13 posts from July 2009

Woo hoo

• New Alexander McCall Smith book 'Corduroy Mansions' arrived
• Black eye liner
• Top quality drama (Torchwood: Children of Earth, The Hurt Locker and Caprica) over the weekend
  
• Iced cold juicy plums
  
• Scottish tablet
  

• Need to take the trash out
• Jet lag
• AC at work is chilling me to the bone
• The rain
  
• Lonely week nights without Alex
  

More than one person told me that Naples was the armpit of Italy but given it's location to ruins and its archaeological museum with the secret room and Alexander mosaic how could I resist dragging Alex there for a holiday. Do you remember the episode of Friends where Ross dates the 'dirty girl'? She is absolutely stunning but lives in a pig style well that is Naples. The Italians who live there are immaculately dressed (as per usual) but Naples itself could do with some work.

On our first full day we headed out to Herculaneum to visit the archaeological site, and then headed up to Vesuvius. Herculaneum is actually a better preserved site than Pompeii and much smaller so it is easier to roam around. To add to the local flavor there is a pack of feral dogs roaming the ruins and freaking out the tourists (myself included).

Day two started with a trip to the US consulate in Naples, and then running a bunch of errands ahead of going to the embassy proper the next day, but in the afternoon we were free to go to the archaeological museum. Of course given our luck so far on the trip large chucks of the museum were closed but there was enough open for us to roam around for a few hours. The Alexander mosaic was amazing and the contents of the secret closet was probably more shocking prior to HBO's Rome.

Day three was the side trip to Rome to deal with getting Alex's travel documents to get him back in the US. Whilst Alex was rocking it at the embassy I took in the archaeological museum near the station which has an excellent exhibition on epigraphy (if you are in to that type of thing). After Alex was done we headed to the Spanish Steps for some lunch and in search of a Mandarina Duck store (in keeping with our run of luck they were closed and when we came back when they were open nothing caught my eye). We spent the rest of the day mooching about and taking shelter in museums that had AC because it was appallingly hot.

Day four we finally made it to Pompeii, and it was well worth getting up extra early to get to the site around 9am as the place was flooded with cumbersome tour groups. We spent most of our time on the periphery trying to take it all and find shelter from the relentless sun. The range of preserved buildings is amazing (whore houses, temples, villas, shops, bakeries, theatres, etc) and it is definitely worth a trip but perhaps next time in the fall.

Once we were done with Pompeii we headed back to Naples, took a refreshing to shower to wash away the grime of the ruins and jumped a ferry to Capri. Oh my god Capri is amazing! I wish we had longer than 3 hours to explore but we managed to climb up the hill to the town center and have a wander around the pretty streets. I can totally see why Tiberius retired to the island.   

 
All in all we had a great trip and I think I have had my fill of ruins for the next six months! More photos up on Alex and I's flickr accounts. 

Today will mostly be spent filing and making chocolate chip cookies. I hate filing but yesterday I almost had a heart attack when I open a letter confirming that my old 401(k) had been transferred to company X. I freaked the frak out as I thought someone had stolen a portion of my tiny pension pot. Of course there was a logical explanation and it was found at the bottom of my pile of "junk" post.  If I'd filled out the transfer forms in time and rolled it over to my current 401(k) then I wouldn't have the fun of spending a chunk of Monday trying to sort this out - joy! The chocolate chip cookies are reparation for making zucchini cake on Friday night. The cake tasted fine just a little blah, and it didn't knock my socks off like carrot cake. So I think gooey chocolate chip cookies are in order for tonight's treat.

I dragged my tired ass to yoga class last night only to discover that the credit crunch has infected my sanctuary.  From August my favorite yoga teacher will no longer teach any classes at the downtown Hoboken location she has been banished uptown to the new(ish) studio, and to make matters worse will only have an evening class come October. I've been going to this yoga studio for two years, loved the convenience of it being right next to the PATH station and the core dynamics program with my favorite teacher. The location is easy to get to from work and easy to get back to Jersey City. The uptown location (as the name suggests) is right at the top end of Hoboken so I would have to walk a mile up the main street to get to it. Obviously, when you get out of work at 5:30 and are rushing to get to a 6:15 class this is not possible. The other thing is that I have unlimited membership so for a flat rate of $99 a month I can take as many yoga classes as I want at the downtown location, if I want to do downtown and uptown then the price goes up to $125.  It also looks like they will be scaling back the downtown classes (hence my core dynamics classes being cut) so less choice for the same money really isn't making me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Fingers crossed they change the policy otherwise I'll be looking for a new yoga studio and/or developing my own home practice. 

What's one thing a houseguest should always do?

Okay there are a few things houseguests should always do in my opinion. If they are coming from the UK then they should bring a stash of British groceries (chocolate, chocolate biscuits, Scottish tablet, etc) and the latest BBC History magazine. If they are coming from the US to the UK then they should bring a stash of Tylenol, Levi jeans and This American Life slash Battlestar Galactica DVDs. They should not be too fussy eaters and able to flow with things. Be willing to venture out on their own to give the people they are staying with some breathing room, and most importantly they should remember Ben Franklin's saying:

'Guests, like fish, begin to smell after three days.'

Simply awesome

• Everything
• Miss Marple mysteries
• Roman detective mysteries
• Got my Greek Drama course all printed off and am ready to dive in
  

• Jet lag mixed with yoga
• Rainy weather turning my hair in to a gorgon's snake mess
  
• Need to start saving in earnest
  

We got back from our European jaunt around 1am on Monday. Needless to say yesterday was pretty brutal and I was pretty envious that Alex had the good sense to take the day off work. It wasn't the smoothest holiday that we've ever had there was lost luggage, a stolen wallet and a side trip to the US Embassy in Rome. But all in all was a great trip, the ruins in Pompeii and Herculaneum were awesome as was the archaeology museum in Naples, and hopefully the photos will reflect that once I get around to uploading them (jet lag and Alex working away this week might speed that up).  It's nice to be back to the familiar routine and settle in for the rest of the summer. Our office started summer Fridays last week and this year I am going to try to take advantage of them.

Positives
- Inspiring ruins (lots and lots of lovely ruins)
- Italy
- Time together
- Vitamin D in spades
- Wonderful staff at our hotel (and lots of AC)
- Ice cream
- Pompeii (finally) tomorrow

Negatives
- Losing 1.5 days dealing with the lost wallet
- It's hotter than Hades
- Twitchy eye
- Exchange rate
- Learning to accept that being ripped off is part and parcel of being a tourist and it all even outs

Sent via Hermes from my iPhone

Having a much needed Anglo-Italian break. Bit frazzled from work so need to recharge my batteries and reconnect with things ancient.

Sent via Hermes from my iPhone