Honeymoon in Italy: The Not-So-Good Parts

When I told people I was going to Italy for my honeymoon, all everyone had to say was, “You’ll love it! The food, the wine, you have to see XYZ!” And I’m not saying I didn’t enjoy my trip: I obviously did! BUT there were a few things that I thought were worth sharing if you are considering a trip there; I tried to list them from minor to major. I hope this helps!

·       Paying for water and the use of public bathrooms: This was probably the smallest inconvenience, mostly because this one we actually were warned about ahead of time. But it’s still shocking when this is not really an issue in the US (unless maybe you have to buy something at a Starbucks to use their bathroom). We were lucky because we pretty much always used the bathrooms in our hotels and restaurants where we were already eating (and I did sneak through the gate at one restroom in a park), so I think I only paid for a bathroom once or twice the whole time. We did pay for bottled water more often than that, but usually for $3.50 you got a liter of water, so we could easily split it between the two of us. It was very cool to use the old fountains in the cities that are connected to the aqueduct that was built SO long ago and still works! We found the most in Rome, one was right across from our hotel in Florence (although we didn’t discover it until the day before we left; you’d think the hotel staff would have mentioned that!), and we found one in a pretty park in Sorrento (although on a walking tour of the city, our guide claimed there were none. Hmpf.). It is a little ironic that you have to pay for water in cities that have free water flowing everywhere. So, this was not a huge deal, but you do need to plan accordingly. Bring your water bottle(s) with you!

·       To tip or not to tip: Everyone I talked to said you don’t have to tip Italians because they are better paid than people in similar roles in the US. And yet it was confusing to know if/when this was true. We saw other people tip taxi drivers and tour guides; sometimes we did, still not knowing whether that was protocol or not. And at many restaurants, you have to pay between $2-$4/person to sit down (in some places it’s more expensive if you’re inside rather than outside), so we kind of figured that covered the tip. But at one restaurant I was given one of those little machines that asks what kind of tip you would like to leave, and at another restaurant the waiter demanded a 10% tip (smaller than the usual in the States, but when I am under the impression I don’t have to tip, the request came as a surprise). And even when we wanted to leave a tip, like for the cleaning people in the hotel, we were only given large bills at the exchange or ATM; you don’t even have a few Euros to leave, and believe me, NO ONE will make change for you (unless you want to pay $3 for a pack of gum, of course).

·       Rip off prices for transportation: Speaking of money, the amount we paid to get around Italy, particularly in cabs and such, was outrageous. When we arrived in Sorrento, although our hotel was not far from the train station, it was raining, and we were lugging ~50lb bags, so we opted for a cab. There was a big van that picked up multiple parties at once so he could just drop us off along the way. I kid you not: he took us maybe two blocks and charged $25 just for me and Steve. RIDICULOUS! And for the hotel shuttle on our last night (more on that later), while we didn’t pay anything up front, we had to pay $32 the next day for the 10-minute drive to the airport. They really stick it to you for sure!

·       Problems with accessibility: Luckily I am an able-bodied person, because I FEEL for anyone who travels to Italy and uses a cane, rides in a wheelchair, or otherwise is physically disabled. Of course many of the roads are still made of the original stone, so the streets are uneven and very slippery when wet (good luck if you try to wear heels!). The sidewalks are not much better, and they are VERY narrow. Usually you could barely walk two abreast, so you’re trying to walk single file, but so are the people walking in the opposite direction, so someone ends up walking on the road, and you’re just praying a motorbike doesn’t wiz past you at that very moment (the same goes for when the sidewalk just disappeared and you had no choice but to walk in the road). Elevators were hard to come by as well. Steve and I usually don’t mind walking, but when you have to carry those heavy suitcases up five flights in your hotel, it’s not great. And in Sorrento, we walked down the back-and-forth path to the coast, and if you wanted to take the elevator back up, you had to pay. You’re telling me a person in a wheelchair has to PAY to use the lift?! The ADA laws in America would never allow for this (granted, those laws were only passed in the 1990’s, which is pretty sad on its own…).

·       Do NOT take the Campiani Express: This is the train our travel agent suggested we use from Naples to Sorrento (we only traveled through Naples from Rome). Up until this point, we had only taken rather nice passenger trains: the kinds that have bathrooms and the staff give you drinks and snacks, much like an airplane). This Express train is NOT that. It is like riding the New York subway for 90 minutes, but everyone else on the car is also carrying huge luggage with nowhere to put it. So the suitcases are either blocking where your legs should be so you’re sitting sideways, or they’re in the middle of the aisle while people are trying to walk through, or they’re in the way of the doors (which in and of itself is not a big deal because the staff only open ONE car door anyway, no matter how many people are getting on the train) with no one to hold the bags, and the bags would shift and roll all over the place. This was the most uncomfortable travel experience of the entire trip, and I cannot recommend it whatsoever. If there is any other way to get to Sorrento, please do so.

·       Lack of signage: This is by far my biggest complaint, and it makes it obvious what poor communication skills the Italians have. The maps we were given by the hotels at the start of each leg of the trip were not great. For starters, these ancient city roads are not built in grids, so you can’t count the streets or avenues like you can in New York or D.C. (The Romans could build structures like the Pantheon that survived a THOUSAND years but could not figure out how to make squares with their streets?). Streets curve randomly, turn into new roads without announcement, and criss-cross willy-nilly. The streets are sparsely labeled, and even if you did know the name of the street you wanted to be on, chances of you finding a street sign were zero to none. Instead of street signs, the buildings have plaques with the names of the roads on them. But only some of the roads have these, and only at certain corners. So while we never got truly lost (the cities are only so big, and even if you end up walking in circles, you find your way eventually), I did get turned around a lot, which was frustrating when I usually take the lead. This came to its peak on our second-to-last day at the Rome airport when we were trying to find the location of the hotel shuttle bus. The airport has NO signs inside mentioning ground transportation or shuttles, and when we asked multiple airport employees for help, we only received the correct answer half the time. There is ONE small sign, in the middle of the road, that shows a diagram (you cannot call it a map) with multiple hotel logos and the number of the location where you were to find each one. But we didn’t see those numbers anywhere! We saw big pillars starting with the number 5 for larger buses and that was it (we wanted number 2). At this point I am in TEARS because we had been traveling all day from Sorrento to Rome, we had just taken our THIRD train of the day, and I was physically and mentally exhausted. Finally we saw that there are parking spots with tiny numbers on the asphalt. That’s how you find the shuttle. That’s it. In the States those hotel logos would have been posted everywhere, and there would be no confusion on specifically where the hotel shuttle pick-up location is. I feel like, even as big as the US is, you can figure out where you’re going much more easily. All you need it to LABEL things! Is that too much to ask?

I am in NO way telling you not to go to Italy. There is so much to do and see in these old cities, and the history is amazing. So if you are privileged enough to take a trip there, do it! But just be warned about some of these differences compared to the US. And when people tell you how great Italy is, just remember it’s not always rainbows and butterflies.

Honeymoon in Italy: Mount Vesuvius

From the bus we could see the "sleeping giant," which was a face the mountain ridge created.

I realize it's been almost a month since I returned from Italy; time is running away from me! But I am still thinking about my wonderful honeymoon. And I haven't written about one of my favorite parts yet: hiking Mount Vesuvius!

Now, we didn't hike the whole thing. It's more than 3,000 feet tall, which is manageable, but we didn't have time for that. Instead our bus drove us most of the way up, and we hiked the last bit to the summit. We were given 90 minutes in total, with this rough breakdown: 30 minutes to hike to the summit, 30 minutes to take photos, and 30 minutes to come back to the bus.

I packed my hiking boots for the trip specifically for this excursion, and I am glad I did. I think it would have been okay to wear sneakers, but I felt more comfortable on the dirt path in real boots. I also had a back-pack full of snacks, water, and layers of clothing (semper peranda, always prepared!). Now that we’ve moved to Florida, there is no hiking (there are no hills, let alone mountains), so I was very excited to go on even a short hike. The crater itself is not that exciting (it is indeed a hole), but the views were so cool. I couldn’t believe people still live at the base of the volcano knowing what happened so long ago (and it’s still an active volcano), but since 79 AD, there have been 49 eruptions and none of them that bad, mostly slow-moving lava from which people can have time to escape. I guess it’s like us moving to Florida knowing hurricanes are getting worse, or people who live in California understanding the dangers of earthquakes. You take your chances!

We took some photos while climbing up, but of course the best pictures were the views at the top. I felt like you could see everything!

This is not a great panoramic photo, but you can see the crater at the summit.

Another hiker offered to take our photo, and of course we returned the favor afterward!

The view at the top was so beautiful! You could look down onto the cities and towns as well as see islands in the distance.

I thought this plant was so cool! It's called "Old Man's Beard" fittingly.

This pretty pink flower is a type of Valerian.

After the long drive back (we both took naps), we went out for drinks at Bar Ercolano in the heart of Sorrento. The town is much cuter when it's not raining! After our happy hour, we enjoyed one last pasta dinner at Mamma Che Pasta. I liked that you could pick your shape of pasta and your sauce, and then you could add items to the dish like meatballs. Yum!

This was our last full day of vacation! The next two days were travel days: one to train back to Rome (we took THREE trains that day), and the other to fly back to the States. So we ended on a literal high note!

Honeymoon in Italy: Pompeii

When we chose Italy as the destination for our honeymoon, I KNEW I wanted to visit Pompeii. This was the ONE thing I insisted upon doing on this trip, and we are SO glad we did! This was our favorite part of the whole vacation!

I first learned about the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 AD when I took Latin classes in middle school. I was (morbidly) fascinated by how terrifying that experience must have been; the casts made of the bodies that remained in the ash really showed the humanity at that scary moment. More than 1,500 lives were lost that day. The eruption is said to have had the power of 33 atomic bombs, and people would have died from the heat of the ash, breathing in the ash, or being weighted down by the ash on top of them. When archeologists found coal in stoves and the seeds of fall fruit, as well as some writing listing dates (and letters from Pliny the Younger, who witnessed the eruption from afar), we can rather confidently say that the eruption happened on October 24. It is incredible how we can pin-point even the exact day!

This is a cast of someone covering their face so they wouldn't breathe in the ash or get it in their eyes.

But other than seeing the casts in person, I wasn't really sure what else to expect from Pompeii. But after a long bus ride in the rain, the skies cleared for our tour of the ancient city. Pompeii is the second largest archeological site, made up of more than 160 acres (and a third of the city still has yet to be excavated!). The ruins were first discovered in the late 1700's (after Herculaneum, another city destroyed by the eruption, was found); throughout the years of excavations, some things were lost (for example, the bones left of people were mostly removed as trash), but there is still A LOT left that remains, and in amazing condition at that!

The main square area

The city was first built in the seventh century BC by Greeks, Etruscans, and native peoples in the area. It only became a Roman city in the third century BC. In the main square, or forum, there was a temple of Jupiter, as well as a large marketplace and administrative offices. The entire area had a travertine floor before the eruption; now we were walking on the ash that is still there today.

This would have been a fish market.

My favorite part of Pompeii were the bath houses. They are in AMAZING condition! The mosaic floor is still intact, and you can still see decorations along the walls, mostly sea-inspired. There were four rooms in total, and it sounds like the Korean baths I've been to (I miss Spa World!). There was the entry room or waiting room where guests could leave their clothes, a warm room where there was oil for washing and massaging, a hot room which was heated by the steam of the hot water for the spa, and a cold room to finish the experience (they believed in cryotherapy even back then!). 

There were many little statues along the walls in the bathhouse, and all of them were in great condition!

It was awesome to be standing in a spa that is thousands of years old and survived a volcanic eruption!

After going to the baths, the people may have stopped by a bar for a drink or snacks. We saw countertops like these throughout the tour, so the people of Pompeii liked eating out as much as we do now!

And we all know that even back then there was great engineering (as I said in an earlier post, we were drinking water from the ancient aqueducts!). In Pompeii, that same water flowed freely in the streets to wash away debris, horse waste, etc. So the sidewalks were elevated, and instead of flat crosswalks, there were three large stepping stones that people would use to walk across the road. I was so excited to walk on the same steps from so long ago. And why were there three stones? So the wheels are carts could still go through! And along the sidewalks at the thresholds of doors, if there is a groove at the threshold, that means it was a public place, like a store, which would have used sliding doors. 

These were the fountains from which the water would flow into the street. The streets didn't have names, so you would use the decorations of the fountains as your markers ("cow head" fountain, etc.).

This was a mill stone in a bakery; a rod would go through the square hole, and two animals attached to the rod would walk in circles to spin the top rock and grind the grain in between the two stones. Thirty-four bakeries have been found in Pompeii!

The technology for pizza ovens has not changed much!

We also walked inside a very wealthy person's home. Of course the size showed how rich the person was, but so did details like the mosaic floors and frescos on the walls. In the atrium, rain would fall through the skylight into a basin, and that water would then go into a well. That would be the household's main source of water before the aqueduct was built. There would also be a garden at the center of the home which would help cool everything down. 

One of the most entertaining parts of the tour was visiting a "lupanare," or brothel (coming from the word "lupa," meaning "she-wolf"). It was built along a curve in the road so it would be harder to see clients coming in and out. This is the only brothel that they have found in Pompeii, but sometimes prostitutes would work in the upstairs of snack bars. And while most people slept on wooden beds, the beds in the brothel were made of stone (with a mattress on top, of course); the stone was much stronger to withstand, erm...use. You can still see frescos painted on the walls that feature sex acts; the prostitutes and their clients (many of whom were sailors coming into port) may not have spoken the same language, so the clients could simply point to what they wanted, like a sexy Denny's menu. On the outside of the building, there was a phallic-looking stone pointing out of the wall, which was supposed to protect the building and those in it. That is why all over Sorrento you can find souvenirs of chili peppers or horns, like necklaces and ornaments, that are the modern-day interpretation (Note that the protective powers will not work if you buy the item for yourself! You can only give it as a gift, and then you can receive one as a present, too.).

Which position is your favorite? haha

Our tour only lasted two hours, but we were told that it would take two weeks of exploring to see everything. In the late 1800's, excavators divided the city into neighborhoods and labeled the areas by name as well as block number so they could create a map of the city. The streets were like a maze; I certainly would have gotten lost if I had not been with a tour guide. But I feel like we could have been there all day and never get bored. There is so much to see, and it's still unbelievable that this entire city was covered in ten meters of ash for nearly two thousand years, preserved in such an amazing way.

Next post: Hiking Mt. Vesuvius, the same volcano that destroyed Pompeii!

Cyndi Lauper Concert

I must interrupt my Italian honeymoon posts to tell you about the Cyndi Lauper concert I went to last night at Amalie Arena! I love 80's pop music, and she's right up there with Madonna in my mind. I missed out on seeing Janet Jackson this summer, so I was NOT going to make the same mistake twice!

I ended up going to the show by myself, but I still had a fun time. I didn't dress up, but if I had gone with a friend, you can bet I would have worn fishnet and leg warmers!

The first opener was Emily Estefan, Gloria Estefan's daughter. I didn't even know she had a famous daughter (or at least famous enough to perform before Cyndi!). I thought it was pretty cool that she played the drums while standing and singing. And she plays the guitar, too! She had about ten other people on stage with her, like more drummers and horn players, so there was a jazzy vibe for sure. She only performed a few songs, so here are some of them:

F*ck to Be

I Just Want It to Be Over (from 2020...fitting for this week, too...)

Girl Power Medley (Not the best medley I've heard; not sure how you mess that up! I especially don't like that she is imitating Billie Holiday rather than reimagining her.)

Once she was done, there was a good half hour between sets, so I actually started writing this post while I waited. And then it was time for the main act!

The first thing I noticed about Cyndi is that she seems like such a real, down-to-earth person. She's like the wild, feminist great aunt we all wished we had. I enjoyed hearing her tell stories and talk about supporting women's rights. I liked that part as much as I did actually listening to the music! She talked about working on Broadway; she has written the music and lyrics for the new Working Girl musical that is coming out soon, so she said she had to fit in her farewell tour now before she was too busy with that. I didn't know she wrote a lot of her own songs, too; such talent. She played the guitar (and the recorder?) during the show, mentioned working with Elvis' piano player, Tony Brown, and undressed down to her slip and took off her wig! We saw and heard it all!

She Bop

During "Drove All Night," she would hold up her dress and images were projected onto it.

Drove All Night (I had no idea she sang this song! I had only heard Celine Dion's version!)

Who Let in the Rain? (She said she wrote this song when she was cleaning a house and the skylight was open. This was a time in her life around a break-up, so the song is about that.)

I'm Gonna Be Strong

Change of Heart

Time After Time (I'm embarrassed to admit that I don't think I knew she sang this song. Maybe I thought it was Bonnie Tyler from Total Eclipse of the Heart fame?)

During one of her costume changes, the band came to center stage and played instruments like the bongos, maracas, the tambourine, etc. It was a fun music break, and Cyndi used it to introduce the band members. Her bass player has been with her since the 80's! They all sang Iko Iko together:

She still wore the metal bib, but this time she was dressed up as... Big Bird?

During one of the songs, there was a large sheet flying over a platform that had air coming out of it, so it was like the sheet was floating and dancing to the music. Very unique!

Santa was in the sound booth!

I left before the encore (it was getting late and I was so tired), but I assume she performed these two songs, her biggest hits without a doubt!

True Colors

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

I'm sorry I missed these two songs, but I was falling asleep in my seat, and I knew I had an hour-long drive ahead of me to get back home. When I lived in DC, I could easily take the metro home (and even sleep on the train for a little bit), and now I no longer have that luxury. I think I'm becoming one of those people who says, "I can't; that's a school night." What a bummer! While I enjoyed the show, I am not sure it was worth driving two hours in rush hour to get there and then take the slog back home late at night in the dark. Womp womp!

Honeymoon in Italy: Sorrento

Unfortunately it rained when we were in Sorrento, so that really put a damper on things (plus, the train ride there from Naples was terrible; more on that in another post). But of course when life gives you lemons, make limoncello!

The afternoon we arrived, we walked around and saw this church called the Chiesa Santi Prisco Ed Agnello. 

Limoncello was EVERYWHERE. We also enjoyed it in Rome, but Sorrento is all about lemon everything. Not only were there orchards everywhere and several shops downtown to try limoncello (which was first invented by the monks of Benedict in the 16th or 17th century), but there were lemon souvenirs anywhere you looked: tea towels, ornaments, ceramics, T-shirts, scarves (I bought one)... If you wanted something lemon, they had it.

This was a pretty mosaic near some of the lemon trees we saw.

Traditional limoncello is made with three kinds of lemons: Capri lemons are smaller and more acidic, while the lemons from Sorrento and Amalfi are much larger and taste sweeter. Since it's the rind that is used to make limoncello, not the juice, all the lemons are grown organically so there are no pesticides on the peel. 

We mostly hunkered down inside due to the rain. We made sure to visit the Museo Correale, (which was celebrating its 100th anniversary), and to kill time we actually walked through most of it twice (you always notice something new the second time around!). There was a whole exhibit on still life paintings, and I enjoyed reading about how these pieces (also called "silent life") revolutionized art: artists no longer had to paint only people or religious figures, but instead could paint anything, even as banal as fruit, to show their artful skills.

One of my favorite pieces at the Museo Correale was an old board game which was used for gambling (similar to roulette).
The game was eventually banned!

We did end up taking a walking tour when things had mostly cleared up. We learned a lot about Sorrento, and I'm always one for soaking up the knowledge! Sorrento was a Greek colony 2,500 years ago before becoming a Roman colony (the emperors would take their holidays on the coast). It used to be just two kilometers long, but now it's seven kilometers long. Geographically there are two valleys in the historical center of the town, which were created after a huge volcanic eruption 35,000 years ago; throughout Sorrento you can see that the walls, buildings, etc. are made of a particular gray stone that was created during that explosion. 

We stopped inside a church to see some beautiful wood inlay artwork. Some of the pieces use 20 kinds of wood and can take months to create by hand. All of the pieces fit together like a jigsaw puzzle (a jig saw is used to cut the wood!). 

This mill inside one of the valleys in Sorrento was built in the 15th century, but in the late 1800's, the main square and street were created, filling up some of the valley. This made the area by the mill too humid, so people no longer lived or worked there.

Down by the water we stood outside a 17th century church for Santa Anna (protector of women and the city's port), where they still hold services every day twice a day. The bells were loud!

We saw the Cloister of San Francisco, which is the oldest building in Sorrento. It is a cloister, church, and monastery all in one. Originally a Roman pagan temple had been in its place, and one of those original pillars still exists today. 

While there were those museums and churches, I would say most of Sorrento is just shops and restaurants. And while it is fun to walk around and peek in at new shoes or buy some gelato, I didn't travel halfway across the world to go shopping and eat; I can do that at home! So I think one day in Sorrento is plenty of time to visit if you are planning to go to the Amalfi Coast. There are several cute towns along the water, so if we were to go back, I think we would try Positano instead.

Honeymoon in Italy: Highlights of Florence, Part III

We saw the gardens of the Palazzo Pitti from afar.

It rained our last full day in Florence, so we figured it was the perfect time to stay indoors and visit a museum. We had walked past the Palazzo Pitti when we walked across the Ponte Vecchio, so we bought tickets so we could explore what was inside. We didn't pay to get access to the gardens, but with the poor weather, we figured that was okay. This was a palace where the Medici family lived when they ruled Tuscany, and after that other powerful families stayed there, too. Now it is an art museum.

This is the inside atrium.

There is a grand ballroom that has been renovated to have carpet. Why?!

This was another place that had SO much artwork that you didn't know where to look!

There were several marble tabletops that had the most beautiful colors!

There were many painted ceilings that told stories of the Roman gods. I loved learning about Roman mythology in middle school, and it was fun pointing out the gods, goddesses, and heroes I recognized. This is Mount Olympus, home of the gods.

Some of the columns, angles, and arches on the walls and ceilings were not real, just painted to look 3D.

Everything was just SO ornate and over-the-top beautiful!

I wonder if royalty ever used these plates or if they were always just for show.

Within the palace, there is also the Museum of Fashion and Costume. The exhibit takes you along women's fashion throughout the decades. I'd say the main thing that changes are hemlines and waistlines. I was mostly inspired by all the different fabrics. So pretty!

If only we had more opportunities today to get dressed up like that! At least I'm planning a gala this year for work; that will give me a chance to wear a long, fancy dress!

My next post will be about our time in Sorrento. Check it out soon!