Munchin in Munchen

When we checked in for our flight to Munich (Munchen in German), Wendy was worried about having to pay extra, due to the weight of her bag being over the "limit" (50 lbs).  So she goes first and puts her luggage on the scale.  She sees that it is over by at least 20 lbs but the ticket lady had not said anything about it being too heavy.  Doug and I could only look at each other in wonder as Wendy asked, "Does that weigh too much!?"  We quickly shut her up with our heavy laughter as we imagined the very few ways she could've handled that worse.  One of which was her taking out her wallet, opening it up wide as if to offer it's entire contents and saying, "Is this enough to cover it?"  It's gonna be funny for a long time to come!  The flight was pleasant and we got our new favorite airline candy bar, Balisto.  I saw someone throwing their's away and I almost snagged it for Wendy, THAT'S how good they are!

We got a nice little surprise when we went to get all of our seats together for the Munich to Chicago flight!  They had overbooked it and were offering $900 plus hotel for the night and also dinner and breakfast for each of us!  We debated if it was doable but quickly came to the realization that we couldn't pass it up.  So we got over $3000 collectively which, using Doranian mathematics, paid for our trip entirely!!  Plus, we got to have a night on the town in Munich and Wendy and Doug had never been to Munich before.  I was really excited myself because Munich was definitely a close 2nd in the ranking of favorite cities I visited in my backpacking trip with Shane in 2003.  We were put up in the Airport Sheraton Hotel, which was a 5 min shuttle ride from the Airport.  It was a pretty nice place actually, not overly posh but not dumpy in any way.  We all tried (fruitlessly) to call home using Doug's calling cards but none of them worked.  We just paid with a credit card or room charge instead and then took a much needed nap.  After the naps, we went to our buffet dinner which wasn't too bad and the Paulaner Weiss Beers were money on the spot!  We liked them so much, we ordered another round.  I was loving the chance to enjoy some hometown German beer.   We caught a cab back to the airport, got a train ticket and headed to the Marienplatz (Main Square).  There were several beer halls around the area and after checking out the Marienplatz at night we strayed into Donisl and had some Hacker-Pschorr Pilsners.  They were tasty but we decided to move on and experience another hall.  As we walked, Doug noticed a sign for Kilian's Irish Pub so we stopped in for a pint of Black Velvets (Guiness and Hard Cider) and Irish Car Bombs, Wendy had a Red Snake (Cider, WiessBier and Blackcurrant juice) which she loved.  There was a birthday party going next to us and some of them looked like they were way too young but the legal age for beer is 16.  Either way, everyone looked like they were having a great time, their wings and onion rings becoming very appealing despite the fact that we had recently eaten.  Time was ticking away on our night so we moved on once again, bound for the legendary Hoffbrau House!  On our way there, we saw a few people gathered around a telescope.  It turned out that there were 2 telescopes actually and they were much bigger than any I had ever used before.  One of the guys that I assume owned it said that today was "World Wide Astrology Day" , of which we had never heard that before in our lives.  Celebrate the assassination of the Civil Rights Movement's Leader by looking at some stars.  What I saw when I looked into the first one totally blew my mind!!  It was aimed at Saturn and you could not only see the rings with your own eyes but you could see the moon of Saturn as well!  I actually asked if it was real.  The other telescope was aimed at the moon and this was even more amazing than the view of Saturn.  I have never seen such a clear, live view of the moon in my life, it was breathtaking.  I liked them so much I had to go for second look on each.  

With uranus (I mean Saturn) on our minds, we got back on track only to be sidetracked again by a Japanese restaurant.  Our intense desire for some food variety kicked in and turned us towards the entrance.  They were closing but directed us to a different Japanese restaurant, Toshi, a few blocks away.  We went all out and got some Edamame, and one each of California Roll, Spicy Tuna Roll and an Alaska Roll along with a couple bottles of Asahi Beer.  Everyone was in heaven!!  I've never tasted Sushi so good!  I'm not sure that it was actually THE best (though it could be!) Sushi ever but it was more about the timing and desire that made it great.  I could've eaten a couple more rolls myself but we went on our way once more, this time to the Hoffbrau House for real...and they were closing at 11:30pm.  We gleaned from the locals that they deal with drinking lushes all day long and they sort of say, "Ok, we've had enough...get out!"  Rejected, we scuffled on to find one more beer hall to enjoy before our night's end.  On our way, we happened upon a little Kabob joint (think Gyros, not meat on a stick) and even though we didn't need more food we all split one Donner Kabap, which was frickin fantastic!  It was so good that, for a second, I forgot about the awesome sushi we just had.  We were talking about all the beer halls closing so early and Doug was trying to say how they go to the Pub first and the to the clubs but instead he said, "Well, I'm sure they're all planning on Plub then Cub".  Wendy and I had a really good laugh on that one!  Future beers were not in the cards though as it had gotten late and we didn't want to miss the last train back to the hotel.  Factoring in the half hour train ride back, we needed to go anyway to even get a chance at 4 hours of sleep.  All in all, it was an exciting and unexpected addition to an already amazing trip and I was glad it came about.

And on the last day, we rested

Our last day here in Italy.  It has felt like a really long time but also has seemingly gone quick, strange.  We've done so much and seen so many towns here, it has really been a once in a lifetime trip!  We all got up around 8:30 and had breakfast outside on the patio with Murph and his wife Lisa.  The Italians apparently can make a darn good French Toast, who knew?  The 3 of us guys had to return our scooters from the day before by 10:30 so after that I came back to the room and did the past 3 days of blogs while the others laid by the pool.  The price I have to pay to be the designated blogger I tell ya!  I napped after that and the others eventually tired of the sun and came up to figure out our lunch plans.  We are all so very tired of eating pizza, pasta and antipasto that we did several searches for a McDonald's.  It was for naught, there is no McDonald's here in Sorrento, amazing!!  We gathered our collective brain energy and formed the idea of going to a market and getting some fresh mozzarella and some tomatoes and making our own Caprese salads along with some nice bread.  The plan worked flawlessly, just like how Jeni has been quoting the A-Team's Hannibal all trip long "I love it when a plan comes together!"  We amassed all our ingredients underneath a tree next to the outdoor pool , including some fresh basil, olive oil that Jeni and Doran got earlier in the trip and the key ingredient...Wendy's 12 yr old Balsamic Vinegar she bought at Castello Banfi.  So good we couldn't just pour it out of the bottle, heavens no!!  We used a straw to trap some in there and dropped the portions out bit by bit.  It was quite possibly on of the best meals we had all trip and it only cost a total of around 25 Euro for everything!

After that, I did some sunbathing by the pool, Doug joined me for a bit then tried to make some calls, Jeni and Doran went up to their room and Wendy did more shopping.  We gathered back at our room to enjoy the 1999 Castello Banfi Brunello di Montalcino Reserva I had bought (it scored a 96 in Wine Spectator!) while we watched the slideshow of the trip Jeni and Doug had prepared.  The wine was great and it was really amazing to see all those photos capturing all the fun we've had the past 13 days!  You're really reminded of how much damn fun we had and how we will all remember this forever, unless we get alzeihmers I suppose.  Maybe even alzeihmers will get beat by the memory of this trip, that when we visit Wendy in her nursing home at the ripe old age of 81 and she asks us if we liked our day trip to Amalfi would be a testament to the magnificence and beauty of this experience!  I have loved this trip and I love my sibs and sib in law!!  I hope anyone reading this has enjoyed living vicariously through us, we love you all and would love to be here with you too!  Buona notte, ciao!  ~Dave

When you motor away...

Maybe I should've gone with a Nelson song "After the Rain" instead of a Guided By Voices reference in the title.  The day before or after a bad day always seems to be much improved, if not awesome.  In the morning the sun was shining and Doug, Doran and I decided to rent scooters and ride back out past Amalfi this time, to Ravello hopefully.  Jeni wanted to get some shots of us with the scooters so after renting them we headed the 2 blocks back to the hotel.  Jeni had her video camera ready and got each of us coming around the corner towards the hotel.  I was the last one of the group and as I started to take the turn, I noticed Doug wiping out on the (esp for him) easy curve!  I flat out died laughing!  Of all the people to wipe out, Doug was the best one of is to have it happen to!  No harm was done to man or machine so we got through our photo shoot and ripped off to the coast. 

Doug, Dave & Doran on the Hogs.

It was a little cold in town and I wished I had gloves for the ride.  As we tried a different route out of town, we got lost.  Sometimes the "let's just go and see what happens" theory doesn't work so well.  Drifting around some unknown town, I saw a sign for the town of Crapolla!  We all had a hearty laugh and took some photos for posterity.  

One town we didn't want to visit!

The local Police helped us get back on the road to Positano, which would get us out to Ravello.  The coast was perfectly sunny and there was not much traffic to navigate.  We opened it up and we were flying now, it felt amazing!  It made me wonder why anyone would take a smelly bus on these roads, curvy and right on the cliffs edge.  We knew from prior experience not to just sit behind a car if it was slower than us so we were darting in and out of on coming traffic most of the time.  It was quite a thrill!!  We stopped several times along the way to appease Doug's video "ideas" which we will see if they turn out or not.  Wendy forgot to get sand from the beach in Positano so we dropped down there for a quick bit and we were back on the road again.  We went thru Amalfi to Ravello where we decided to get lunch.  We found a pizzeria that had take away pizzas.  Doran and Doug really wanted some authentic sausage on theirs so they asked if the "Furter" was sausage and the man said yes.  They ended up getting sliced hot dogs.  I loved my pizza though with Ham, Mozzarella, Artichokes, Pepperoni and Tomatoes...mmm!  The town is pretty small and we wanted to get down to another beach past Ravello so we scooted on but couldn't figure out how to get down there.  Rejected, we decided to head back homeward, stopping at a new town called Scala just to see what was there.  Scala led us up to the micro-town of Minuti where there was a sign for Punto Panoramico (Panoramic Point).  We went as far as we could with the scooters, parked them and walked down the trail.  We were WAY above Ravello and Atrani (town between Ravello and Amalfi) at this point and you could see everything including clear across the sea.  I know it will be the best view, with the Amphitheater in Pompei a close second, that I will see on this trip!  I wish I could even describe it but the picture will have to try for me.  

An unforgettable view from Minuti.

It was getting a little late, factoring in the drive back so we turned it towards Sorrento and buried the needle (except for mine, whose Speedometer and Odometer didn't work at all!)  At some point in the trip, I suggested that if we weren't going to be back on time, we should call the girls and let them know because they'll get worried.  Doug said he had a calling card as Doran said "Jeni won't worry".  Doug didn't end up making that call and when we returned, they weren't too happy about our lack of courtesy.  Now, I've been in a few relationships in my life and I'm still amazed that after all this time, even when presented the option and reminder to be courteous, men still make it a second thought.  What amazes me even more, is how the person who wasn't courteous can somehow find a way to be mad at the person who was sitting there worried about their loved ones safety.  

Dinner plans were made for a Pizza place, imagine that!!  As we walked down, Doran was ahead of the group and he just disappeared.  He was being mopey or angry or whatever he had no right to be and none of us cared to have him around in that state anyway...brings back some memories of Pa doesn't it?  I guess the nickname RJ is there for a reason.  We all enjoyed our meals, Wendy and Jeni got Pizza and Doug and I split a steak and got our own pastas.  My lasagna was probably the second best I've ever had (at least outside of my mom's house).  Doug got his new favorite (and mine too) Penne all' Arrabiatta.  On our walk back, we stopped at the #1 Gelato place in all of Sorrento, Primavera Gelato.  They had somewhere around 50 flavors I bet and we all found something we loved, even though some of us might have bought $14 worth.  There was a bowling alley a block from the hotel that we had seen earlier and the plan was to bowl a couple games in Italy.  We were able to bring our own beers so we stocked up at the grocery store and gathered a group of at least 12 people to roll the night away.  We had a lot of fun and by midnight, everyone was ready for bed.  An Edward Jones Financial Advisor from Alaska's daughter, Andrea and  I decided to continue the night with some hiking up some 300 steps that Wendy had done earlier in the day.  We walked for almost 2 hours, enjoying whatever small town we were in and the views of Sorrento and the Bay of Naples below.  We got back to the hotel and I, of course, had some internetting to do.  I finally crawled into bed, just in time to be lulled to sleep by Wendy's snoring.  Instead of counting sheep I counted tree trunks that Wendy was cutting!  The girls will have to fill you in on the non-worrying portion of the day, they shopped is all I really know.  One full day left!!  I can't believe it's almost over and even though I would love to stay in Italy, my friends, my bed and American food are calling me!  Ciao!

Stinging in the rain

Hoping for good weather today, we (along with Bonnie Bakke and her sister Grace) packed up and got onto the bus...that's gonna take us to the Amalfi Coast.  (a little Soul Coughing for ya).  With the Jones arranged tour, it would've cost something like $70 but we took the regular bus and it only cost $9!  The views of the coast and cliffs were pretty good, as good as you could expect for an overcast day.  We stopped in Positano, a town made famous in the Audrey Hepburn film Roman Holiday.  It was amazing!  This little town, crammed into the cliffs, homes built seemingly on top of each other all the way up the rock walls.  Bonnie and Grace had received some advice to go to the restaurant Chez Black and that the proprietor, Rosario, would take care of us.  At the end of our walk down to the small beachfront in town, without even looking for it, Chez Black was right there!  

Doran, Bonnie & Doug with our server Rosario

So we hung out there for several hours, taking in the beautiful view of the town and the sea while enjoying lunch and great service from this excellent eatery.  We had a little more time before the bus came to take us on to Amalfi and we decided to meet up again an hour or so later.  Everyone did their own thing for the most part, from taking in Art Galleries to more shopping to eating Kinder Gelato (best so far!!).  The weather was getting worse though and this would be the turning point of the day.  

Dave on the beach

We all got together again and walked up to the bus stop.  As we waited, we all debated if we should continue on to Amalfi or head back to Sorrento.  We decided that we would take the first bus that shows up, whichever way it was going.  Unfortunately the Amalfi bus showed up first.  Someone at the bus stop has said they heard the busses weren't going all the way there, that there was something wrong with the road.  When we got to the edge of Praiano, we found out they were right.  The bus stopped and no one did anything, and eventually the bus driver just yelled a "Hello!?" and explained that we had to get out and walk 1 km to the other side and take a bus from there to Amalfi.  We debated again if we should go but we figured this might be our only chance to see Amalfi so we went on.  The walk, in the rain and into the wind mind you, was actually 2km!!  There was, of course, no visible reason why the bus could not sally forth onto Amalfi.  Once we arrived at the other bus stop we waited, in the rain and cold wind for the bus to show, not knowing when that would actually be because the schedules were WAY too messed up from this wrench in the well oiled Italian bus system (the seats were oily from their hair, the transit system sucked! (jk))  Finally a bus came to end our suffering and we drudged our way to Amalfi.  I slept almost the entire way and woke up to us getting off the bus.  We went in to a couple stores and Wendy bought an umbrella.  

In the rain at the bus stop in Positano

The next thing I knew, Jeni, Doran and I were on a bus headed back to Sorrento.  Cold, wet and generally tired of things, we said "Amalfi Shmalfi" and got the heck outta Dodge!  The others said they were going to take a cab back.  We had already paid for a round trip ticket so we just counted our blessings we were out of the weather and going home.  We had to walk the 2 km again, this time it was easier with the wind at our backs and took no time at all and the bus was there when we arrived, things were looking up.  Then after 10-20 mins of the bus not going anywhere we asked when it was leaving and they told us it would be ANOTHER 45 mins until it left...ugh!  With a bus full of teenagers yelling and laughing, the wait seemed more like 45 hours!  Finally the bus started and we headed back to Sorrento.  We decided to get food at a restaurant Patti Bosco had recommended and it was only ok at best.  My Penne all' Arrabiatta was very good but the service and the bread was bad AND they charged not only a seating fee of 1.50 Euro but also a 15% service fee that ISN'T for the waiter...weak!  Bad day (relatively) #2 behind us, we sauntered back to the Hilton and called it a day.  So it looks as though April Fool's Day was indeed a joke this year...a bad one.

Ah-heee...CAH-pree!

Travel back in time with me to Tuesday as I forgot to do that blog entry and everyone else's blog fingers have died.  We got up early and caught the boat to Capri for 27 Euro.   I don't even get why anyone would do the Edward Jones endorsed tours for at least 3 times the price.  The boat ride was decent but it was mostly cloudy out with a good chance for rain.  When we arrived on the island we got tickets for the Funicular and rode that up to the proper area of Capri.  We had a coffee (Coke Light for me) at a nice little caffeteria and lounged for about an hour.  I think we all felt a bit sluggish, possibly due to the overcastiness going on but we finally arose and took a small little bus to the town of Anacapri.  There we found a chairlift (with only single chairs) that would take us to the highest point of the island, Monte Solero.  The view was amazing and you could see all around the island.  We tried in vain to find a spot to have a picnic lunch but to no avail.  The rain started coming down and it was very windy up there (duh!).  So we headed back down and as we descended a whole entire class of kids were heading up.  We joked that it was God telling us to leave with the rain so we didn't get stuck having a picnic up there with 50 teens screaming and laughing.  We had our picnic down in Anacapri instead and eventually somehow crammed into the bus with 80 other people and went back to Capri for some shopping.  Afterwards, we went back down to the bay to figure out how to see the Blue Grotto caves that are all the rave.  Of course, the Blue Grotto tour was closed because the seas were too choppy...damnit!  So, we decided to head back when the next boat came.  Some of us sat and waited, some of us walked around and shopped some more until our boat came.

Tuesday night was the Edward Jones theme dinner and we went to a little spot tucked in the hillside.  It felt a lot like the place we had the Budapest theme dinner, except the end result wasn't the same.  They brought out grilled veggies and 3 kinds of pizza, but we got hosed on the 3rd for some reason because they skipped our table.  The next course was Ravioli so good that Mr. Boyardee himself would approve!  I guess Karma decided to even us out because they came around with seconds on the Rav.  Thanks, jerks!  How bout you scurry over to that brick oven and make up some more of that 3rd, most delicious of the 3 looking pizza, huh?  Wine calmed us all down and the table red was flowing pretty well as we waited at least 25 minutes to get our main course, Roasted Pork and Potatoes with a meager amount of gravy.  Until the extremely neglectful service woke up from their siesta and gave us our I hate to say it, but I have not been blown out of the water with any meal I've had yet and that is especially true of the desserts.  This one was no different either.  I don't even remember what it was, to be honest, it was THAT forgettable.

A lazy Monday

Yeah, if you thought the pace sounded slow yesterday, get a load of today.  Doug and Doran went to their FA meeting and Wendy and Jeni joined them for the spouse portion at around 9:45.  I slipped in for breakfast around the same time and came back upstairs for more sleep.  The lot of them got back up to the room around noon and we putzed around some more until the city tour started at 2pm.  Doug and I didn't like the sound of a 3 hr tour in a bus so we played hooky and sat at the outside pool for 2 hours and ordered a couple of rounds of Corona as well as split a cheeseburger while we tanned.  Awesome!  We just chuckled about all the poor fools in a bus.  After that we went down and swam in the indoor pool for a bit, then came back up around 5pm and lounged about and internetted until our dinner with Patti Bosco, a broker for Hartford at 7pm.   We ate a great meal with some really good wine and walked home all the way up hill.  All in all a good day and now we sleep with thoughts of sugar plums in our head.  Tomorrow we head to the Island of Capri at 7am!!  Yay!

Our warp drive is damaged Captain!

Today marks the beginning of the "Edward Jones" portion of the trip.  Let me tell you, the pace is VASTLY different from what we were doing!  It's like flying at Warp speed in the Enterprise and the powerrr goes out, leaving you to cruise at a gentle pace.  We got to "sleep in" this morning (2pm is sleeping in for me) and we all had breakfast out in the kitchen/dining area.  Our host, Antonio, had arranged for us to have breakfast from 8:30 to 10:00.  Jeni and Doran were in the kitchen at 9:00 and he still wasn't down there so they decided to make themselves an Espresso.  Having owned a coffee shop, they clearly knew their way around a coffee machine so Doran did his first.  When Jeni was in the middle of hers, Antonio came down and got very mad that she was doing that.  But what we didn't really get is that maybe he was mad that HE wasn't able to serve us and not that they were using the machine themselves.  You just never fully know!  After breakfast and listening to Doug's video taping of Wendy sleeping (to document how "bad" her snoring was) we packed the Mondeo up for the last time and started our "quick jaunt" to Sorrento.  It was supposed to only be a 20 min drive that turned into at least an hour and a half due to traffic jams, city driving and general parking disorder.  I could never own a car in this country, unless I lived outside the city and NEVER needed to go to the city.  People park right next to someone that is already parked against the curb, not only leaving them with no way out but also blocking another lane of the street!  It's so messed up and just throws traffic completely out of whack.  We all cheered upon our arrival to The Hilton Sorrento Palace, elated to be in a more permanent space.

We checked in and our room has a great view of the water and the hills/mountains!  It was a bit overcast today so it wasn't as nice as it will be if it ever clears up.  The entire trip so far, Wendy and I had been noticing in the showers that there are these strings coming out of a plate in the wall and when you pull them they don't do anything.  Not until we got to Pompeii did this change and we discovered a buzzer went off when we pulled it this time.  We all figured it was the "I've fallen and I can't get up" string.  Well, the one here in The Hilton says ALARM right underneath the plate in the wall.  Curious George, I mean Doug, decided he wanted to find out what it did anyway!!  Everyone reading can guess that an alarm in the room went off and the phone rang immediately, the front desk asking if everything was alright.  We said yes and got it shut off, crisis averted.  Jeni and Doran brought up some "welcome mimosas" that all the Jones folk received after check-in and told us they were going down to the indoor pool.  Before we went down there, we checked out the rest of the hotel and Wendy had come up before us.  When Doug and I got up to the room, it was dark and Wendy said that when she got up there, the now famous alarm went off again.  She told us that she snapped a picture of the room and right at that instant, the alarm went off.  I told her that there is no photography in the room, as it was built and designed by an extremely famous architect and that's why it went off.  Doug and I chuckled quietly as she was buying into my ruse.  Finally Doug and I were cracking up and it was obvious to her then that I was yanking her chain and we all had a good laugh about it.  The pool was amazing!!  It was 3 stories underground with Fresco paintings all around and 3 story high cliffs with vines and plants growing on it.  The first thing I did was to climb up on to some part of them and "cliff jump" off, it was only 15 ft max though and the pool wasn't even 6 ft deep so I could only jump instead of truly dive.  We spent the better part of 3 or 4 hours in there I think until we decided we had had enough laughter and horsin' off.  Some of us napped for an hour before the Welcome Dinner started and some us are still napping and didn't get the rental car back in time.  The Welcome Dinner was tasty as usual, with a great pasta dish, Lasagna and Sea Bass for the main courses and some grilled veggies, octopus anitpasto and some Sweet Berry Mousse!!  They say you're supposed to spit it out but....no way hosay!!  Tastes like fruit!  (We've been quoting the Sweet Berry Wine sketch by John C Riley from the Tim and Eric Awesome Show all trip long and it still has legs!)  Afterwards we tried to figure out internet service, 88 Euro for a full week is the best deal available but that is still ridiculous!!  That puts it somewhere around $120 for only a week of wireless internet, that is more than the bottle of wine I bought in Montalcino!  But my body was starting to shake from Facebook withdrawals and I needed it, BAD!!  We talked with mom's friend Bonnie Bakke and her sister Grace for a while and then came up to the room, did some internet until our Wendy mandated lights out at midnight was enforced and went to bed.  Like I said, the pace is vastly different.  All we did was eat twice, swim and hang out...killer day!  Til tomorrow, take it easy loved ones!

A Picnic in Pompeii

(Wendy writing)

Our morning began bright and early, as we wanted to get a jump start on the full day we had planned. Of course, we started off with breakfast at the hotel - more eating.... (take advantage of the "free" stuff, right?!) Our plan was to stop off in a town named Cassino. Carolina had told us it would be great. Well, not so much. We took a few photos on/around a tank in the middle of town and then voted to continue on our way - Pompeii here we come! 

Oh, while we were enjoying breakfast (no sign of Cruella), Doran was online researching where we would be staying tonight, in Pompeii.  We booked sight unseen, and as we drove into town through the filthy streets filled with stray dogs and garbage, we were wondering if we'd made the right decision. The GPS took us through what seemed to be alley ways and dirt streets, but as we pulled up to the B&B, we knew Doran had found a true gem! This place is amazing! So, we meet the owner (Antonio), tell him of our plans to visit the ruins and he shows us on a local  map how to walk there. It was that close to us. Then we mentioned we'd like to go to the "Supermercato"  and he tells us he'll take us, he's going that way.  We piled into his SUV, Jeni laid across the laps of Doug, Dave and myself, Doran in the front seat. We spent about 1/2 hour at the supermarket buying the things we'd need for our picnic, then walked to the entrance of the ruins. Doug bought a pair of sunglasses from one of the vendors at the gate after being told he looked like "Rambo" with them on. He of course payed less than what they were asking for them.
We walked into the park area and decided we would eat first, tour later.  Big surprise, eating again!  We chose to have the picnic in The Amphitheater. Dave was most eager to see this as he had just showed us a video of a Pink Floyd  concert/documentary that had been filmed there in the 70's. As we walked in, we weren't sure how we would enjoy it as we had hoped because all of the stairs to the top had been barricaded. Doran saw that some people had made their  way up there so he went to investigate and found a barricade that had been "pushed aside". (That gave us "permission"  don't ya know!) The view from up there was spectacular! Mount Vesuvius in full view is something we'll never forget. And, it was a picture perfect, sunny day! We made our sandwiches, and opened a bottle of wine to have a toast. Doug told us to take a deep breath and savor the moment and then I started to cry, which made Doran get "misty", then Doug and Jeni got teary eyed as well. I'm not sure about Dave, but he's snoring right now, so I can't ask him. We'll just say... it was a very special moment. It's still so hard to believe we're all here, together.

After we picked up and took a few photos we saw that the polizia were coming and they were NOT happy!  Mind you, we'd been there for a good 45 min. to an hour and no one knew we were there. So, we made a quick getaway and continued on our tour of the ruins. This place is massive. 166 acres, which was buried by 60 feet of ash and pumice in AD 79. Approx. 35,000 people lived there. They estimate that 2/3 of the area has been excavated. There were 2.5 million visitors in 2007 alone.  It is so surreal to be walking on the streets of Pompeii and think about what happened and how old most of the structures are.  They are doing a lot of construction and needed repairs/upkeep currently, so there were things we couldn't get in to see. We walked around for a few hours then headed back to the B&B, for a "nice" nap.  A few of us did get some zzz's but they were interrupted occasionally by the train close by. Good thing it's a short and fast train and the last one was at 10:30. For the evening activity we thought we'd go to a place that Antonio had recommended to us, only a few miles away. Doran drove us into town, braving the crowded streets once again. I must say, it has been a blessing having Doran for a driver as he has "mad skills"! (That means he's a very skilled driver in these narrow Italian streets for those of you not familiar with the lingo.) We walked around the town square for awhile, browsing through the "Italian Antiques Roadshow" items that were on display under tents. Very cool! Dinner was great! The place was called Pizza & Pasta, so we ordered both. Everything was great, but we all agreed that the pasta was better than the pizza AND that the pasta was some of the best we'd ever had! After dinner, we wandered through the square where a crowd had gathered to listen to a concert of some sort in front of a church and then through the busy streets filled with mostly teenagers. As we enjoyed more Gelato, some of us felt very out place as far as fashion goes. They sure do dress differently here. We also find it interesting that the kids will walk 3 or 4 in a row holding hands or arms locked together. Boys kiss each other on the cheeks in the streets, boys arm in arm. Fascinating! I know, it's culture.  Well, now we're all back at the B&B, Dave is sleeping, Doug and I are trying to get the blog updated, Jeni and Doran are watching TV and checking in on their emails, blogging...it's a quiet place. I think there are 3 other people staying here. We're gonna give Antonio a great review on TripAdvisor! That's all for now. Tomorrow we head off to Sorrento for the Edward Jones portion of the trip which I'm sure is bound to be great. So far, for myself, I'd have to say I enjoyed Tuscany the most, which I thought I might feel that way. I really could live here. Hmmmm. Maybe someday. Bueno Notte. (Good Night) :)

Chonko's Seranade Video

Chonko video footage

Getting up to speed on pictures

The wine cellar below the Zaira with just under 20,000 bottles of wine

A toast to the evening and our visit to Franco's B

Jeni's Birthday Surprise

The Sib's in back of Il Duomo

Jeni enjoying a moment

Doran, Chonko & Doug enjoy a toast to Tuscany

Doran, Jeni, Dave & Wendy enjoying a glass of vino and the Tuscan sunset

Trattoria Medina for our first dinner in Naples

In Chicago at the airport Chili's too

So you had a bad day...

As our mom said in her comments on this blog, "Remember to keep your sense of humor even if things go wrong as this is all part of the experience and the making of memories."  This day was for you, mother.  

With our best day so far behind us, we awoke slowly and Doran packed the car...blindfolded.  Our goal was to find another country town with a B & B, but some goals you just don't reach I guess.  We fired up the Mondeo again and moved on to Colleferro where we found a cool little market in the middle of town.  Everyone had a "nice" sandwich and we made due with a Coke Zero instead of the prerequisite Coca Cola Light.  It's funny how, back in the US, there's no way the Health Inspector would let someone pop up a tent with a roast pig in it and shave off some sandwiches for passers by.  Other than that, this town was a bust.  Wendy chose the town of Gavignano and after finding it in all of it's beauty, there were no places to stay.  So we took some more vomit inducing windy roads and we had "Gorga on my mind" as we searched in vain for a nice B & B.  Gorga was not the droids we were looking for.  A local Gavignanian librarian pointed us in the direction of Frosinone, where we found a hotel on the GPS that was modern and only a couple years old.  We all were very tired of fruitless driving and were content just to have a spot to sleep.  Internet was readily available and cheap at La Trattoria (which means restaurant but it also had a hotel in it).  Our concierge was a lovely lady named Carolina.  She still spoke English from her 6 yrs in England and she was a blessing and the only savior of the day.  Doug, Wendy and I wanted to get some Coca-Cola Light so we walked the half mile down to the Supermercato.  When we hit the fruit section we all realized how little we have had on this trip and bought some grapes, bananas and pears.  I got some milk (I couldn't read the label and ended up getting whole milk) having commented earlier in the day how much I was dying to drink some milk.  After our walk, naps and blog writing, we didn't feel like searching for a restaurant in town and went downstairs to the one in our hotel instead...big mistake!  Our waitress, we'll call her Cruella, came out and asked if we spoke any Italian.  Of course we said no and she proceeded to quickly mark on the extensive menu, the 5 things we were allowed to order.  Now, this menu had a section for First Courses AND a section for First Courses that are available depending on the day of the week.  This would suggest to me, that section 1 is available ALL THE TIME and section 2 was the plates du jour.  The menu had the same thing for Second Courses and all she said was available was a few items of ALL those sections of the menu.  She was giving us all dirty looks and we had to go get our savior Carolina to help translate because we didn't understand why they would have such a massive menu only to really have 5 things on any given day.  Even Carolina fought with Cruella and once we got something we COULD order, Cruella wouldn't let us order Bruschetta in addition to the Antipasto Misto because it came with Bruschetta already!  What if we wanted more Bruschetta!?!?  Angered and mystified, we got up and left, telling Carolina that she could charge our rooms for the crappy food we got but we were not going to sit around and wait for a bill.  Carolina recommended a new restaurant and as we hopped down the road to Villa del Poggio, Doran commented, "A bad day in Italy is still better than a good day at home."  There was food there and a server that was not difficult so we completed the usually easy task of eating a meal in the city.  On the way home, Doug mentioned our mother's advice again and I said that it wasn't all a bad day...Doug asked what part of the day wasn't crap and I said "We got some delicious fruit and milk."  Crabby and tired, we ignored Ephesians 4:26 and let the sun set on our anger and hoped for a better day tomorrow.

Good day sunshine! (aka Frankie's Crap Chute)

(Dave writing)

Wendy gives a shout out to all her peeps!!  

After a great night of food and wine in Montalcino, we packed up Jeni and Doran's Ford Mondeo wagon and headed SE towards Orvieto via Siena.  There was an Avis located in Siena and now that we were all together, we needed to drop off our rental car and cram into theirs.  Doran was a master packer and I would guess he played plenty of Tetris in his days.  Once we were in Siena, we decided to check out Piazza del Campo and Il Duomo which were both inside a walled off area inside the city.  Piazza del Campo was the best people watching we've experienced on the trip thus far!  Tons of punk kids running around with american 80's-esque t-shirts and hats.  We have also noticed that the general teen fashion here isn't that much different than back home.  They still wear the retarded baseball caps a little cocked off center with a flat brim and the stickers still on it.  So lame and unoriginal yet they think they are being unique and really defining themselves...ugh!  Fashion gripes aside, it was really fun to catch some unwanted plumber's crack while we soaked up the sun and ate the massive "pieces" of pizza we had bought.  They were more like a 1/4 of the pizza.  After the pizza we got some Gelato, our first of the trip, and it was quite delicious.  It was on to Il Duomo next, we didn't go in and see it mostly because everyone but Wendy said, "Meh, I've seen enough churches in my life".  Funny but true, once you done enough European sight seeing, you get a little burned out on similar structures and they start to lose their magnificence. It was a beautiful building on the outside though and altogether, it felt like a good site seeing day for all.  

Everyone packed into the Mondeo and we headed towards Ovierto to find a quaint little town with a B&B that we could enjoy.  After some time we stumbled upon the little city of Chiusi.  We wanted to find a Bed & Breakfast and we found that in La Casa Toscana B & B.  The only problem was that there wasn't anyone there to help us.  We walked around to the back and still no answer.  We decided to try and call the number they had written on the sign saying they were open but if no answer, call the number.  We went down to the local Bar and they said the number was wrong because it had too many digits.  We had no idea what to do and as we went back to our car to move on to another town, Franco, the owner pulled up and  showed us the accomodations.  It was 60 Euro/room which was the best deal we've had to date.  He told us that it didn't, however, include Breakfast.  So it really was more like a B, not a B & B.  With our lodging taken care of we were ready to begin the night and an eagerness for the kind of good times not yet present in the trip was overflowing.  Be careful what you wish for, you just might get it.  La Casa Toscana had a small porch on the roof of the entrance so we gathered there for a bottle of wine that our kind host brought out.  I kept telling everyone to hurry or we'd miss the sunset but did anyone listen to me?  NOOOOOO!  Well, after the bottle was gone and we made our way to the edge of the town, guess what?  Yep, the sun was down and any gorgeous views to be had were long since gone.  In between gulps of wine I could only murmur an I told you so, as I really didn't care that much anyway.  We were having too much fun already, Doran and I had our cigars and everyone else was running about, taking photos of each other and all the surroundings.  Our destination was Trattoria Zaira, which Doug had read was very good.  Of course, like every restaurant in Italy, they didn't open til 8pm.  We had an hour to kill and wandered next door to the Caffe Venezia.  This gorilla of a man, calling himself Chonko, was the most entertaining bartender we could ask for.  He had a love for blues music and we think he was drunk because our tab was way too low for what we had.  The restaurant was open by this time so we headed over to get some grub.  We were the only ones in there, with Leonard and AC from Holland that we met in Caffe Venezia joining us.  We enjoyed marianted trout, ravioli, rabbit with lemon, beef w/ brunello sauce, short pasta with sausage that we thought had some curry qualities to it and some chicken w/ peppers.  We were right by an open window and Chonko kept coming over and popping in the window to see if we were all having fun.  So much good food and laughs!  After dinner we all got a tour of the wine cellar with an estimated 19,999 bottles in it!  We capped off a great night with a visit to our friend Chonko who, by this time, was wearing afro wigs and serving outlandish drinks.  We eventually headed back to the B with our best night so far logged in the books.

Tucked in in Tuscany

We finally got our car around 630am and it had cleared up from the earlier downpour.  This turned out to be a blessing because driving in the rain would not have allowed us to go twice the speed limit!  Doug (Mario Andretti we called him) was the perfect person to be behind the wheel as we sped out of town.  We were making good time as we watched the Tom Tom GPS slowly shaving minutes off of our estimated arrival time.  There was still no way to contact Doran if we would be late.  It was pretty much straight highway for a major portion of the trip but once we had to turn off, it was all windy zig-zags with ups and downs throughout.  It was looking good for a while but we weren't able to put Castello Banfi on the GPS because we didn't have an address and the Longitude and Latitude we had were incorrect.  Very unsure of our exact turns, we made a few wrong choices but didn't get far before we corrected them.  At the last wrong turn we had to stop and ask the police where to go!  That was the last time we needed help and Wendy and I tried to keep our stomach contents down while Mario raced us to the vineyard.  We showed up a few minutes ahead of schedule actually and saw Doran coming out of the building with his video camera.  So we walked in and Jeni had her back to us so Wendy said, "Are you here for the wine tour?"  Jeni was stunned!!  Her exact words cannot be written here but it was a great, successful surprise!!  Words cannot describe the feeling it gave us, me likey.  So we took the tour, took a much needed nap and had a lovely dinner at Trattoria Il Pozzo where the wine flows like the salmon of capistrano.  All the food, wine and emotion of the night had us exhausted so we tucked in for the night....in Tuscany.

Day 2

Dave here!  It has finally begun and the excitement in the air was palpable, probably because we said, “I’m so excited!”.  Doug and I met up at the airport around 5:00 and by the time the flight boarded were at each others throats.  No, just kidding.  We actually had come up with a bunch of funny things we need to do videowise and/or blog-wise, we are quite the comic writing machine!  We didn’t have the same seats so we talked with the Linda at the gate.  Doug told her that we were meeting up with our sister in Chicago to then fly on to Munich and she was all excited for us, without  hearing the BEST part of the story.  She took care of getting us all seated together for the flights she was able, even calling to Lufthansa airlines in Chicago to arrange the Chicago-Munich leg.  So, as we were following Doug’s travel rule #2 and boarding last he casually asked if there were any bulkhead seats or exit rows available.  Linda looked and said, “Well, we’re supposed to charge extra for these seats but since you’re flying onto Munich, I’ll let you have them.”  So we got a $50 upgrade for free just by asking.  It’s nice to see that customer service isn’t dead yet!

Wendy was at our gate waiting for us upon our arrival in Chicago.  We had to go to the gate to get our new boarding passes and then grabbed din-din at Chili’s Too.  Even that was fun, as we were all joking around and enjoying the start of our time together.  A running theme for the trip was established during this time, because I always sing a little snippet when people use phrases that remind me of a song, we joked around that by the end of the trip we’ll just be communicating via songs.  By the end of the dinner we had already done Journey, Boston, Bob Seger, and more I need to ask them about.

The flight to Munich was one of the longest feeling flights I’ve ever been on.  Not in the, I need to get OFF this plane way, it just seemed to take forever.  They served us a snack right away and then a dinner and said that a few hours before we land would be a breakfast.  Well, Doug and I watched “Vicky Christina Barcelona” on the plane’s personal TVs after the snack AND ate our dinner and somehow only 2 hours had passed!  Of course, no international flight would be complete without a crying baby and we had one 2 rows away!! Doug and I moved right onto watching “Kingpin” with Woody Harrelson and Bill Murray and Doug fell asleep in the middle of it.  I decided to put my laptop away and try to get some rest. It was now the “lights off” portion of the flight and I got up  to stow it in the overhead bins.  When I opened ours up, Wendy’s headphone kit case fell right onto the head of the guy in front of her!!  I was very apologetic and he was understanding to say the least.  I felt awful, even though I had no way of knowing that would happen.  So I put it back in the bin, this time in a better spot and as I was trying to put my own headphones in my bag, somehow in the dark I didn’t see that everything was shifting and the same kit fell on the same guys head AGAIN!  If I weren’t feeling like such a jackass it would have been hilarious.  Okay, it was hilarious but I couldn’t laugh about it then.  While Doug and I did all these things, Wendy watched “The Women” and The Secret Life of Bees” but wasn’t able to finish the latter.  I woke up a couple times and thought we were getting close to landing, though I have no idea why I thought that.  Turns out that we were only halfway there!  Ugh!  When they served our extremely light breakfast, they gave us some rolls by Rubschlager.  Doug laughed at the name and used it in a few sentences, quickly making it another running theme for the trip. Eventually we landed and went to our next gate, where Wendy and Doug took naps on the benches as we waited for our bus to come and take us to the plane.  We had to board the plane to Naples via the built in steps and so I took that opportunity to do a Nixon-esque double peace sign picture.  Wendy didn’t like the short flight to Naples, it was a bit turbulent.  I, however, had no problem at all sleeping and was awake for a very small portion of the 1hr and 15 min flight.

It was now 4:30 and we got our rental car (a cozy Ford Fiesta Wagon equipped with Tom Tom GPS navigation) with no idea of what we were about to experience driving to our hotel.  Rush hour congestion and insanely close merging and driving was only the start.  Once inside the city, narrow streets and alleyways along with parked cars and mopeds zipping in between impossible gaps made it a nerve racking experience.  Tom Tom got us close, but when push came to shove, we asked a local man in his 60’s for directions.  And by WE asked I mean, he recognized that we were frozen in the middle of a small street with no idea of which way to go and came up to us asking where we wanted to go. He was very nice and was kind enough to literally walk us to the Hotel Il Convento.  I drove the car along with the luggage porter another ¼ mile to a parking garage where we left it for the night.  This would pose a problem the next morning. 

(Doug is writing now)

We checked in, brushed our teeth and quickly got ready for dinner, as we were beginning to get hungry.  The Rubschlager rolls were not sticking and we were in the mood for some local, substantive Neopolitan cuisine.  The front desk manager at our hotel recommended the Trattoria Medina, just about ¼ mile away.  We walked to the Trattoria and walked in around 7:15 and the restaurante was empty.  The hostess snapped at us to “come back at 8”.  We decided to go next door to the “deli” side of the establishment to get a bite to tide us over and had a chicken, tomato, and arugula salad and a pasta w/ham dish called Fritata something or other and a bottle of chianti.

We toasted the beginning of our trip with a “salud” and enjoyed a nice conversation until it was a little past 8:00.  We moved next door to the restaurant, where there was just one gentleman enjoying a pizza.  We strolled past the wood burning pizza oven and sat down.   The inside of the tratorria was very traditional with exposed brick and lofted ceilings.  Our waiter “Chito” brought us Italian menus, which he quickly switched to English menus when he heard us talking.

We ordered a bottle of Aglianico red and a Caprese salad for “3” and he brought us 3 huge plates of Caprese…very delish, but we easily could have shared one.  We all ate about 2/3 of our Caprese and decided to take home the rest.  We weren’t starving, but we decided to order one pizza, the Confa with salami, tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, ricotta cheese, basil and cayenne pepper, which was recommended by our waiter.  We finished off our meal by savoring a small chilled Limoncello, the perfect way to end our evening.  As we were all tired, we walked back to our hotel around 9:30.  We left the balcony door cracked a bit for some fresh air and drifted off to sleep on our giant, stiff crib-like mattresses with the sound of cars, motorcycles and scooters rushing by on the streets below.

Wendy woke up around 1:30 to use the bathroom and could not get back to sleep.  I woke up as well (Dave, needless to say was still sound asleep) and we talked, deciding to leave earlier than planned for Montalcino to surprise Jeni on her birthday morning. 

(Dave writing)

The plan was to surprise Jeni at the beginning of Winery Tour that started promptly at 11AM and we still had to make the 4+ hr drive from Naples to Montalcino.  We wanted to be there at 10:30 so we had time to surprise he and cry and stuff so we planned to get up at 4 so we could leave by 5. Since they were both unable to sleep, they woke me up a little earlier than planned and Doug was going to head to the garage to get the car while I showered.  I did my thing and Doug still hadn’t returned.  10 minutes later he showed up and said that he couldn’t get into the garage because it was locked down for the night…even though the front desk people at our hotel told us it was 24hr access!!  There was someone there when Doug ran the buzzer but they didn’t speak any English and hung up immediately. The stringy pansy of a front desk person wouldn’t keep calling for us and we were left with no other option than to wait until 5am and have them try again.

 

 

Authentic Italian Cuisine!

Dave here...this secret has been fun to play up!  Anytime I talk to Jeni, I throw in a comment about the trip and say how much it sucks that things didn't work out.  I just can't even imagine the look on her face and the feelings that are going to hit her when she sees us!!  It is going to be sweet.  I am really going to enjoy this trip, regardless of what we do.  This will be the first time that just the 5 siblings (Doran counts!) will be alone together for 1 day, let alone 10 days.  I said that about the Budapest trip too but it's true, we don't get these opportunities everyday or even more than a few times in life really.

So, I've been watching a little TV and it has really peaked my excitement for the food there.  In the heart of the Tuscany region is a cooking school where they instill the values and history of authentic Italian cooking.  Taking the time to teach every piece of this delicate art, like how sauteed garlic can bring out the succulence of grilled shrimp...mmm!  I hope we are close by to this Olive Garden restaurant they speak of, it sounds like something I could never eat here at home!  

Doug and I have agreed to have our laptop batteries fully charged this time.  Last trip we both had 1/2 power and we paid the price by not being able to finish Fletch, the horror!  I think we also will be setting up a list of approved movies to bring as Doug did not enjoy "Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?" one bit.  You can't teach good taste I guess.  Even though the total flight time is somewhere in the neighborhood of 15 hrs, I am actually looking forward to it a lot.  Wendy, Doug and I sitting together for most of that is bound to be a blast.  

Trying to keep a secret is not easy!

Well, we've been keeping this secret from our sister for a few months now. She turns 40 in a few weeks and last year she told us she wanted to spend her birthday in Italy and wanted us all to be there. So, that was the plan...but along the way a few things changed and we told Jeni we wouldn't be able to go. She was so disappointed and we all felt really bad. Then things changed again, and all of a sudden we were going! To ITALY!!!! But, we wanted to surprise her! So far, the secret hasn't been revealed and we think she's in the dark! She and Doran leave on the 21st and we will be leaving on the 23rd. We will be meeting in Montalcino, a small town in Tuscany. We hope to surprise her at a winery called Castello Banfi, one of the top producers of Brunello di Montalcino. (something she's been looking forward to!) We'll go on a tour and then have lunch at the Taverna. I can't even express how excited I am to be able to go on this trip! Traveling to Italy has been a dream of mine for quite some time. And to be there with my family is going to be amazing! I will meet up with Doug and Dave in Chicago, from there we fly to Munich, then on to Naples. I just hope that Jeni is truely surprised - she has always been the planner of surprise parties but has never been the recipient of one. This oughta be a good one! Happy Birthday Kristi Sturge!