Day 7- Rome

So… We pretty much saw all of Rome in a day. We decided that one of those hop-on, hop-off bus tours would be the best way to maximize our time. I know…very touristy, but we had a lot of ground to cover. We picked up the bus at Piazza Barberini and began our journey. Our first stop was the Coliseum, the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill. When we arrived, we were told that there was a one hour wait to purchase tickets. This did not appeal to us and we were enticed by a very nice tour company to hop on theirs and have a guide take us through. We spent an hour walking through the Coliseum, learning all about the activities that took place there thousands of years ago. Those Romans knew how to have fun (?) having animals fight with each other, executing criminals during the lunch break, and ending the day with a good ole gladiator fight. Lotta killing!

While we were waiting for the next part of our tour, we sat in a shady place and had a snack and some water. It was as if these pigeons knew that Papa was a pigeon breeder/ racer/ lover in his former life, they all flocked near us and we got a pigeon lesson! (Blue bars, checkers, white, young, old, you name it). They never left us because Gram and Amanda were feeding them crumbs from the cereal bar they were eating.

We then headed to the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill to continue our guided tour. Gram and Papa decided to wait in a shady place for us since they have done this tour before. We learned a lot about the history of Rome and the emperors who lived there. We also learned what happened to all the beautiful marble throughout the site… The Vatican “recycled” it to use it in St. Peters Basilica. They also “recycled” all the marble from the Coliseum and removed the copper pins that were used to earthquake-proof the building. The side of the building that still stands still has the pins in the walls. We met up with Gram and Papa and they told us of their adventure watching a street vendor getting arrested.

We hopped on our bus and headed to find a place for lunch. We got off at Isola Tiberina and found a very nice place to eat. We got back on and headed to the Vatican. We walked through St. Peter’s Square, but couldn’t go in the basilica because some of us had tank tops and shorts that were not in “dress code” aka TOO SHORT! There was also a really long line. We took some pictures and headed to our next stop, Piazza di Spangna. We saw (and climbed) the Spanish Steps (136 of them) and then had some more gelato! We walked back to our hotel and did some shopping along the way.

I might add that Papa has gotten quite bold with his Italian over the past week. It all seems to be “coming back” to him. Some of it is appropriate and other times, not so much. He is definitely very entertaining to travel with.

We had a lovely dinner overlooking the Pantheon. The food was great. Alyssa has become quite adventurous in her eating and Amanda still gets attention when ordering her pasta blanco (plain). We walked around and did our last minute shopping and had our last gelato

We have a 7:00 am pick up (that’s 1am NY time). Tomorrow will be a long day for us. What an amazing week! So sad that it’s over, but we are happy to come home to Lizzie.

Day 6- Rome

We sadly left the Amalfi Coast this morning and headed to Rome for some new adventures. Our driver was right on time and we made great time getting to the city…. But, our driver got lost and his GPS wouldn’t work so we had a little trouble finding our hotel. We finally arrived and left our bags at the hotel and hit the town! We had some paninis and pizza for lunch. All was well until a glass broke and a piece of it hit Amanda in the eye. She is fine, thank goodness!

We then headed to Trevi Fountain to make some wishes. Frank and Jon had their maps out and were great at getting us where we needed to go. Frank pretended he was our guide and walked at the front of the line with a water bottle high in the air. (see photo). We then headed to the Pantheon. We learned all about the ancient temple of the gods. It has the world’s largest unreinforced dome and is one of the best preserved ancient Roman buildings. The girls took a picture with the guard who was guarding the tomb of the second king of Italy. (Umberto I) We also saw the sarcophagus of Raphael the Painter. We then headed to the Italian Wedding cake building, a tribute to the first king of Italy. (Umberto’s dad). We also saw the window that Moussolini waved from (Thanks to Mr. Christman, Alyssa was able to give us some background info on him) We did some shopping along the way, of course!

We headed back to the hotel to get settled and relax. We met for dinner at 7:30 and ate some fettucine alfredo, carbonara, and other fresh pasta. We headed to the Piazza Navona for some gelato. What an awesome place. It was filled with a beautiful fountain,restaurants, artists and other vendors.

We are exhausted after a long, but fun day! Tomorrow, our last day, we will see some more of Rome. We all miss Lizzie a lot. I hope she is behaving!

Day 5- Amalfi/ Buffalo Mozzarella Farm

Our day began with a lovely breakfast. Our driver picked us up at 8:30am and we headed to the buffalo mozzarella farm. We thought it was in Battapaglia, but it ended up being even further away. (about 2 hours) We arrived at Vannulo Farm. It was very clean and impressive. We learned all about the process of taking buffalo milk and making it into mozzarella. (Note: Not all mozzarella comes from buffalo. I was a little confused too.) These buffalo have quite a life. They have a relaxation area, (including an area for massage), a milking area, and an eating area. The farm uses what’s called a “voluntary milking system.” Basically, this means that the buffalo choose when they want to be milked. BUT…There’s a catch…. If they don’t ever volunteer to be milked, then they will never be released to the eating area to eat. Kinda sneaky if you ask me. These buffalo quickly figure out that they should “volunteer”! Aside from Uncle Frank being sneezed on by a pretty large buffalo, it was a fairly uneventful morning. The tour ended with tasting some awesome mozzarella! We headed back to Amalfi with a quick stop for some snacks. Gram couldn’t resist some Italian scratch off lottery tickets. We didn’t think she won anything because the ticket was in Italian, but we checked just to make sure! The driver dropped Gram and Papa off in Amalfi to grab some lunch, while Jon, Amanda and I headed back to the hotel for some lunch and the pool. Frank, Deb and Alyssa decided to take the bus to Ravello to do some shopping and exploring. We all regrouped later on by the pool. Alyssa and Deb finally got the Italian sandals they have been looking for! We headed back into Amalfi Centro for dinner and more gelato and cannolis! We head to Rome bright and early.

The hotel is having wifi problems so I can’t transfer pictures between devices. I will post them tomorrow when we get to Rome. Sorry.

PS We all wish Grandma and Grandpa Carroll a very Happy Anniversary! Hope you had a great day.

Day 4- Amalfi

Today we sadly left Positano and headed south to Amalfi. We checked into our new hotel, Miramalfi, and headed into town. We had some late morning coffee and gelato and then did some shopping. Papa got a new hat. (see picture below) We wore our matching shirts today and got a little attention! We headed back to the hotel to spend the afternoon at the pool/ beach. The hotel is beautiful. The view our rooms is spectacular. We had some paninis and swam in the Tyrranean Sea. (The picture below is Jon, Deb and the kids. I took the picture from the pool deck.) It was a lovely, relaxing afternoon. We made our way into town again and had dinner on the water. Last night was hard to top but the fresh pasta and pizza were very good here too. We did a little more shopping in town tonight and then had even more gelato and cannolis. Tomorrow we head to Battapaglia for a tour of a buffalo mozzarella farm.

Day 3 (continued)- Dinner

Although I completed the Day 3 post already, we couldn’t let our spectacular dinner last night go without it’s proper recognition. Constantino said he saved the best restaurant for last….and he was SO right!

The name of the place was La Tagliata and it was waaaaaayyyyy up on the mountain. A crazy Italian taxi driver picked us up and, thankfully, got us there safely (barely). After a bit of an adventure finding the proper entrance, we made our way to our table overlooking Positano. It was a family owned rstauraunt and our waitress, Antoinetta, came to our table and told us there was no menu. They would just start bringing out food and….boy did they! We started with bruchetta, provolone, prosciutto (aka cold bacon according to Amanda), chick pea salad, fresh spinach, fresh ricotta, broccoli, kidney bean salad, zucchini with tomatoes and fresh tomato salad. At this point the kids were worried… What were they going to eat? Round 2 was fresh pasta- ravioli, homemade fusilli with mushrooms, fresh gnocci, and mama’s pasta (to die for!). Antoinetta brought out plain pasta for the girls, but we were successful in having the girls try some other kinds of pasta too! It was spectacular! Round 3 was carne…. Grilled chicken, grilled pork chops, sausage, lamb chops, veal, rabbit, and one huge plate of bistecca- it melted in our mouth! Then on the side we had salad, and fresh cut French fries. (the look on Amanda’s face- she hasn’t had a French fry in days). The kids said it was the best chicken ever! The final round included a dish of fresh cherries, fresh lemon pie, chocolate cake, cream puffs smothered in rum and chocolate fudge. OMG!!!! Unbelievable! The evening ended with Mama coming out to a round of applause! We rolled out of there, eating every last morsel of food put in front of us. Wow! then we climbed the 181 steps (for the last time) to get back to our room.

Day 3 – Pompeii and Herculaneum

Today we spent the day on a tour of Pompeii and Herculaneum with a nice lunch in between. Our guide’s name was Franco and our driver’s name was Antonio. (Easy to remember!) It was amazing how these two villages were covered in debris; Pompeii covered in volcanic rock (on the first and second day of eruption) and Herculaneum in volcanic liquid (on the third day). Mount Vesuvius did some serious damage! It was as if these places were frozen in time over two thousand years ago. We learned a lot about the way the rich people and the slaves lived. We saw some plaster molds of the negative space of the remains of the people. We took a ton of pictures and Alyssa and Amanda were in competition about who knew more about Pompeii. (Thanks Mrs. Morris- you have taught them so much!) At Herculaneum, we got to see more well preserved homes than at Pompeii. Their sewer and water systems were so sophisticated, and who knew that the first “fast food” restaurants actually were in ancient times! Fascinating! So, our question of the day was- How can these homes, roads, theaters, etc. be in such good shape after all this time, and we can’t build a road or bridge to last 30 or 40 years? Frank expressed his secret desire to go back to the Roman times and fight in the Roman Legion. Check out his pose below.

We had another fabulous day… Gram and Papa have been keeping up with all the thousands of steps we have gone up and down! They are troopers! Amanda is very fascinated by the fact that some bathrooms here in Italy don’t have toilette seats. Very interesting! More cannolis and gelato!

We are now headed out for our last dinner in Positano. So sad to leave such a beautiful place, but we are looking forward to new adventures in Amalfi.

Day 2- Capri

Guest post from Deb today!

Today we spent the day in Capri. It was an adventure from the start. We had a private boat pick us up at La Fenice’s private beach. We thought this would be a good idea, however we did not realize that the boarding process would turn into one of the most memorable events in Padula Family history. A small boat was sent to pick us up to take us to the larger boat further out. BUT the only way to get on the small boat was to jump up about 3 feet on to a rock platform and scale the wall to “hop” on the boat. Lorri, Alyssa and Amanda got on the boat from the sand. There was no way that the Padula couple could do this…SO Jon and Frank interlocked their hands and LIFTED my father up onto the rock wall. The look on his face was priceless, but I would have given anything to see MY face during this hoist. Before my mother had a chance to say no, the quickly scooped her up and in seconds she was on the wall too. My sister took a lovely shot of us “scaling” the wall. I must say, I was extremely proud of them, however I will admit that I was a little traumatized.

We all settled down and the rest of our day was spectacular. We cruised around Capri like the rich and famous and passed the grotto verde and the white cave. Jon and Frank jumped in and swam through the cave! Next stop was the Blue Grotto! We decided to leave my parents and the girls on the boat and the four of us jumped into the row boat to head into the Grotto. It was fun to lay down flat on the bottom of the row boat while the guide waited for the wave to go out so he could pull us in by holding on to a chain. O Sole Mio!

We took the cable car to Anacapri and had yummy pizza for lunch. We strolled around and shopped all afternoon. We were in awe of the yachts docked and our favorite was one called Quinta Essentia.

Our ride home was relaxing. The girls were sunbathing and then they went swimming with Jon in the Tyrrhenian Sea. We asked our captain, Salvatore, to drop us off in Positano at the dock instead of at the private beach. This was a much better choice. We strolled in Positano Centro, had gelato and shopped some more!

We ate dinner at Constantino’s and went around the table asking everyone their favorite part of their day…let’s just say that the boarding process was the winner by a landslide!