Random asterisks of vacation, part one

* Copious amounts of red wine + a small (really!) daily cup of gelato + amazing handmade pastas - walking, walking, walking X 19 days = 5 pounds!
I console myself with the thought: what if we hadn't been walking?

* The lemons in Sorrento are the size of grapefruit. We visited an artisanal limoncello factory up in the hills, where a lady was carefully zesting each huge lemon--then throwing the rest of it in the trash!

* Much of the joy and awe of this trip came from seeing places we had heard and read about all our lives. One afternoon we took the train from Pompeii (Pompeii!! the Scientist's dream come true) to Naples to go to the outstanding archeological museum there. The chaos and din of downtown Naples is nearly overwhelming, but we took it all in as we made our way down to the docks to take the ferry back to Sorrento. Standing on the top deck of the ferry as it glided into the bay, the Scientist quietly said, "We're cruising in the Bay of Naples, looking at Vesuvius." And so we were.

*Before I left, PCIT wrote in a comment that her dad had been born on Capri. So the day we were there, I toasted her and her dad with a glass of Aglianico, the regional red wine.

* We only had one truly bad meal in Italy. I should have known better than to let myself be talked into eating at a place called the Foreigners' Club!