Ahem...from La Spezia we headed south for an hour's ride to Pisa. We got off at the San Rossore station instead of the main one, as it is only 500m to the Tower of Pisa. We followed the masses off on their way to school and quickly found ourselves in front of the garden of the Duomo. Behind the Duomo is the real attraction, the one every tourist tries to push up or hold up and always fails. We tried, and failed. The architecture of the church and the tower is quite amazing...lots of columns on the exterior (don't ask me what kind...it could be Ionic or one of those other funky names) and the structures are all made of locally-produced marble. On the ride down we passed the marble-cutting facilities, with row upon row of giant marble blocks...incredible!
After checking out the tower and taking the normal 300 pictures, Princess and I meandered through town to the main strain (sic) station, a mere 1.8km away. We had to go to this one instead of San Rossore because the connecting line would have arrived into the main station after the departure of our train to Firenze. In Firenze, we bought the bag and bit the bullet, as the temperatures had dropped considerably. When we left Sarzana it was about 2º C, but in Pisa it was warm enough to not see our breath. However, in Firenze, Princess was frozen solid despite her layers, gloves and scarf over the nose. I was fine, at least with my big suede coat; it always keeps me warm. Our train to Napoli was delayed about 35 minutes, but we passed the time twiddling our thumbs and dreaming of the warm Neapolitan sun. The train finally pulled into the station and away we went.
The ride to Napoli was relatively short, about three hours, and we arrived at the coast just before 15:45. Once we got into the Garibaldi station, we proceeded downstairs and caught the Circumvesuviana rail line all the way to Sorrento. It was an hour's ride, making the total travel time on the day just about six hours. With all the regional trains and layovers it was hard to notice the time. We pulled into Sorrento well after dark, even though the time was only 1720.
From the train station Princess and I lugged our suitcases down the main street, past the slow rush of traffic, to our awaiting hotel. We rang the doorbell...no answer. I rang again and waited...still no answer. WTF? Did I book a bogus room? Princess noticed a phone number on the outside sign, so I called it. The woman who picked up said she was on her way and would meet us in five minutes. We watched the traffic zoom by at 3km/h and soon our attendant arrived. She then told us that the room we had booked was unavailable. Oh no! Apparently, and we're not completely sure about this, the previous guests had become ill and severely tainted the guest room. Umm, OK? Then we were told that we were being moved to the downtown location (literally...in the middle of old town!), free of charge, and that a car was coming to get our stuff. Yippee!!
The old location was a nice room with cool colors and free breakfast. The new place was called Sorrento Town Suites and was just off the main road, with a kitchenette (yay!). We were very excited with our new duds, and spent most of the ensuing hour piling all of our clothes on the floor (all of it dirty). We then ran out to the store to buy food for dinner, but we arrived an hour late and instead settled for a recommended location. In we walked and I was instantly amazed...Valencia CF was playing Genoa on the big screen! Right on! I haven't seen them in action in a long while, so it was nice to see them up close. They eventually won in the final minutes, and now have moved into the next round of the European playoffs.
While I busied myself with the TV, Princess was making acquaintances with Mamma. She found the gnocchi and made up her mind long before I arrived at the table. I sat down and ordered a plate of rigatoni and we awaited the festival. Our plates arrived and Princess' eyes bulged...there must have been at least a half kilo of pasta on each of our plates. For me, this is nothing new, but for the li'l lady, she wasn't expecting to have her stomach over-enlarged. Both of us eventually finished our platters and then moved directly into dessert. Free with dessert was limoncello! However, as we learned later, theirs is far superior as it is made with Everclear. I smell another project looming!
The views there were incredible, both of structures and the looming Mt Vesuvius. Our stay was limited because the wind had picked up earlier and clouds were moving in. Rain was on the forecast for the following day, and we didn't want to usher it in early. Back at home, we shared a bottle of local Pinot Bianco and consumed truffle-scented pasta and veal cordon bleu, along with a pair of episodes of Californication.
In Pompeii we toured a few sites and observed a few more. We walked through the Roman Forum and Temple of Apollo while gazing into various houses, tombs and various business of the first century. We saw the small theatre, dedicated to poetry reading and music, and the large theater for greater productions and comedies. At one end of the city lay the Amphitheatre, the great site where the gladiators gathered to fight each other and the many exotic animals brought in. At the opposite end of the city lay the Villa dei Misteri, a house owned by the rich where they could relax away from home. It was popular back then to dedicate entire houses to the recreation of separate societies, in this case the Greeks. Old Pompeii is huge...I cannot do it enough justice on this blog. To fully understand that you must see it in person!
Only five days to Christmas!!
