Buon Birth Week! (part one)

October is my favorite month. It started out that way because both my birthday and my favorite holiday are in October. It became an even happier month when it just happened to contain my husband's birthday as well. Then when our son was born in the same week that we already shared birthdays, it became absolute that October could not possibly be outdone for best month of the year. Despite Rob's absence for this little scappatella, this year's proves to be one of the best Octobers on record. But let me tell you why... (that one's for you, Ekim!)

October 4th begins our not-so-little adventure. Around 0130, I'm driving Rob to post so he can leave for the rest of the month. A little training goes a long way, right? Felix and I are scheduled to leave the following morning to head down to the general Naples area and spend some time with Aunt Ceil and Uncle Jim while they're in town for Jim's son's wedding. Excellent excuse to take a trip to Naples, in my opinion. I'm back in bed and sleeping by 0245 (after waking Felix up to tell him happy birthday and then posting about it on Facebook because I'm silly like that!) only to get back up at 0615 so I can have Felix up and ready for school on time. As I'm returning from the school run, it first occurs to me that maybe I should make the drive tonight rather than tomorrow, so we can have the full day tomorrow to spend with the family. With this thought in mind, I decide that I should take a nap so that I can make the drive without worrying about fatigue on the autostrada. It's a sound plan, I promise, but my phone and doorbell rang pretty constantly for the next two hours so I figured I'd just straighten up and get errands run and maybe I wouldn't be making the drive that evening after all. About an hour before Felix came home from school I decided that we would definitely go if I could extend our hotel stay for the same nightly rate. I called the hotel and they confirmed that I could, so I started packing.

The drive from house to hotel was supposed to take about 7 hours, so I figured on 8 hours to allow for stops along the way. It actually took exactly 6 hours and 42 minutes, including driving past the hotel in the dark and having to call for directions back. Neither one of us felt the need to stop for restrooms or stretching and when I stopped just outside Rome to get gas, I didn't have to get out of the car because the pumps are full service, so we just kept going. It doesn't hurt that the average speed on the autostrada is 90mph. I do wish that I had thought to have Felix take pictures on the way down before sunset because we passed some lovely scenery and it would be nice to include in the memory books, but I didn't, so I guess I'll just have to go back sometime and get pictures along the way. Felix did have a mild panic attack as we passed Ferrara (less than an hour into the drive) because he thought we were already there and he's heard some pretty scary things about big cities and has a healthy fear of potentially being lost in one. After I helped him calm down, we enjoyed our sightseeing until sunset and then enjoyed all the tunnels through the mountains. I got super excited when I saw the sign announcing that we'd finally entered Toscana... poor Felix had to deal with his mama whooping like a crazy woman! I was a bit disappointed that I was missing the scenery because it was all after dark. The drive was quite basic: go very fast until you arrive at your destination and try not to get run over in the process because you're not going fast enough. Gotta love the autostrada!

Upon exiting the autostrada at Napoli (and paying 47 euro!!) it finally dawned on me that I was going to drive through one of the scariest-to-drive-in places in Italy at 1am and since Felix was sleeping, I didn't even have someone to get pics of all the cool and scary things we'd be passing. I am sooooooooooo grateful that I decided to go when I did. Naples in the dead of night between Tuesday and Wednesday is not tremendously difficult to navigate if you have a smaller vehicle, know to watch for motorcycles and don't mind lots of sign language or giant trash piles... or very narrow roads. Luckily, I'm ok with all of the above, so we made it just fine. We did pass a trash pile that was high enough to climb onto my balcony from. That was a little disconcerting, but otherwise all went well and we found our hotel after passing by it only once! Ceil and Jim were still up waiting for us which was a happy surprise - especially because that meant extra hands for carrying bags and child into the hotel (ok, I made Felix walk, but still!). Going to our room was just like going to our apartment: same number of stairs and first door on the right. We got everything settled into our adorable little accommodations and finally passed out somewhere between 2 and 3am. In the morning, we noticed the naked cherubs...

I set my alarm to wake me up at 8, but I woke up a few minutes before the alarm... I hate when that happens because I always feel cheated, but since I'm in no rush to go anywhere I just lay there for another 15 minutes staring at the ceiling. Felix is still snoring pretty loudly, so I let him sleep while I got up and ready for breakfast. Fortunately, he still doesn't take too long to get ready in the mornings so we were down to breakfast and planning our day in no time. On today's agenda (after deciding what was for dinner at breakfast) is the Island of Capri... we'll take a short walk to the ferry, then a quick ferry ride to the island, then explore, then reverse the steps to return on time for cocktails before (and after) dinner. Quick wardrobe change and we're off to see the sights. The short walk really was a short walk (only just over one mile), but there were a lot of stairs involved and the traffic patterns can be frightening if you haven't figured them out yet, so it was an adventure. The street our hotel is on is actually more like an alley with exactly enough room for a small car to drive through (Rob's little Corolla is too big) but not at the same time that people are walking on it. At the end of the alley, we turn onto one of the main roads in Sorrento (Corso Italia) and walk along sidewalks exactly wide enough for one average-Italian-sized individual. Needless to say, most Americans would be half on and half off! Our next turn comes just past the line of palm trees that makes me think of every California-based movie I've ever seen and we head down a winding flight of stairs. I should have counted them because I'm sure it's a nice round number, but it came in several waves so we could at least be excited about having one section complete at each landing... especially on the way back up! We walk down a lovely cobblestone street to the ferry station? port? I don't know what to call it... but we got our tickets to Isola di Capri and loaded up onto the ferry. Felix decides on this little journey that he wants his own boat when he grows up and that sailing will be the life for him! I don't blame him... it's a beautiful day and although the air is dusty, we still have an amazing view. The water is that beautiful aquamarine color that you pretty much only see in movies and on postcards, which makes the colorful buildings along the Marina Grande that much more beautiful.

Capri is a small island, so everything is jammed together as tight as possible. As soon as you get off the pier, you're facing these adorable multilevel buildings with shops and restaurants on the street levels and people's homes on the upper levels. As in all the other "tourist traps" I've visited here, there are vendors selling maps and souvenirs as soon as we enter the city. I go a little further in and find a much better deal on a map (with a little info book and recipes included!) and my customary shot glass souvenir. Felix picked out a shark tooth necklace for himself... he says it looks like a demon fang. We decide to stop for lunch and make our plans for the remainder of the day. We sit on some steps leading down to the shore and have sandwiches. We are amused by a sign warning us not to go in the water. Some of us want to go to the Blue Grotto and some of us want to explore inland a bit more. We decide to sight see a little bit more in the immediate vicinity, then split off and meet back after exploring for awhile. While walking off lunch, we came across a lovely little shop selling everything lemon: lemon gelato, lemonade, limoncello, lemon candies... even little lemon soaps. The whole family tries the gelato, which is excellent (of course!) and makes us all pucker a little. Down the street from the lemon store, we notice a large arch over the road and wonder if it's a bridge for a walking path or a road that can be driven... then we see the funicolare (cable car) pass over the arch. COOL! We definitely want to ride that! Half the family splits off to go check out the Grotta Azzurra, which is apparently one of the biggest tourist attractions on the island. Since I'd like to go back at some point, I think I'll have to check it out... I'm told you have to lay down in the boat to get through the cave entrance, but once you're in it's big and a very nice place to swim. The concept makes me think of the movie "The Beach" and I wonder what the likelihood of sharks is. The rest of us go to find the ticket booth for the funicolare and do a little more shopping for trinkets to send home. As it turns out, the funicolare is just the less athletic way to make it to the city center: there are several stairway paths leading there as well and next time I go there I plan to take them because they're guaranteed to provide better photo ops than the crowded cable car does! Despite that, the view on the way up was pretty awesome. Felix was excited to be able to stand in a moving mode of transportation (he grabs every opportunity to do so!) and as a result was able to enjoy the sights on the way up as well. At the top, we step onto the terraced platform and look out over the city and harbor. I would be jealous of the inhabitants' view, but I know they sacrifice much for it. Island existence, even this close to the mainland, is costly when it comes to importing goods.

This is some of what we saw (and, of course, proof that we were there!) as we looked out over the island. Directly in front of us as we stood there was the clock tower at the cittá centro. I haven't seen any ugly clock towers yet and this one was no exception. It's clearly well maintained and the face is made of ceramic tiles painted in brilliant yellow and blue. On one side is another reason I want to visit with Rob: a memorial to soldiers from both of the World Wars. I'm sure we can find a museum or some other historical artifacts there and I'd love to dig deeper into the history here. After attempting to read the sign (not as successfully as I'd like) and otherwise soaking up the view, we decide to wander on and check out what else the island has to offer. So, did I mention it's a small island and everything is jammed together really tight? Yeah, well, that's a bit of an understatement. The good news is that being on this island offered me an opportunity to get pics of what it was like driving in Naples since I wasn't able to take pictures on the way through. The roads in Naples were just as packed and almost as tight. Believe it or not, there are actually bus lines running here. In my opinion, having buses here is ludicrous but I suppose they are useful for the weak and the elderly. When the buses pass you, however, you have to flatten yourself against the walls to avoid being run over. Luckily, (or wisely on the shop owners' part) the shops' windows are beautifully decorated and provide an excellent distraction from the near-death-by-bus experiences. We found more lovely souvenirs and an adorable ceramic map in the ground in front of a restaurant while exploring through death-avoidance!

While avoiding the bus on the right, I quite literally ran into the sign on the left. I'm glad it worked out that I went left to avoid the bus since this is one of the coolest storefront signs I've ever seen. Not much further down the road, we realized we were not only running out of time but energy as well and it was time to turn back so we wouldn't miss the last ferry off the island. It would seem that just about everyone else on the island had the same idea we did because the funicolare was standing room only when we got to it and Felix and I almost got separated on the way down just trying to get into a car. Then, while waiting for the ferry, we noticed that the entire island seemed to be moving en masse toward the docks. Once we got onto the ferry, that theory was pretty much confirmed by the sardine-like conditions. Felix found this extremely frustrating because he was stuck with me as close as possible to the railing, but not close enough to see the water well or get the relief from the breeze. His complaints were understandable, but annoying because he wasn't the only one stuck breathing in the spectacular aroma brewed up by the combination of otherwise gorgeous 80 degree weather and multinational tourists whose personal hygiene habits are not necessarily all on the same level, to put it politely. Upon our arrival at the mainland, we remembered all those stairs we walked down on our way out in the morning. The idea of walking back up them is less than appealing at this stage of the game, especially after doing so much hilly walking all day. On the very bright side, Italy has proven to be very good for us from the very first day forward: lots of walking makes for improved health (and in my case, better posture) all around! Needless to say, we survived these stairs...

Then we retraced our steps back to the lovely hotel Pergola where we commenced to wash the day away with not just showers (in super-tiny stalls, of course!) but with the first shots of grappa I've ever had and a bottle of wine... or two. No worries - the boy was fed and put to bed first!!

Tomorrow: POMPEII!!