Farewell Napoli!

For our last day in Naples, Nate and I decided to go back downtown. Our goal was to have one last Neapolitan pizza at the famous Sorbillo's, to walk around a bit more, and for me to pick up my final cookbook (I picked one up from each region we visited). In the end, we had a bit of a detour (in a good way), but we left Naples knowing we had experienced a lot of what the town has to offer.

Lunch at the famous Sorbillo's did not disappoint. My final (DELICIOUS) Neapolitan pizza... We are yet to even want to try American pizza again:

The detour I spoke of earlier all started with this view from the car window on our way home from downtown; Mount Vesuvius was clearer than we had ever seen. It was an omen!

We turned the car around and FINALLY attacked Vesuvius, something we had previously chalked up as a loss. The walk up wasn't too long (there were even tourists opting to go it in heels... to each his own, I guess). Nate and Lando heading to the top:

Looking inside the crater. Some people (ahem... Erin) may think there is lava at the top, but there's not. Only dirt and a little smoke:

A view of Naples:

Nate and Lando checking out the view overlooking Sorrento:

Our farewell to Naples... from the top:

Later that night we had dinner at our resort with our Italian friends, old and new. Such a great group of people. And, no, they all don't naturally have possessed-looking eyes... I only had my iPhone for the whole day and the flash is a bit aggressive:

After dinner we said our goodbyes and went to bed as early as possible knowing we had an early wake up and long day of travel ahead of us.  Landon at the airport (before the sun) with our light luggage ;)

I don't even know how to sum up our three month stay in Naples. Italy continues to be one of my favorite countries in the world. We feel very lucky to have been able to experience everything we did and really feel good about our no-rest-for-the-weary approach.  That said, we came home looking forward to a weekend of sitting :)

Last Weekend in Italy - Back to Tuscany

Well, we are back in the States and right back to the American lifestyle. It's amazing how easily you can assimilate back to what you know. I need to update on what's happening in our lives right now, seeing as how we are a bit in limbo (okay, not "a bit" at all), but I will wait until we know what our next step is.

As for Italy, for our last weekend we decided that we wanted to go back to (probably) our favorite place- Tuscany. This time we stayed at a bed and breakfast in the countryside with our favorite peeps, the Baughmans.  While I'm not going to bore you with too many details just know it was a great weekend of shopping, city-touring, and eating..... A LOT of eating (I LOVE TUSCAN FOOD!!). If I'm counting right, we hit 6 towns: Assisi, Asciano, Montalcino, Piensa, Montelpulciano, Siena. We had a great time and know we made the right choice of where to complete our Italian adventure.

Like I said, not going to go into details (partly because it feels like so long ago, already).. but here are some pics from 3 of the towns.

Assisi:

The boys- Lando, Nate, and Andrew:

Piensa:

This is what happens when you ask a stranger to take the one picture of your group for the weekend and they think they know your camera better than you :(

Siena:

Erin and Lando

We will miss our partners in crime, the Baughmans. We can't wait to have you guys back in the states. Only one more year to go!

Frankfurt, Germany

*** Better late than never, right?!

 On Friday May 4th to the 6th, we headed out of Italy to Frankfurt, Germany. There were two major reasons for this trip. The first was that our good friends Justin and Marisa have been living there for years and we've wanted to visit them for quite some time. And second, I've always wanted to check out Germany for many reasons, but also to see where my dad spent years in his childhood as a military brat. My dad actually lived in Frankfurt, so it was very cool to imagine him there at a young age, stealing coins from fountains ("Hey a kid has to get money somehow," he'd say).

We had a VERY early wake up Friday morning, but made it to Frankfurt without a problem. After checking into our hotel we took the recommendation of Marisa and walked down the river towards the center of town to check things out and waste time until Justin and Marisa got off work. We didn't totally luck out with great weather on our trip, but Friday was gorgeous! All along the river are grassy parks and playgrounds. Landon didn't mind stopping to play, at all:

Landon and I heading to town with the skyline in the background (Are you sick of seeing us in the same clothes?? Cause we're sick of wearing the same clothes!):

We walked to the part of town called Dom/Romer. Their churches are called Doms, not too far from the Italian version, Duomo:

It was a cute part of town, definitely big with the tourists:

The fountain in the middle of the square

We had a delicious lunch in the square. Landon was a fan of German goulash:

We also found our store! If you're wondering, it was like a Euro Crate and Barrel. If I had the ability to bring a lot of stuff home with me, I'd probably would have done some damage:

Another suggestion that Marisa gave was to check out Kleinmarkt halle, her favorite indoor market. It was awesome! I loved it and could definitely see myself shopping for fresh foods and produce there. After Italy and Germany, I don't think I'll ever look at American produce the same way, unfortunately:

After our big walk, we rested back at our hotel. Soon it was time to head to Marisa and Justin's for what they told me, would be the best schnitzel of our lives.  As Justin put it, we definitely got "schnitzel-faced."

After a heavy dinner and a long day, we called it a night to rest up for Saturday. We were exhausted!!

Saturday morning, after a yummy pastry breakfast (Euros LOVE their pastries), we met up with Marisa and Justin for our tour of Frankfurt. They started off by showing us the town's only real Holocaust site. It was a Jewish cemetery in the old Jewish ghetto, where the Nazis had gone through and removed all the headstones. If you look in picture you see them all towards the back, still in the cemetery, although, lost from their owners:

The wall surrounding the cemetery held plaques which named victims of the Holocaust who had been from Frankfurt:

You may recognize this one:

After, we headed to the more financial district of Frankfurt. Germany is far more westernized than Italy (especially Naples, in particular). It was almost shocking to see big name stores and...... Starbucks! I'll tell you what, after drinking the little espressos and cappuccinos here, a grande decaf latte at Starbucks felt like chugging a gallon-size drink. A pic of the best tour guides ever, Justin and Marisa:

Outside the Frankfurt stock exchange. Bear, Bull, Butlers:

And what's a trip without stopping by "Occupy Frankfurt." Nate's favorite part of the trip... j/k:

Stopping at another market for some brats. Now, I don't eat sausage or cured meats when I'm pregnant (and rarely when I'm not), but this had to be one of the most satisfying "cheats" ever. I mean, come on, "When in Germany..." or something like that ;)

The last stop of the day was to check out my dad's old apartment on Wolfsgangstasse:

My dad's street. His building is just after the house under construction on the right:

His old place. His family lived on both the first and third floor.... but isn't it an awesome building! I loved it. There was a birthday party happening on the third floor and now the first floor is a law office. Occupants have changed, but my dad tells me it still looks the same :)

Sunday was a rainy day filled with brunch, soccer, more eating, and no picture taking (obviously). In all, I loved our trip to Frankfurt. Germany is a VERY clean, well-kept place. The citizens are rule-followers to the core (so different from the people of Naples) and their transportation system was the most efficient I've seen, making it easy for this prego to get around. All in all, I'd love to check out more of Germany in the future!

Special thanks to Justin and Marisa, aka the best tour guides ever!! We can't wait to hear about your new adventures in Hong Kong!

Amalfi Coast

Last weekend we headed to the BEAUTIFUL Amalfi Coast for some relaxation, hiking, and good eats. We stayed in Positano for two nights and we were spoiled with some gorgeous weather. Luckily, getting to the Amalfi is a short hour and a half drive. And it's easy too.. .if you don't mind some windy, coastal driving on cliffs. Okay, getting to Positano wasn't bad at all, but traveling between towns can be a bit sketchy, especially with huge buses driving through on roads that you can hardly believe are big enough to be two-way streets. But I'm not complaining... and I'll show you why. This is the view from our hotel:

The town at night was just as beautiful. I loved the way the buildings looked all lit up on the cliffs:

Other than the obvious (that Positano was beautifully set on a cliff in an unreal setting), there was something else a bit "different" from what we we've grown accustomed to in Naples- it was soooo quiet. I don't know if it's because the town isn't too big, or the fact that buildings are more stacked on top of each other so there's no chance for reverberation, but it was so calm and quiet. A great place to just sit on the balcony of your hotel and relax. After a night of exploring and eating dinner with friends, we hit the sack to rest up for an early morning adventure to hike the "Path of the Gods."

The hike starts in the town Argelo, high above Amalfi, and ends in Positano. Unfortunately, to get there we had to take two buses about an hour each on some of the smallest roads with tons of switchbacks, and all set on extremely steep cliffs. I don't mind these things in a car, but a big bus driven by a complete stranger adds an element. This is about how I felt about it (Okay, I was worse):

But we made it to Argelo safe and sound and had a quick picnic lunch. As we were sitting in the square eating, who drove up but our friend, Dave (Naples tour), and his family. What a great surprise. So our party of five turned into a party of ten and we were on our way.

WARNING: Because of the sheer beauty of the place, a lot of pictures are coming your way...right.. now

The hike was by far the best one we have ever been on. It had all the elements you could ask for: trees, coast, amazing cliff sides, and the most beautiful views we'd ever seen. It's definitely going down as our favorite hike to date.

Our first great view. Of course what we didn't know is that every time we would turn a corner the next view was going to compete with the last.

Keeping hydrated in the heat was the name of the game. Luckily Landon loves drinking out of the Camel Back :)

Family pic. #2 is definitely more prevalent in these pictures than in the beginning of our trip.

Now, when I say we were on cliffs, I really mean we were on cliffs (Don't worry we felt safe the whole time). If you look closely you can see a couple members of our group:

Starting to see a glimpse of Positano:

Whatever you do, don't look down!! ;)

Yes, we walked along there, too.

The 30 weeks prego me:

Family pic... oh wait... someone forgot to wake up Landon. I believe the quote from the British couple who took the picture was, "Ummm.. Your kid's dead."

Getting closer to Positano:

Ahhhh.. a much needed break in a church's courtyard in Novelle.

We smile because we don't know what we are in for:

Hike complete... except for the 2000+ stairs we had to go down from Novelle to Positano. It hurt. The smile in this picture is all a lie.

After a tiring day we had to stop to grab a lemon sorbet (lemon is all over  the Amalfi, and delicious). We got back to the hotel, got some much needed rest, and got ready for dinner. For dinner we were headed to La Tagliata, where everyone and their mom recommended we eat. It was easy to get to (they pick you up and drop you off at your hotel), delicious, had friendly service (family owned and runned), and had a beautiful view. This is our view from our table:

The meal was a traditional Italian meal which means Antipasti (about 10 different types to share with the table), primi (pasta dish), secondi (meat and/or fish), and a dessert. Our Secondi for the four of us (Joe, Margee, Nate, and me):

Needless to say we were stuffed to gills as we rolled out of there. I'm pretty sure the bus home dragged a little lower than on the way there ;) With full bellies and tired legs, we went happily to sleep that night.

The next morning Nate, Lando, and I were up pretty early to take a drive up the Amalfi coast. We left early enough so that the traffic wasn't bad and didn't even have too many run-ins with ginormous buses. But, I'm telling you, driving the coast is waaaay better when you're in a car.

After a beautiful drive we hit our last destination, Ravello. Ravello is a small town situated high up on a cliff that is mostly known for it's musical culture and the Gardens of Villa Cimbrone. The gardens are right on the edge of the cliff so hold the town's most magnificent views. I'll let the pictures do the talking:

Nate and Lando:

Me, Lando, and #2:

Cute boys I have:

We let Landon loose and he loved being free in the gardens. He especially loved running through flower bushes and getting little flowers all over himself:

Our goodbye to the Amalfi was a sad one. We had had a great trip and were going to miss it's beauty.

Now, believe it our not, we are down to two weeks in Italy. The time has flown and heading home will be bitter sweet. But next up, Germany :)