapes and olives punctuated by stone villas and geraniums bursting with color from gigantic stone pots.  Winding through this loveliness are one-lane roads sans shoulders, and we are driving in a VW van (manual transmission, of course) at speeds below the posted 40 or 60 k/hour.  (Emphasis on “winding”, and let’s not forget the tour buses going the opposite way, or the policeman on his cell phone driving right towards us.)

Parking there is half of the other half of the fun because all parking lots are made for Fiats but thankfully we have not as yet damaged the VW.  (Thanks for driving, Dave…thanks for navigating, Jim…thanks for directing the parking, Tim.)

San Gimignano is a clean, beautiful, walled city with plenty of shops and “the world’s best gelato”.  Indeed, today’s new flavors of pomegranate and salted caramel were superb and we were completely satisfied even though the gelato shop recommended in a certain author’s tour guide was not that one but the one on the other side of the piazza.  (We also understand that San Gimignano is Megan Marshal’s favorite town!  Right, Megan?)

Hill town #2:  Volterra  (vol-TER-ra, yo).  Volterra is not the birth-place of Voltaire, since he was French and we are in Italy, but hey.  They sound sort of the same.

Volterra is more isolated and therefore haw fewer tourists than San Gimignano; is located way, way up in the hills;  and  — wouldyoubelieveit — is famous for Etruscan ruins.  Ruins, ruins, ruins:  they are everywhere, folks.  Also a walled city, Volterra has a calm air about it.

Pretty, yes?  Just a few minutes after I took this picture, the weather changed and we took flight for the van to escape lightning and impending rain.

But first, we found the famous Etruscan arch.  Here it is:

If you look carefully above Anna and Jane’s heads, you can see the remains of other heads. The one on the left is — according to our touring history teacher — of a Greek dude and you can just about make out his face if you study it.

Anna and I looked closely.  “See, he’s looking to his left which is typical of classical Greek busts, and you can almost see his hairline,” explained Dave.

We looked more closely.  “Ummm,” muttered Anna under her breath, “you could tell me it was a horse and I’d say ‘sure…””.  Because we still could not make out the face, Jim showed us tonight what the guy would look like if he hadn’t left his face outside for the past 2000 years:

See?  Greek bust, facing left.

So, there you have our Two Towns of the day, San Gimignano and Volterra.   As for the Two Rules, many of you know about them already and could recite them in your sleep.  Just in case you need a review, though, this is how we are entertained after a long day of sightseeing in picturesque Tuscany:

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Jane, Anna and I think the guys need some new material.  What do you think?

• Number of Euros we owe for a parking fine incurred yesterday:  28
• Steaks we bought from the butcher for tonight’s dinner:  3
• Days we have to pay the parking ticket before it increases to 41 Euros:  5
• Bathrooms that did not have hot water for showers this morning:  2
• Washingtonians it takes to discover a light switch that apparently didn’t do anything but in reality turned off the hot water heater:  6
• Hours it took for the hot water heater in two bathrooms to recover from being inadvertently turned off last night:  12
• Temperature of our outdoor pool:  62
• Number of men who swam briefly in the outdoor pool:  2

• Grandchildren we Facetimed with tonight:  3
• Hours it takes to wash one load of laundry:  1
• Days it takes for one load of laundry to dry on the drying rack in the basement or outside, depending on the weather: 2
• Number of Italian spice packets we three ladies purchased in Castillina:  29
• Scoops of gelato consumed for lunch by six people:  15

• Etruscan tombs visited:  1
• Pastries we purchased for dessert tonight:  18
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• Etruscan museum visited:  1
• Euros paid into a parking meter to park in Castillina today so we would not incur another fine:  3
• Hours 3 Euros is worth in the parking lot:  3
• Fellow Americans we adamantly warned to go back and purchase a parking permit so they would not also incur a fine like we did:  2
• Euros paid to use the public WC: .50
• Number of people who used the public WC:  1
• Number of people we thought about sqeezing into the public WC to save on Euros but really didn’t so don’t dwell on this please:  3
• Minutes we thought we had left before adding more Euros to the parking meter so we would not incur a second fine:  45
• Euros spent in the pottery shop so that we wouldn’t feel badly about asking the proprietor who speaks a bit of English to please translate our parking ticket for us and tell us how to pay it:  56

• Number of Euros the pottery shop proprietor told us we actually had to pay to the meter today  because it was Sunday: 0
• Euros wasted on parking in Castillina today: 3
• Euros paid for three very thick steaks to the butcher who whacked them from a hunk of meat and presented them to us with a sweep of his hand: 25
• Hours it took to heat charcoal for BBQing our steaks for dinner tonight:  1
• Minutes for the steaks to cook:  20

• Pastries leftover for breakfast in the morning:  5

…and the floods came up.  Wind slammed shutters, water poured from an angry sky, and streets flowed like rivers just as the forecast predicted.  The six travelers rendezvoused for breakfast at the front door, clad in rain gear, fleeces, umbrellas, and hoods.

After they had consumed their Italian breakfasts, they mused in silence, their swimming plans melting away with each splat of rain.  Shopkeepers of Vernazza began to slowly open their doors, so la donne wandered the wet streets as the three uomini followed.

Soaked to the skin and done dodging drops between shops, the travelers decided to head for home and hope that the 100% rain would indeed dwindle to 40% by 2 pm.  They spent the next two hours, each couple in their own room, until deciding that it had become just a teeny-weeny bit less wet and they were going bonkers anyway so why not take a “Juliet” picture and head for Monterosso al mare?

Woo hoo! Ecstatic to be finally visiting the fifth of five coastal towns, they paid 4 Euros each and hopped the train for Monterosso.

Monterosso was — shockingly — just as wet as Vernazza.  It took the travelers a considerable amount of time to traipse back and forth along Monterosso’s stormy streets, but they did eventually find gelato AND lattes.

And here, dear readers, is where our story takes the inevitable turn, the plot twist expected of a really good story:  the storm had damaged the tracks AND ALL TRAINS WERE DELAYED.  Oh, the angst!  Would the tracks be cleared tonight?  Were the travelers stuck in Monterosso with no where to sleep, with all of their stuff back in Vernazza, with a trip to Tuscany planned for the morrow?

Well, no.  But, they did spend 90 minutes sitting on the train as it sat on the tracks, watching HUNDREDS of tourists run hither and yon, and not understanding a word of the Italian announcements or the English ones neither.

Happy ending coming:  the train did indeed travel to Vernazza, the travelers paid nice Gemmy for their quirky rooms, had a fishy dinner and are now packing to leave very early in the morning.

The skies are clear.  The tickets to Pisa are purchased.  The floods no longer rush through the streets, down the stairs, and out the sides of the mountains.

Tuscany, here they come.

1. Today’s forecast was for rain and 60 degrees.  It was wrong.
2. 
3. Vernazza is one of five “Cinque Terre” towns on Italy’s west coast, and the one where we sleep.  Today we decided to not hike to Corniglia because of the recent rains and the difficulty of the trail, so we paid 4 Euros each to ride the train there.
4. Corniglia is at least 300 steps above the train station, so that was fun.
5. In town, we left the menfolk to drink Americanos while we shopped.
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7. When we came back, they had each enjoyed two Americanos and then bought us lattes.
8. The next town is Manarola, so we paid 4 Euros each to ride the train there.
9. The train station is at least 300 steps below Corniglia, so that was fun.
10. It takes about 3 minutes for the train to travel between Corniglia and Manarola.
11. Gelato tastes great no matter the flavor.  These days we just point randomly at three and take what we get, which has yet to be a disappointment.
12. The next and southern-most town is Riomaggiore.  Unfortunately, the very good, flat, scenic trail to Riomaggiore is still closed because of landslides that happened last year, so we paid 4 Euros each to ride the train to Riomaggiore.
13. Upon exiting the Riomaggiore train station, we turned left and climbed the steep walkway  through residential areas.  Anna and I were convinced that something was amiss since we did not see the town nor recognize the route, but the menfolk kept walking and whatdoyouknow, there was Riomaggiore, down at the bottom of another steep hill.
14. 
15. We thought it would be neato to not take the train back to Vernazza but instead to ride a boat.  Jim and Dave walked down many steps to the marina to inquire about a boat only to discover that the seas were too heavy today so no boat.  At first this was disconcerting because we assumed we would have to traipse back up and down the way we came but NO! I saw a sign pointing to “statione” through a tunnel, saving us manymanymany steps.  Oh, joy.
16. We paid 4 Euros each to take the train from Riomaggiore all the way back to Vernazza. As we paid for our last tickets, Jim and I noticed that we could have paid for an all-day pass for 16 Euros, which was exactly what we had paid.  Okay then.
17. For a day with no hikes, we hiked quite a bit.  Naps helped, and also a plan to buy pizza in town and eat it on the Mealey’s terrace.
18. 
19. Formaggio does not mean “four cheeses”;  it means “cheese”.  Sausage pizza has sliced hot dogs on it; green olives, ham, mushrooms and artichokes are yummy on pizza.
20. Italian restaurateurs are hilarious.  “Can we order take away?” asked Jane.  “You want take me away?” asked the dude.
21. We live in vertical world, and walk very, very carefully to and from our rooms.
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23. Vertical world is not “tall people’s world”, therefore tall people have to duck when using the shower.
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25. Bad guys could easily  hide in Vernazza.  Our hostess has not asked to see our passports, she wants cash for the rooms but not until we leave, and train tickets are cash only, too.
26. Tomorrow is swimming at our last town, Monterroso.  We shall pay 4 Euros each, in cash, for a train ticket and ignore the weather report.

Coming to you tonight from Vernazza, in rooms rented from Gemmy.  Gemmy was so very excited to hear that we did still come, as it has been rainy and cold here in the Cinque Terre region.  Yep, we came via four trains —

Circumvesuviana from Pompei to Naples, which became extremely crowded with commuters and I was wondering how we were going to get off when we reached Naples since we were dragging suitcases, but everybody else wanted off there, too, so it wasn’t a problem.

Super clean, smooth, fast train from Naples to Rome with time to spare for our connection.

Mostly clean, smooth train from Rome to La Spezzia, which took three-and-one-half hours with many stops in between.

Little train from La Spezzia to Vernazza, which we timed perfectly and arrived as most of the rain-poncho-ed-tourists were leaving.

Our rooms are in one “house” type building, three on top of each other up steep, narrow stairs — emphasis on both steep and narrow.  Pics tomorrow…Nanfitos on the bottom floor, we Baums in the middle, and Mealeys have the roof with the terrace.  Each room has a private bathroom; Mealey’s bathroom just happens to be out on the terrace and up another flight of stairs.  Gemmy told us that Mealeys should use our bathroom while it was raining and if it stopped raining they could use theirs.  Ha.  We’ll see.

Tonight’s gelato flavors were more exotic than normal —  Anna and Dave went for the fig cheesecake paired with something called “cinque terre sweet wine crema”.  I think.  Nobody could remember the exact name.

That’s all for now.  Travel days are tiring…even if we mostly sat on trains.

Yesterday and today were Italian-school-children-field-trip days in both Naples museum and Pompeii.  “Silencio, raggazi!” is not difficult to understand, even if you didn’t brush up on your Duolingo Italian before landing in this country.

This teacher was very animated in her explanation of Alexander the Great and his battle against Darius III, the King of Persia, in this famous mosaic.  Made of one-and-one-half-million tiny tiles, it is impressive, and so was the teacher.  (I hope her students learned something.)

Besides Alexander, we also saw intricate mosaics of fish —

and we all know who likes fish, don’t we?

Leaving Naples Archaeological Museum, we strolled around looking for a “shopping area” that Anna remembered, but it was deserted. So we wandered some more before telling the guys they should sit while we search for cannoli.  Cannoli was very easy to find, and we ate some and also drank some coffee before setting out again for Napoli Centrale, the main train station.

Our next stop was Herculaneum, a village smaller than Pompeii which was also destroyed by Vesuvius in 79 AD.

Now today was a relaxing change of pace as we did NOT have to ride a train, we did NOT have to get up early (breakfast at 9 a.m.!) and we did NOT even have to walk far to our destination as the Pompeii Scavi  entrance is just down the street from our hotel.  Yay!  (To recap — we have slept in the town of Pompei for the past two nights, but only today saw the ruins of ancient Pompeii. The town is spelled with one “I” and the ruins with two.)

Pompeii is expansive and only two-thirds of it is excavated.  Our first glimpse of this city was the coliseum, which hosted gladiator games and the like.  Here we are, against the wall of the arena.

Walking through people’s homes, seeing their gardens, admiring their artwork and their floor mosaics, seeing their “snack bars” and their cooking pots gave us a feeling of life before 79 AD.  We also learned that Pompeii was a thriving city for six hundred years before the eruption. (Jamestown hasn’t even been around that long.)

‘Twas also another field trip day for schools.  During a toilette stop, Anna was in her stall when a boy begin knocking and knocking on the door. (The toilettes were under repair and therefore “co-ed”.)  “I’m not finished!” called Anna sweetly as the boy continued to knock.  “I’ll be done in a minute!”  He continued to knock repeatedly — maybe he was desperate — until Anna came out.  Later as we were outside laughing about the incident, the young boy came up to Anna, got her attention, and said very contritely, “Um, scuzi.  Scuzi.”  She patted him on the shoulder and told him, “It’s okay!”  We think his teacher saw what was going on and sent him back to apologize.

Vesuvius is in the background, above.  If you think of Mt. St. Helens and draw an imaginary line to connect the left peak with the right peak, you can see how much of the mountain was blasted away during that famous eruption.

And, lastly, our feet on floor tiles that look like they’re right out of the 60’s…but actually quite a bit older.

Tomorrow is an early departure and four trains to Cinque Terra.  The weather forecast doesn’t bode well for swimming…but we’re still excited to see the sea.   Also, I have no idea what the wifi situation will be in Vernazza, so kids:  don’t be worried if you don’t hear much from your parents for a couple of days.

This is me, signing off for the night!

If a wife tells her husband not to put his wallet in his back pocket and he does it anyway, will it get stolen?

Yes.

On a lighter note, Dave met three guys from his hometown in Minnesota while we were buying gelato this evening.

Exhausted tonight, folks.  Naples Archaeological Museum for Pompeii artifacts and ancient Roman sculptures, long walk through Naples to Circumvesuviana, long train ride standing up to Herculaneum, walk around Herculaneum, Circumvesuviana back to Pompeii but to the far end, long walk to dinner, no nap today.

Tomorrow, late breakfast and Pompeii.  No trains!

Arrivederci, Roma!  We said heartfelt ciao-ciaos to our Arena House hostess this morning, grabbed our last Italian breakfast from the coffee shop down the block, and hoofed it to Termini station, luggage and all.

Last night in Rome, we took pics of the neighborhood.

Our rooms were on the second floor.  Below is us with our sweet hostess, Barbara.

Although very close to the coliseum and bustling traffic, we were comfortable here in quiet, little rooms with a view of foliage.

And, here’s us eating gelato in Vatican City the other day, at ‘the place where the nuns go.’

Roma Termini is wild with travelers, beggars and pickpockets, so we kept our eyes on each other and our luggage. Waiting was mostly uneventful, except for a little comedy in the ladies room as we witnessed one woman cut to the head of the line and everybody else bawl her out.  The woman ahead of me turned to presumably explained the situation in rapid-fire Italian, but I had to smile and say, “English?”  “Oh, ha, no!” she laughed and gave me a wink.   For some situations, words are extraneous.

We wait, watching the board for our platform.

Our train to Naples was a half-hour late, but we had assigned seats so there was no shoving, and the 70 minute ride was so smooth and relaxing we all fell asleep.  In Napoli Centrale we switched trains to the “Circumvesuviana” which runs from Naples to Pompeii and Sorrento.  It looked like there might have been shoving involved on this one, but mostly everybody preferred Sorrento over Pompeii, so we had seats!  Jane remarked that Circumvesuviana was what she had expected of Italian trains — dirty, crowded, and noisy — so she was pleasantly surprised to find our first ride so pleasant. (Charlie and Virginia will have vivid memories of this train!)  We’ll be on Circumvesuviana for the next couple of days as we travel back to Naples for the museum, liquid chocolate and some original Margarita pizza; then to both the Herculaneum and Pompeii ruins.

Pompeii is quite the change from Rome:  small and quiet.  We did manage to locate a terrific gelato place right across the street, so that’s a relief.  Lots of tourists, of course, but our hotel is a bit out of the way and has a lovely garden area.  Right now it’s lit with twinkle lights and lanterns, and off in the distance we see the mountains separating us from the Amalfi Coast and the peninsula that includes Sorrento.

Ahhh…good night!