This past weekend we went to Italy. Judie’s sister Robbie was touring the country and was ending up in Rome on Saturday and we were thinking of meeting them there and then one of Judie’s favorite clients invited us to visit her in a villa she had rented on the Amalfi Coast, so we decided to go. It was our first experience with the two budget airlines in Europe, Ryan Air and Easy Jet. Because we waited until the last minute and were traveling on the weekend, we didn’t get the bizarrely cheap that you hear about, but it was still pretty inexpensive. It was also extremely no frills. They charge you to print a boarding pass, the seats are close together and don’t lean back, you can only bring one bag on board with paying a hefty fee, you can’t even get a glass of water without paying for it and they fly in and out of Stansted Airport (which is kind of up in the direction of Cambridge), rather than Heathrow. It was a lot like taking a long bus ride only with lots more security. All in all, for a two-hour plane ride, which is about how long it takes to get the Rome or Naples, it wasn’t too bad. And now we know how it works for future flights. Actually the worst part of the whole trip was trying to get back into England. The customs machine couldn’t read my fingerprints and we ended up on the Group W Bench (although without the father rapers and mother stabbers) for a while until they could figure out what to do with me and eventually decided to just let me through.

The place on the Amalfi Coast was incredible. It was in this pretty obscure, beautiful fishing village turned tourist location named Marina del Capitano located between Sorrento and Positano. You basically had to drive over two mountains, up and down switchbacks with lovely views, until the road ended. (Great way to get back behind the wheel after six or seven weeks–and in a standard no less.) We were really glad we had the GPS, but we never would have found the villa without specific directions. The photo above shows Judie sitting by the jacuzzi overlooking the bay and the village. Cheryl and her family were in Capri for much of the afternoon on the day we arrived, so we go to just lounge around this impossibly gorgeous house, sipping white wine. That night we went to dinner in the village at wonderful seafood restaurant and, because the season is over, we were the only ones there and had a private feast.

The next day we drove up to Rome to Meet Robbie and Bob. On Sunday, we almost killed ourselves walking around Rome. It was a nice day and Rome is so scenic that it is hard not to keep going. Robbie and Bob love gardens and we found some lovely ones up on one of the hills near Quirinale. I was reminded of one of the things I had learned in prior trips to Italy: No matter what you have planned, some of what you want to see will be closed or under repair. This time the Pantheon was closed on Sunday morning (who knew they still had Church services there?) and the Trevi Fountain had been taken apart as part of a renovation (so no coins to toss). But it hardly matters because just walking around is so much fun. We’ve been to a lot of the major tourist sites on prior trips, so, while R&B went toff on a tour to the Colosseum and the Forum, we went to Castel Sant’Angelo. It was originally Hadrian’s Tomb (also Marcus Aurelius) and was build around 135 AD. It was destroyed in the sacking of Rome and then used to build other buildings. (Hadrian’s remains are long gone.) It is close to St. Peters and the Vatican and over time, the Popes took it over and made it into a fortress. There is a wall with a passage between the Vatican the Castel that allows the Popes to escape attack (which one of them actually had to use during the 1527 sacking of Rome). Pope Paul III, who was also responsible for Michelangelo painting the Sistine Chapel, did a huge renovation and had a papal apartment built, along with a store-room for papal valuables. There was also a museum inside and a spectacular panoramic view at the top.

We had two delicious meals (of course). One was at Trattoria Il Tulio, a sophisticated restaurant recommended by and Italian lawyer who Judie had just interviewed about possibly moving to Bryan Cave. The other was Il Bacaro, a more romantic spot which would have been even better if the weather had permitted us to eat al fresco.

One of the things we had planned when we decided to move here was to take advantage of the ease of seeing other parts of Europe. We are already puzzling about where our next trip should be. Vienna? Lithuania? Greece? Morocco? But first Judie leaves on Thursday for Las Vegas (with stop in New York).