Ciao to Italy

Wow Capri has flown by. It has been full of fun. Full of family and friends and food and fun. The water has been amazing and the scenery spectacular. And now we say "goodbye" and hopefully "we'll see you soon" if we're lucky. But that's how travel is, isn't it? It wouldn't be travel if it were a place that you didn't have to leave eventually. Which makes us all travelers on this earth, in life...ok enough philosophizing...we hate to leave but we are headed to a new country tomorrow! Germany awaits us- a little colder, more mountains, and a nearly 19 hour train extravaganza--whew.

So some Capri memories now:
Seeing the island coming into view from the bucking boat full of a Japanese tour group (all throwing up) and me (terrified that the boat will sink) and Russell (calm,cool,collected husband)

Finally seeing all the family (Italian and American) here on the island and having a giant and fabulous meal at my Zia Angelina's house

Waiting for Josh and Chrisinda at the port and finally watching them walk off the boat!

The huge meal at Maria and Salvatore's house with Nonna, Linda and J&C complete with a beautiful dessert, limoncello and priceless views

Seeing all the sights of the island with new people

Gelato at Buonacore (the best homeade gelato and homeade cones that you can smell a mile away on the island)

Making it to the end of our super long walk across the island with J&C and jumping into the ocean

The color of the water at Marina Piccola and the little fishies that nibble at your feet.

Waking up at 4am to walk J&C to the port for their 5:40 boat and walking back up the mountain to go back to sleep with Russell, enjoying the calm, dark quiet of the morning.

The perilous and unthinkably narrow road to my cousin Carmine's house and the (again) giant meal with family and friends that we had there. The laughter and stories in three different languages are hilarious and well worth the ride

Singing with Nonna and Angelina about coffee and something beautiful and (of course) O Solo Mio

Another wonderful meal with glorious views at cousin Salverio's house

Relaxing and swimming at the pool at La Residenza Hotel with Nonna and Linda

Watching J&C try to stay awake as we listened to lively Italians sing lively songs on their first night in Italy--then sitting for even longer to drink an espresso and have torta mandorla until nearly midnight

Our beautiful little apartment

A long dinner made of the best pizza, pasta and conversation in Italy with Josh and Chrisinda

Moments too numerous to count of food, incredible views, flowers, and family all here on this tiny island in the azure blue sea.

Now we prepare to depart this tiny island where my grandmother was born. Ah but this is travel- the desire to make the most of your time, the yearning for a few more moments of moonlight on ocean as smooth as glass, and the plan for a return trip soon. Well we did, we are, and we will.
Buona notte tutti! Next post from Germania!
Sending much love,
Maria and Russell

Capri

Ahhhh yes,one can definately acclimate to the caprician lifestyle quickly. It's fantastically relaxing, invigorating and recharging for the soul. Maria and I have defiately experienced some homesickness, so these past few days have been much needed. We had an adventurous,and admitadely scarry time trying to get here from Florence. First, our train from Florence to Naples was supposed to be only four hours long, not bad right, we knew we would be dining with family that night, so what's another long train ride. I comfortably dozzed off only to awake an hour later to a stopped train. After asking around, maria and I were told that something was blocking the tracks and we would be on our way within an hour. One hour passed, then another, then film crews started showing up outside the train, then the Italian passengers became restless from being deprived of their cigarettes, then, and I kid you not, they were given smoking privelages on the train. The train workers would not allow them off the train to smoke because of the dangers of standing on or near the tracks, it would be hazardous to their health I suppose (some irony, I think). So, after four hours of sitting on a stopped train and watching other trains pass by, all the while wondering how if something were blocking the tracks, why hadn't they moved it, and why was it not blocking other tracks, we were told that one of the locomotives wheels had broken, and we were not able to continue further unless we had a new locomotive. So back to a station that could give us a new locomotive, then back on course we were. When we finally made it to naples, it was 9 at night, just in time to have missed the last boat to capri. Now, the real problem with our situation was not having to improvise a new plan, but it was improvising a new plan in Naples, home of the mob, home of dirty dank and scarry streets. I half expected to be greeted by the godfather or one of his goons as we stepped off the train. So, we chose the first hotel we found to stay with the promise of a boat to Capri the next morning, "the Hotel Mignon". All in all it wasn't that bad, the room was clean...sort of, and it kept us off the streets for the night. We settled in exhausted from our ten hours on broken scarry Italian trains and turned on the television only to see the top story on national Italian news was a train broken down in the middle of Nowhere Italy, at least we made the news! After watching a little of Dirty Dancing overdubbed in Italian, we stepped out on our balcony to watch the chaos below us that is Naples streets at nights. It wasn't long until we noticed that some scantilly clad women were going in and out of our hotel entrance. Then we noticed they would stand on the surrounding street corners until invited into the hotel, do you see were I'm going with this? Apparently the hotel mignon had a reputation, but at least it kept us off the streets! So the next morning, we caught a ferry to Capri. The waters were incredibly rough, and for a time, I could fully appreciate lobster fisherman in Alaska, maria dug her finger nails deep into my hands, as I tried to reassure we weren't going to sink, and then, there it was before us, Capri, paradise and home until the end of September. Within an hour we were eating pasta, bread and fruit at maria's aunt's house, sharing Italian kisses on the left and right cheek( remember to go to the right first or you might end up planting one right on someones smackers). Ah yes, this is the life for me. Josh and Chrisinda joined us for three full days but had to leave today for Rome. We had the best time with them, and it seemed so surreal sharing food and drinks with them on their last night last night! It was a real treat having them with us and we were sad to see them leave as both maria and I know, we have the best friends in the world! As for now, I must go kiss my wife good night. Tomorrow we shall have another great day with maria's nona ida, and her aunt linda. So from maria and me to all of you out there in blogland, buona notte.

picture post!!

Hi all!
As promised, pictures.

I will now cover 4 countries in a few pictures.


Russell in Scotland.
In a kilt.




And remember pouring the perfect pint at the Guiness factory? Here we are with them!




We wrote about hitchhiking to the cliffs of moher and showed someone else's picture. Here is the picture I took of Russell and the cliffs. They were spectacular.




Before leaving Ireland and the land of the perfect pint, we had to have one more pint of 'the black stuff'(along with a wee dram of Irish whisky).




Then onto the mainland and straight into Paris. Remember how romantic we said it was? Here is a beautifully romantic shot that Russell took of this big statue...I forgot the name...and one of two sappy lovers on their honeymoon. :)








After a lovely stay in Paris, it was on to Melun to stay with our couchsurfing friends Annick and Jerome (I tried to upload this picture, but the camera died while doing so...later maybe!)
Then on a train out to Normandy to work for a week! Cutting lavender? Yes we can.




and cut we did. Here is what 60 kilos of lavender (and Russell) looks like. For you Americans, that is 132 pounds.




We finished our work and headed for the beach! St. Tropez to be exact. Remember the place with all the Ferraris? We took pictures of us pretending to look famous, but I decided to post this one instead. Yay beach!





It was here that we finally had crepes from a creperie! This place gave us a funny little fork tong type thing to eat them with. Here is me trying to use it...





If you've made it this far, you are now in Italy with us!! Here is a picture from this very night, having gelato at our favorite gelateria in Florence- Festival del Gelato. This was melone (melon), mousse nutella, and fico (fig). Great gelato is absolute heaven on this earth. No question about it.





We finished the night with a free concert of flute, organ and countertenor, another gelato (!) and now it is off to bed! We'll write more soon. Capri tomorrow!

the invasion begins

The invasion of jellyfish is slow and unsuspecting. It's sort of like that scene from Jaws. The kids are all squeeling and playing in the water, the adults are on the shore, the danger lurks in the open water, slowly creeping up on it's victims... then "argh" screams a child, then they all scream "argh" in unison. Then just like that the sea has been emptied and everyone stands on the shore pointing and talking in every language you can imagine about the "meduse" as they are called in France. Literally, the past few days have been drinched in the constant stream of jellyfish washing ashore. It sort of makes swimming a challenge and a risk, but we've done it in limited amounts anyway. What occurs is, the jellyfish seem to get blown in to the shores from their leisure life of skimming the waters and just being generally absent minded creatures. Now, I can call them absent minded because literally, I don't think they have a mind, and also, any creature that mobilizes en masse, only to plummit onto a shoreline resulting in immediate death couldn't be that smart... right?
So, the days have been leisurely. We spend lots of time laying by the sea, soaking up the sun, actually I try to fend the sun off with nivea sunscreen, and then we float in the water until we are thrown back onto the shoreline. It seems we have more in common with the jellyfish than we might care to admit...
Two days ago we walked7.5 kilometers to a beautiful beach. The walk was fantastic and it carried us along the sea side the entire time. We saw lots of mansions fancy yachts, and oh yes, at the beach we saw plenty of anatomy, and I don't mean of the animal kind. It turns out the beach we walked to is well known for being a nude beach. Oops:)
So, we are now preparing for a walk into town for an hour or so, and then back to our house . We are overly excited about our friends josh and Chrisinda that will be joining us for a few days in Capri. We can hardly wait!
We leave St. Tropez on the 13th, will be in Florence, Italy for a few days and then onto the rocky cliffs and the blue waters of Capri. Until then...

We're still here!!

Hi there!
Sorry for the post delay for anyone who was waiting (my parents?) we've been enjoying ourselves here in St.Tropez at the beach. Unfortunately, we do not have Internet. However, in true Russell and Maria budget trip style, we have managed to pay for a few minutes of wifi but use it for a whole day!
Wow, St.Tropez is beautiful. Beautiful and expensive. Ferraris are as common here as Volvos are at home...maybe moreso. And the yachts. Huge. So Russell and I are enjoying cooking at the house (as usual), being sun gods and goddeses on the beach (Russell insists that in some countries his fair skin is exotic...France does not happen to be one of these), and walking around town nearly gawking at the money. €500 and €600 for one night in a hotel...€800 for a bottle of champagne. We are enjoying top quality food, accomodation and company here for a while.
We just spent an amazingly wonderful (nearly free) night on the beach watching a priceless sunset, listening to music from the iPod, eating pasta with zucchini and homeade apple tart, watching the waves and the stars and talking the hours away.
It is lovely to be at the beach. After the cold of the UK and Ireland and the work in Normandy (which was amazing, don't get me wrong) it is nice to have a bit of a 'typical' honeymoon for a while.
Here the water is blue like sapphires, the sun is warm like a good winter blanket and my husband is as perfect ad anyone could ask for.
We do miss home at times. My cousin Tarah and her husband Justin just had a little boy (Paxton), the floors have been refinished in my house, and we miss seeing family (especially the little ones like Russell's little sister Jasmine. But we are very excited to have friends and family to talk with on the phone, by Internet, and to visit with soon!! We will tell you all about these visits when they happen.
For now, I bid you 'a bientot' and say 'thanks for reading'. We promise to update sooner next time and post tons of pictures as soon as we can.
Much love,
Maria (and Russell)