The Oxford Sausage

On the afternoon of day 2, we three picked up our rental in Rome, a Fiat Punto, & proceeded southeastward on a 4 hour drive to the Amalfi Coast. Fi had secured us some accommodation in part of a small, but gorgeous villa outside Massa Lubrense. By the time we'd dropped our bags, there wasn't much daylight remaining, so we made dinner our priority. I managed to snap this pic of the sunset just before we ducked into our restaurant.

Day 3!

Morning of day 3, Fi & I got engaged!! If you want the scoop on that, you'll have to speak to us.

I then took this picture from our patio. The pool in the foreground was part of our villa, & beyond is the Mediterranean Sea, with Capri in the distance. Not a bad view, eh? It was spectacular. I need to move there.

Later that morning, we drove southward to the road coursing along the Amalfi coast. During a brief photo stop I took this picture of Positano. Very chic.

From there we continued to Amalfi, our destination for the day.

The Amalfi cathedral was very impressive.

So we took it upon ourselves to enter. You'll notice the ladies are wearing shawls to conceal their shoulders. That's the rules.

Frescoes decorated much of the interior.

Down a flight of stairs we found the crypt of St. Andrew, to whom the cathedral is dedicated.

Notice the necklace & crown affixed to this painting.

A mother-of-pearl cross, brought back from Jerusalem.

Look closely & you'll see a skull & crossbones.

Quite a view from the church's doorstep.

La spiaggia.

Amalfi (or Maltese) crosses seemed to be everywhere. This one was hand-drawn.

Amalfi, that whole coast, really, was such a spectacular place. I felt very lucky to see it.

That evening's sunset from our front porch.

Buongiorno! It's been a couple of weeks since our return to England (blah), & I've had time enough to settle back into my work, exercise, & free-time routines, which in many ways I'm thankful for. I like our life in Oxford (ssh), but I love Italy. As soon as is manageable, I want to move there. In the meantime, here's a bit of narrative & accompanying photos from our trip earlier this month.

Day 1!

Fi, Lyndsay, & I arrived in Rome late morning on Friday. After checking into our hotel, we headed out on foot to see as much of the city as we could in a day. Weather was a bit hit & miss (something of a theme for the week), so we couldn't really go anywhere without umbrellas. This was a disappointing reality having just escaped England, but whattya gonna do. It took the ladies a few minutes to get their bearings.

Not much later, though, we were on our merry way to the Pantheon, Fi's all-time favorite building.

Before entering, we stopped into a nearby pizzeria for some lunch. That's fresh pizza (i.e. the toppings aren't baked -- surprisingly delicious), an arancino (a fried risotto ball with melted mozzerella in the middle), & beer. Glorious.

The post-prandial stroll through the Pantheon was really pleasant, in large part due to the inside being gorgeous; see for yourself.

We rewarded ourselves for being so cultured with a grantia di caffe con la panna, which is a sort of frozen coffee dessert topped with whipped cream. Heavenly.

We walked more, passing through various Piazzas, the names of which I'm struggling to recall. The one below might be Navona

This stands for Senatus Populusque Romanus, & it's emblazoned all over Rome.

The Victor Emmanuel monument, near Piazza Venezia.

The pix kinda stop there. By that time, we were all exhausted & in desperate need of a shower, change of clothes, & delicious meal. I didn't photograph any of these activities. After dinner, though, we did pause at the Spanish steps. Here's Fi among the crowd.

Also, a brief aside about Roman public transportation: like NYC, some of Rome's older subway trains are still in operation. Unlike NYC, many of these are covered in graffiti, like something out of The Warriors. It was awesome.