Why leave Italy??

I'm so excited - I had my first posting request!  Someone asked me to do our entire Italian vacation, day by day.  Since I don't have any shows this week (I'm seeing the last show at Encores on Saturday), I figured it was a good time to do it. 

When last we left off, my chums and I had finished the amazing Rome portion of our Italian adventure, so now it's off to Naples.  In case you'd forgotten, this trip took place in November, 2007.  Most of the photos are mine, though the really good ones were taken by a gal pal with a genius for photography.  Here we go!

TRIP REPORT - NAPLES, DAY ONE (and a half)

After two-plus glorious days in Rome, we were off to Naples.  It was a bit of a slog to get there, only because we had to drag our suitcases through the rain to catch bus #64, then ride to Termini Station, then take a train to Naples, then slog those bags through (seemingly) miles and miles of stairs and steps to finally get to our hotel.  By the time we got there, we were exhausted!  But it wasn’t because of any travel difficulties, really, just because of all the steps and transferring.

My first view of Naples was a tiny bit worrying.  We finally exited the metro and the city seemed deserted and dirty (it was around 7pm).  I asked a gentleman where the Archaeological Museum was and he kindly pointed to the big building not very far from where we were standing.  I guess I was just too tired to notice it.  It took us a few minutes to get our bearings enough to cross the crazy intersection, but we finally got it done.

We stayed at the Belle Arti Resort, on Via Santa Maria di Constantinopoli, near the Museum.  After reading on a travel blog that it could be a little hard to find, we really had our eyes pealed for the sign and actually had no problem.  Forewarned is forearmed!  Since we were a little late in our arrival, it took a few minutes for someone to answer the bell.  But once we got inside, we were transported.  Behind those enormous wooden doors is an oasis.  After you cross the courtyard and enter the hotel, they have rose petals and tea lights on the steps leading up to the reception area!  The desk clerk, Mohammed, calmed our frazzled nerves and checked us in quickly.  Once we got to our room, we were in heaven.  We were in an extremely large room where they placed four beds.  It was like a beautiful, grown-up dorm room!  We actually loved it.  The frescoes on the ceiling were gorgeous, the tapestry over our beds was incredible.  We really loved the room.  

After relaxing for a bit, we decided to go out and explore and have some dinner.  We had decided early on that since we wanted to check out the ‘best pizza in the world’ at Da Michele, that we were just going to have pizza everywhere else in Naples, too.  I mean, how else can you judge without comparison?  Since it was Sunday, though, Da Michele would have to wait until tomorrow.  So we walked through the lovely Piazza Bellini over to Pizzeria Vera.  After getting over the shock that the pizzas were only three euros each, we each ordered a different variety.  They were delicious! The proportions of sauce to crust to cheese to toppings were perfect.  We lingered in the restaurant for quite some time to unwind.  We were suddenly pretty tired, so after we left the restaurant, we just went right back to the hotel.  We would explore Naples tomorrow.

Of course, we overslept.  Those walls and windows must be really thick!  Breakfast was only supposed to be served until 10, but I called reception anyway to see if they could send up a little something, and they did!  Mohammed brought up the breakfast tray himself and gently teased us about sleeping in.  He was really quite charming.  The breakfast was simple, but delicious.  It was juice, coffee with warmed milk, yogurt, croissants, butter and jam.  It was exactly enough to start our day.

We had already decided we wanted to visit Caserta and the palace there.  Once we heard it described as the “Versailles of Italy,” we knew we had to go.  Before heading for the bus to Caserta though, we went to Capella Sansevero to look at the Veiled Christ.  After wandering through charming streets in Spaccanapoli, we found the church.  It is really a gloriously beautiful place, and the crowning glory is the Veiled Christ.      I couldn’t look at it enough.  Looking at it from every angle, I tried to imagine the courage and talent it had to take to sculpt that amazing piece from one piece of marble.  It is one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen in my life.  I wish I had been able to photograph it, but I completely understand their ‘no pictures’ rule (this photo is cribbed from the 'net).  I think we would’ve stayed in the church longer to really absorb all of its beauty, but a school group of eager kids came in and once the volume in the church started to go up, we were ready to leave.  I will definitely have to go back there someday.

After leaving the church, we wandered more through the wonderful little shops and booths in Spaccanapoli.  I’m a sucker for Christmas and decorations, so I was in heaven!  Creches everywhere!  Finally, we had to walk with more purpose to the Piazza Garibaldi to catch the bus to Caserta.  We wanted to be able to wander there as long as possible.

It took a couple of inquiries of ticket sellers at the Piazza before we found the bus to Caserta, but it wasn’t a big deal.  The bus was very large and comfortable so we settled in.  The trip was longer than we expected—we read Caserta was less than 20 km from Naples, but the trip was a good 45 minutes each way.  Not a huge inconvenience, but just longer than we expected.  You get off at the last stop, which is the Caserta bus station.  There isn’t really a direct route from the bus station to the palace (which you can see, you just can’t walk right to it), so you have to walk in a roundabout way through the little town a bit to get there.  Again, not a huge inconvenience.

They haven’t turned Caserta into the tourist attraction that Versailles is, which is good and bad.  There were a lot of rooms closed at Caserta because of the season and we couldn’t see the gardens at all.  They did give us a significantly reduced rate, though, so we couldn’t complain too much.  We were very disappointed, though, that we couldn’t see the chapel or the theater.  Opening those two rooms up would’ve made our stay there infinitely better.  But we did enjoy touring the palace.  Each room was more ornate than the last and the ceilings and fixtures were stunning.  We were nearly the only people there, which was fun.  

It was amusing to watch the employees run ahead of us a few rooms at a time.  And they didn’t bother to stop cleaning or repairing while we were touring, so it was a very low-key afternoon.  The last room you enter, after the libraries, is amazing—it’s an enormous crèche in the center of the room, which you can view from all sides.  It was just incredible!  The crèche was amazingly detailed and just gorgeous.  I highly recommend taking a look at it. 

The gift shop was excellent, so we purchased a few things, including a guidebook and postcards of the gardens (since we didn’t get to see them).  We spent a very pleasant few hours at Caserta and would love to go back another time when more of the palace is open.

After taking the bus back to Naples, we then took off for Da Michele.  We had the street address, but kept getting confused.  Luckily, I had seen a photo of the restaurant sign, so we just sort of came upon it!  Good thing I had seen the photo of the sign before, or else we may have kept walking.  And it was also a good thing we went there because the pizza was out of this world!  They weren’t really busy at all, so we sat down and had our pizzas in just a few minutes.  Oh, so delicious!  All talk stopped at our table so that we could eat and enjoy that amazing food.  I wish I had one of those pizzas right now!

The employees were sweet.  They somehow had us pegged as New Yorkers right away, and (after eating our pizzas) we struck up a conversation in their limited English and our limited Italian.  We discovered they make 800 pizzas a day there!  I’m sure each one is as delicious as the last.  They move so fast, I couldn’t get any clear photos, but the blurry way the pictures turned out sort of represents Da Michele.  Very cool and moving very fast.  

After we sat and tried to decide if we needed another pizza (we didn’t), we left and just wandered around.  We window-shopped and generally had a lovely evening.  We also stopped in several churches, just to look around.  I’m sorry I didn’t write down any of their names, because they were of course all lovely.  It was just a nice relaxing way to end our day.  There was one scary moment—not for us, but scary nonetheless.  As we were walking, we saw a car hit a scooter and the scooter went down and the driver went sliding away.  It looked really painful.  And the car just kept on going.  The scooter-ist got right up, though, to prove he wasn’t really hurt, and lots of locals came to his aid to help him with his bike and packages that had fallen.  He seemed to be unshaken, so we kept going.  We were happy to see so many people come to his assistance, though.  We found all of the people in Naples to be very generous.  There was less English spoken, but they were all perfectly willing to speak slowly and use gesturing to help us understand what they were talking about. 

Before heading back to the hotel, we decided we needed gelato.  I thought we would have lots more gelato in Italy than we did, but when we did have it, it was incredible.  So we stopped at a little pastry place and had gelato in their back room.  I wish I had gotten a photo of the sweet back room.  But the gelato was lovely and just the right way to end our evening.  Back to the hotel for a little rest and tomorrow: train to Sorrento!!

More from the Italian archive...

I had another dream last night about Italy (probably brought about by speaking with a friend about his upcoming trip - I offered to do research for him [yes, I'm that insane]).  So, to again try to put the happy notion of my getting back to Italy soon, here is day two of my Rome trip report, circa November 2007...


TRIP REPORT - ROME, DAY 2


It was raining our second morning in Rome, but we went to the Forum anyway.  When you only have two days to see all of Ancient Rome, you suck it up and get out of the apartment.  :)  As we walked across our beloved St. Peter’s Square to get to the metro, the heavens opened and it POURED!  But the downpour only lasted a minute.  It was fun to stand around with so many locals, monks included, waiting for the rain to pass.  A couple of us did have to buy an umbrella, though.  (you'll see some of the lovely Roman umbrellas in later photo essays)  By the time we got to the Forum, it had lightened to a sprinkle.    First, we made a stop at Circus Maximus, to get some photos.  Then we took a backwards route to the Forum.  I just loved wandering around Rome.  Even having a destination in mind, it was great to meander and look at whatever beautiful thing was around the next corner.

When we finally made it to the Forum, it was sprinkling off and on. The rain just made the ruins that much more interesting!  It heightened the desolation of the stones and also emphasized the little color that was around.  It was really gorgeous.  We spent so much time wandering around the Forum, though, that we forgot to get our Colosseum tickets 90 minutes before sundown.  So we didn’t get to explore inside the Colosseum or Palatine Hill, which was disappointing.  But I guess you always need to save something for the next trip. 

We stopped in a terrific wine/coffee bar for a little something something before making the trek to Trastevere.  I don’t have the name of it on me, but it was really good.  I had a wonderful herbal infusion and they gave me complimentary cookies, both sweet and savory, to go with it.  My friends got the tuscan bean soup, which smelled delicious.  One gal got the hot chocolate, which looked like hot chocolate pudding!  So rich and delicious!  I probably wouldn’t have been able to drink a whole cup of it, but it was nice to have a taste.

We took another sort of roundabout way to the Ponte Paletino (where we would cross into Trastevere), but again, there’s so much to look at, it didn’t matter!  I got some great photos of lots of ‘minor ruins’ (as described by some dumb guidebook author) and we stumbled upon the Mouth of Truth (yeah, “Roman Holiday”).  It was closed, but it was still fun to see it, even through gates.  After crossing the bridge, we sort of did one of the guidebook’s walking tours of Trastevere.  Well, we just hit a few of the highlights. 

The Piazza Mercanti was so gorgeous, I can hardly describe it!  Lit torches everywhere--amazing.  We then walked through Santa Cecilia Church, which was beautiful.  We just loved how every church we entered was gorgeous in totally different ways.  Some ornate, some simple, all beautiful.  I could probably wander into churches for an entire vacation and be happy.  But we were starting to get hungry, so we just wandered around and got happily lost in Trastevere until we found a restaurant that appealed to us. 

We ate at Vin Allegro, which was lovely.  We sat downstairs in their ‘wine library’ as we called it.  It was great.  Nice and quiet, with only four tables down there.  Much quieter than the lively upstairs area.  I had the rollatini, which was amazing.  We also shared an order of sautéed chicory, which was delicious!  I’m going to have to start buying chicory! 

After dinner, we wandered around again through Trastevere, shopping, then stopping at an outdoor café for a last drink of the evening.  It was nice to people-watch for awhile.  After checking our map, we saw we could cross a bridge and walk through our beloved St. Peter’s Square again to get home!  So that’s what we did.

For our last day, we got up early to hit a couple of churches recommended by our darling Vatican tour guide before we caught the bus to catch the train to Naples.  We again walked through St. Peter’s Square, took photos of the screens set up for people outside to watch Mass (we dubbed them the Pope-a-trons!), then rode the subway over to the Repubblica stop and went to Santa Maria della Vittorio to see the Bernini sculpture of Santa Teresa in Ecstasy (Christiano called me Teresa, so he said I HAD to see the sculpture), then on to Santa Maria degli Angeli. 

Both of these churches were incredible.  While we were in the Santa Maria della Vittorio, they were starting to get ready for Mass, so the choir was singing.  It was so beautiful.  I wish I could’ve gotten a good photo of the Bernini sculpture, but I guess it wasn’t meant to be.  Then, Santa Maria degli Angeli was just stunning.  The interior was designed by Michelangelo, I think, and it was so lovely.  We could’ve stayed there forever, but we had to get back to the apartment to pack and leave for Naples.  We were definitely sorry to leave Rome.  Three days just isn’t enough.  We promised each other we would come back and spend more time there.  This was definitely an amazing start to an amazing trip...Naples, here we come!!



Boy, time sure flies!

Wow, look at those dates on the right!  I've been blogging for over a year!  It certainly doesn't seem that long.  Of course, I don't blog all that much, but still.  A year is a long time!  I think about blogging a lot, though.  Something will happen and I will wonder "should I blog about that?"  I wonder if anyone outside of my circle of friends will read or care about what I write.  I know I get annoyed when my favorite bloggers don't update regularly - I even check my stats and try to imagine who IS reading my blah blah blah!  Is this being too self-centered?  I do find jotting things down gets stuff out of my head and into the air.  I have a tendency to brood, and I think I've noticed my brooding has decreased in the last year.  Or, at least I feel as if my holding onto stuff too long has decreased.

What else has happened over the last year?  A lot, I guess.  As things sort of fall back into a normal place and/or routine, there are changes.  I'm certainly fatter.  This needs to be worked on.  There are days I don't notice the new 'girls' at all and there are other days it's like carrying around a load of bricks.  I honestly think it depends on the barometric pressure.  Which makes no physical or biological sense, but it gives me a modest feeling of comfort.  Of course, a big change is that every trip to the doctor or dentist has become an even scarier experience for me.  I've imagined all sorts of scenarios every time I'm sent to another doctor.

This morning, I was sent to Dr No Bedside Manner (the above photo is the view from in front of his office building).  I saw him a couple of years ago to check on my fibroids (yes, pretty much every benign female complaint has come my way at one time or another).  That day, I believe he said two sentences to me:  "please place this for me" (referring to the scary medical instrument he uses for an internal sonogram), and "you have fibroids" (in the 'uh, yeah, that's why I'm here' department).  He isn't exactly Mr Warm and Fuzzy (actually, he's Dr No Bedside Manner!), but oh well.  I figured I wouldn't really need to pay regular visits to him.  But, Dr Pay in Advance is so hot for me to have my ovaries out so I can go into menopause right now that she sent me back to Dr No Bedside Manner.  I guess she wanted him to tell me that my fibroids are out of control and that I should have my ovaries out NOW. 

The last couple of days, I've been working myself into a frenzy over which horrible medical disasters were going to befall me.  I've read studies that say once you've had any kind of breast cancer, you're at a higher risk for ovarian cancer.  There are people who believe that cancer cells never leave your body.  Oh, and one of the side effects of taking tamoxifen was a higher risk for uterine cancer.  I didn't sleep much last night, trying to figure out when I would have time in my schedule to have a complete hysterectomy and still have time to get all my work done.  Gah!  Where was my usual modus operandi of denial and avoidance???  I hate being in worst-case-scenario mode!!!

So...today's appointment.  The nurse was nice - we had a long conversation about how she liked my hair color and did I do it myself?  She was cute.  And at least I got more than two sentences out of Dr No Bedside Manner this time - I filled him in on last year's surgical extravaganzas, then he asked me questions about the tamoxifen, if I'm still on a regular cycle and if I'm having any other issues.  I hardly knew what to say, I was so surprised he was speaking with me!  He also pointed things out to me on the sonogram machine; he certainly didn't do that last time.  So, either I'm way more charming and drew him out of his shell today (ha ha), or now that he thinks there's a real reason for me to be there, he can relate to me a little better.  Regardless, it was nice to actually speak a few words.  I can think of few things more uncomfortable than a prolonged office visit where the doctor says nothing.  Happily, he saw nothing different on the sonograms - the fibroids are the same size as before and nothing else is going wrong.  I knew that would be the outcome, so why put myself through the worry?  I guess because now I know what can go wrong.  Blech.  But at least I can wait until my next annoying appointment with Dr Pay in Advance to fight over having my ovaries removed.

To celebrate keeping the ovaries for a few more months (lol), I will now post gratuitous old photos of me with Tony nominees.  Did we ever decide if photo-dropping is worse than name-dropping???  Oh well...

Just another manic Monday...

Reason # 2,498,736 that I love living in New York?  Sometimes, even when I can't afford to go to an event that I really want to see, some generous friends offer me a chance to see a rehearsal.  That happened yesterday.

I spent a glorious afternoon yesterday in Carnegie Hall, reveling in the beauty of the lyrics and music of Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty.  As a rule, I try not to mention real names in my blog (I don't know why), but Lynn & Steve are so kind, generous and out-of-the-ordinary wonderful, I can't resist giving them a shout-out.

When I met Steve, many years ago now, I happened to mention to him my experience of seeing Once on This Island.  A friend was in from out of town and he wanted to see all the new musicals that were playing.  We had seen a not-so-great musical early in the week, then, one night, we picked up tickets to a show we knew nothing about.  It was Once on This Island.  And I believe I've mentioned before that I think this musical is practically perfect.  It's just a jewel, with nothing extraneous, just joy and beauty and the magic of theater.  My friend and I LOVED it, and immediately bought tickets to see it again the next night.

Steve loved that story and remembered it, I guess, because when the reunion concert of Once on This Island was done in 2001, Steve asked me if I was going.  I told him I wanted to, but couldn't afford it.  He said he'd see what he could do, maybe I could go to a rehearsal, which would've been exciting enough.  When he told me he got me a ticket to the matinee performance, I was so grateful.  I figured I'd be sitting in the last row, but I didn't care.  No.  Steve got me a ticket to SIT WITH HIM.  I was sitting with the creators and the friends and family of this wonderful show.  Needless to say, I was crying before the show even started.  And I kept crying for the rest of the day.  It was one of the most moving and thrilling afternoons I've ever experienced in the theater.  I'll never forget Steve's generosity.  And many times over the years, both Lynn and Steve have been so wonderful to me, I can't even list the examples.  I'm proud to know them.

When the New York Pops announced they were going to celebrate Lynn & Steve, I was so excited and happy for them, and disappointed that I couldn't really afford to go.  But, again, the generous natures of these two wonderful people took over, and they put me on the list to watch yesterday's rehearsal.  It was gorgeous.  I find Lynn & Steve's work to be so personal and moving.  I truly love all of their shows.  Even hearing the singers do these songs out-of-context, in a rehearsal format, was enough to get me to tear up repeatedly.  Here's a rundown of what I saw:  the New York Pops did a bit of a Ragtime orchestral suite; Liz Callaway reprised her beautiful rendition of "Journey to the Past" from the animated film Anastasia; Andrew Rannells (who I'd never seen before since I haven't seen Book of Mormon) did a lovely and understated "Love Who You Love" from A Man of No Importance; Nikki James (also from Book of Mormon) did the adorable and heartbreaking "Times Like This" from Lucky Stiff; Brian d'Arcy James did "I Was Here" from The Glorious Ones - this is such a stunningly beautiful song and it moves me every time; Norm Lewis (oh.my.god.I.love.him) and Nikki James did "Wheels of a Dream" from Ragtime - I believe Norm was singing just to me (that's my story and I'm sticking to it); Rachel York did a sizzling "Speaking French" from Lucky Stiff; Jason Danieley beautifully performed "Streets of Dublin" from A Man of No Importance - why isn't he a huge star????; Marin Mazzie did "Back to Before" from Ragtime - she did it THREE TIMES and thrilled me each time; Jason and Marin did a heartbreaking "Our Children" from Ragtime; LaChanze was stunning singing "Human Heart" from Once on This Island; Tiler Peck (from New York City Ballet) and Boyd Gaines did a number from Lynn and Steve's new show, Little Dancer (it was lovely and I cannot wait to see the show); Kecia Lewis-Evans did "Mama Will Provide" from Once on This Island; then Kevin Chamberlin and a young boy whose name escapes me did an amazing and heartbreaking (I cried each time they did it) "Alone in the Universe" from Seussical.  Unfortunately, I missed Rebecca Luker's rehearsal of a piece from Legacy.  I love her voice so much, it kills me that I missed it.  But it was a special day and I'm so grateful I was able to experience it, thanks to the generous spirits of Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty.    I didn't want to take advantage, so I didn't take any pictures of anyone's rehearsing, but I did take one shot of the curtain call rehearsal, figuring I would've taken this shot if I had been at the actual concert last night...    

Last night, I trekked downtown to see a reading of short plays by a dear friend and colleague.  All I'll say is that I enjoyed myself a great deal, it's always lovely seeing things at the Cherry Lane (even though it was so bloody hot in there I was afraid I was going to stroke out), and I was bummed that the Milk 'N Cookies store was closed when we left.  I love the neighborhood of the Cherry Lane...                                                                       

With regards to the Tony nominations, I was THRILLED that Venus in Fur got a Best Play nom!  I was so afraid it would be forgotten in the "how can we possibly remember what opened last fall when 143 plays opened last week?" mentality of the Tony nominating committee.  I was also very happy to see that two of my rather off-the-wall suggestions from yesterday were picked up:  Michael Cumpsty and Condola Rashad.  Yay, me.  I'm so smart.  ;)  In the "what the what??" department:  Ron Raines nominated over Raul Esparza?  Really?  That's probably my biggest WTF thing.  I was surprised that Alan Rickman was passed over for Seminar - I didn't love the play, but he made it an enjoyable evening.  Laura Osnes got a nom over Bernadette Peters or Elena Roger?  Interesting.  After all the pre-show mishegos, I was rather surprised at Diane Paulus' nomination for best director for Porgy and Bess; I was very happy that Peter Kaczorowski's sublime lighting for Road to Mecca was remembered; Spider-Man got two noms - huh, imagine that; and did you see Emilio Sosa from "Project Runway" fame is up for best costumes??  Interesting.  Should be a fascinating six weeks until the awards ceremony...