Day in Sorrento

Today we spent the day in Sorrento. We had debated going due to a forecast of rain, but we lucked out w/ just a sprinkle that lasted a few minutes, and was hardly umbrella-worthy for these Seattle-ites and Bostonians...

We spent the day strolling the narrow, pedestrian streets, taking in the local fares such as ceramics, lemoncellos, candies etc, indulging in some Italian staples...pastries and espressos for breakfast, pizzas for lunch and gelatos for dessert, and then making our way along the cliffside switchbacks back to Napoli. It was a fun day and we're looking forward to more touring later this week and this weekend.

Neopolitan driving

My mother, Evan and I joined some friends at a "Turkish Luncheon" at the NATO base. The luncheons occur each month, sponsored by women from various countries, and besides getting to learn about the culture and taste the foods of whichever country is highlighted, the functions are usually a great place to mingle and meet new people.

Our excursion to the Turkish Luncheon did start off with a bit of a hiccup though as we got in a car accident on the way there. My friend had come to pick us up in her brand new car..not even a month old, and we were t-boned just outside the NATO base. Thankfully noone was hurt but I guess my Mom got a true understanding of what the roads, traffic and driving are like in Napoli!

Our "days off" from touring

We've been keeping busy sightseeing, but my parents are also having fun just relaxing at our apartment and hanging out with Evan. It's been a HUGE help having them here, and I've been joking with my Mom that her profile picture on the "au pair" website was a bit dated, and her Italian isn't as good as she claimed, but she's still well worth the 2 euro an hour and boy is she a hard worker! Her new nickname is Luigia...my Italian Au Pair:)ha!

My parents studied up on a bit of Italian before they arrived, and they've been practicing some of the words they learned. The funniest was when they practiced their "Grazie"..(Thank You), by enthusiastically smiling and waving and yelling "Grazie" in unison to the beggar at the toll booth. They thought she was a toll collector there to help drivers understand the automated toll collecting machine. That was truly their 'tourist' moment! Hysterical!

I've posted some pics from time relaxing at the apartment, catching some wind down at our beach, strolling in the park, and playing with Evan. There's also one of Luigia hard at work in the kitchen:)

Does this Palace look familiar?

My folks, Evan and I had a great time exploring the Royal Palace of Caserta this week.

The Royal Palace of Caserta is a former royal residence in Caserta, southern Italy, constructed for the Bourbon kings of Naples. It was the largest palace and one of the largest buildings erected in Europe during the eighteenth century and it was modeled after Versailles. It is absolutely huge, and has some 1,200 rooms, including two dozen state apartments, a large library, and a theatre modelled after the Teatro San Carlo of Naples.

Another cool thing about the palace and surrounding gardens is the fact that this location was used in a bunch of blockbuster movies. Caserta palace was used as the location for Queen Amidala's Royal Palace on Naboo in the 1999 film Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace and again in the 2002 film Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones as Queen Jamilla's palace. The same room was also used in Mission: Impossible III as Vatican City. In fact, the square where the Lamborghini is blown up is actually the square inside the Palace. The main staircase is also used in Angels & Demons (film) as the Vatican's staircase. The mezzo soprano Cecilia Bartoli used the palace as primary location for the film "L'art des castrats" that accompanies her album "Sacrificium", dedicated to the music written for the castrato singers of the baroque period. So...this palace may just look familiar. If you look really closely as you watch those movies, you may also see The Berry/Blank family bobbing their heads amongst the 'extras'...haha..

Benvenuti a mamma e papà Italia

My parents arrived safely to Italy on Wednesday and we are having a great time taking in the sites of Naples, the views from our apartment, and just general life in Italy.

On Wednesday, they arrived in Rome, so after a 2 hour drive back to Naples, we decided to just relax at home. We had some coffees out on the balcony, played with Evan, and enjoyed some pizzas that Josh got on his way home from work. My mother and I enjoyed Siciliana pizza (eggplant), my father had the spicy Diavola (the closest thing to a pepperoni pizza), and Josh had the classic Marguerita. All of us went to bed early, exhausted after a long day of travel, airport pickups, and work.

On Thursday, my folks and I met up with my Italian friend Claudia and her baby Andrea for a walk to the Posillipo outdoor market. This weekly market takes up an entire street and sells everything from shoes and clothes to kitchen accessories and general housewares. I had a long list of household items I needed, so it was great to have Claudia with us since she could help translate my list for the salespeople and also help to ensure that I didn't pay too much since when they can, the sellers will definitely charge tourists more than what they will charge the locals. After a successful time at the market, conquering 3 quarters of my shopping list, Claudia headed to the park to feed Andrea, while we went to the Gelateria for some gelato..my father had the Tirimisu flavor, and my mother and I created a great double scoop combo of Chocolate and Coconut...tasted just like Ma's favorite candy--Mounds bars...yum!

Friday was spent touring Napoli. We bussed down the hill from Posillipo to Chiaia, strolled Via Chiaia--a pedestrian lane lined w/ shops and restaurants..stopping for a slice of lasagna pizza which we ate in Piazza Plebiscito while watching the police on motorcycles practicing some type of riding formation. After Piazza Plebiscito, we walked across the street, up Via Toledo to Galleria Umberto--a grand shopping center with amazing architecture, mosaic floor and a central dome, where we split a batch of chocolate covered, cream filled profiteroles, and then, with this boost of sugar, made our way down the road to Castel Nouvo. I am so used to driving by Castel Nouvo as part of a high traffic commute, that it has lost a bit of its awe for me, but my mother couldn't help thinking of the times of knights dueling, and battles going on as she looked at this massive, ancient structure in the middle of bustling Napoli traffic. After Castel Nuovo, we walked back up through Piazza Plebisito into the Santa Lucia neighborhood where we stopped for Gelato (you understand the pattern here...see a site, stop for a sweet, see a sight, stop for a sweet..see a site, stop for a sweet :). This time my mother had Panna (whipped cream) on top of her gelato cone and had to eat is so fast to keep it from melting that she could hardly enjoy it...well, she did enjoy it, but would have preferred to savor every bite. Next time, she'll opt for the big bowl instead. After our gelato pitstop, we meandered down Via Santa Lucia, waved hello to the lavandaria ladies who used to hang my bloomers outside their shop, and stopped in to say 'buongiorno' to my friends at Hotel Excelsior, our home for the first 4 months we were in Italy. The staff their were so happy to see us, especially Evan, and they gave me free reign to take my folks around the hotel. We took the elevator up to the top floor restaurant to say hi to my friends Francesca and Mario who work there, and then enjoyed a little rest out on the roof deck at the hotel. The view was bellissimo, and we could clearly see Castel Ovo, which was to be our next venture of the day. My mother loved the hotel so much, she was kicking herself for not coming out to visit us while we lived there. I guess she no longer felt sorry for me and my 4 months of hotel living...crying her a river wasn't going to bring on much sympathy!

The day was perfect for a walk around Castel Ovo, and my folks loved the views from the top. They were impressed by the ancient cannons, the long drop down to the sea below, and the panoramic views that the roof of the castel offered.

They got a great overview of where and how I've been spending my time so far in Italy and this weekend we'll be trying to plan out the rest of their visit, with some 'must sees' that they have on their list including Sorrento, Amalfi Coast, Paestum, Pompei, Rome etc. Relaxing at home with their grandson is also on their list, so we'll be laying low at home today to do just that.

We'll keep you posted as the Berry vacation adventure continues...stay tuned.

Driving Ms. Daisy

Josh, Evan and I arrived back from Ireland and had a great trip. The vacation involved a bit too much driving time for my liking, but I guess that is the way to see and experience the Irish countryside.

On Thursday, we arrived in Ireland around 3:30 pm, and since I had done my homework on the Guiness Factory, I knew that we would have to go straight from the airport to the factory in order to make it in time for the last tour. So, we did just that, and wasted very little time in Dublin before enjoying our first Guiness. The beer tasted great, and the tour was pretty good too:)

The tour of the factory is self-guided and takes you through the beer making process as you walk through various exhibits scattered throughout the 7 story building. The finale of the tour is the top floor tasting room, where you get to enjoy a draft, poured the 'correct way'which for a Guiness takes just under 2 minutes per pour, while taking in the 360 degree view of Dublin. We enjoyed the views and got into a conversation with a couple from Chicago who recommended that we take the scenic drive through the Wicklow mountains on our way to Killarney, which is the town I had booked us an Inn at for the next two days. The scenic drive turned out to take us about 11.5 hours! To be fair, that horrendous amount of driving time did include putting a donut on the car after getting a flat tire (actually completely shredded tire thanks to a rogue screw) which we got before we even got out of Dublin, stopping for lunch of Irish Stew and Fish & Chips--delicious, in Waterford, the home of Waterford Crystal, and the 'learning curve' of driving w/ the steering wheel on the opposite side of the car, and the driving lane opposite what we are used to.

We arrived in Killarney, got settled into our Inn, and went out to explore the town. Killarney is a popular 'jumping off' point for the Ring of Kerry--the drive we had intended to do the following morning until our Inn keeper politely said "I don't think so" when we told her of our plan. Apparently, a big car rally was going on that weekend, and some of the roads along the Ring of Kerry were closed for races. I wasn't too disappointed, as the thought of another 110km in the car to see the scenery wasn't top of my list anyways, so we opted for the shorter scenic drive along the Dingle Peninsula. The scenery was pretty, the switchbacks were precarious, the cliffs were breathtaking, and the drive wasn't too too long. We stopped for breakfast in Dingle-- a homemade scone w/ cappuccino for me, and Josh had the full Irish breakfast, consisting of blood pudding, fried egg, sausages, bacon--the Irish type--extra fat and not crispy, and toast. We drove along the peninsula making a few stops to get out and take in the views, and were home to Killarney by mid afternoon. We took a slight detour before heading to our Inn, and stopped at the Killarney Lakes--a destination in and of itself of many travelers. The lakes are pretty, and their was a castle on the lower lake that we visited. After that short stop off, we made it back to the Inn in time for a late lunch/early dinner of more Irish Stew for me, and a Sheppard's pie type of dish for Josh. The Irish food definitely meets the 'comfort food' description..lots of hearty stews, potatoes etc.

The rest of our time in Killarney was spent walking the various streets of shops, pubs etc. We found Killarney, and all of the other towns to be very clean and quaint, with all the storefronts looking like the typical American "Irish Pub" type of architecture. On Sunday we headed back to Dublin...the express route...which only took 4 hours, as opposed to 11.5 thank God! We had opted for a hotel by the airport since we had an early morning flight, but we still ventured into Dublin that night for dinner in the Temple Bar neighborhood. Prior to heading to Temple Bar we had stopped by a pub that the hotel recommended but after witnessing a drunken fist fight outside of that pub (I guess you have to see at least one of those in Ireland)we decided it wasn't the most 'family friendly' place and went to another pub instead. We had a great meal; more fish n chips, bangers and mash, Smithwicks beers and Bailey's cheese cakes while we enjoyed the people watching scene of one of Dublin's trendiest neighborhoods. After that, back to the hotel for some sleep before our morning 4am wake up call..yikes!

Overall, our trip to Ireland was a great one. It was nice to be able to navigate with ease within an English speaking country, and although the thick Irish brogues of some of those who we encountered would trip us up for a second, the general lack of a language barrier helped make this trip that much more relaxing. We didn't spot any leprechauns, but then again, we hadn't seen any rainbows either so I guess it would have been pretty amazing to have found a wee little leprechaun without the colorful path of a rainbow leading our way:) I didn't have me my Lucky Charms either, but hey, Ireland offered me a lot of other things that I'll keep in my memory for years to come.