04/23/2026 Walks

Went to sleep early, I guess it was a longer day for me than expected. I got up in the night for a fairly long time before getting back to sleep. Ann's alarm woke me from deep sleep at 6:45, and we had breakfast before walking down to the port to catch a ferry to Capri. Big crowds to get on, including several large tour groups, but we were there early enough to get on the boat and get decent seats with a view. The boat might have been a hydrofoil, was a smooth ride in somewhat rough seas. We left around 8:30 and docked a little after 9:00. Then we walked to the dock for the smaller boat ride that would take us around the island on a viewing tour. We sat in front of a family with an annoying kid who was being constantly placated by the parents, especially the dad. Seas too rough to go into the blue grotto area, unfortunately but not surprisingly. The other three grottoes were mildly interesting, water color beautiful by the green grotto. The tour guide was hard to hear, so we didn't get very much of what she said. She pointed out a large "castle" villa that had been owned by Mussolini, mentioned something about the connection with Dolce & Gabbana. We rode by the three rocks jutting out of the ocean, with an arch in one of them. Two-hour tour was actually just a little over an hour, I guess because we didn't stop at the blue grotto. Ann got a little queasy in the rougher seas as we approached the dock, so she found a place to sit and settle her stomach after we got off. Very, very touristy, this place. We took the funicular up to the main city, which was basically shops and restaurants. Walked over to Augustus Garden, where it took 25 minutes to use the website to buy tickets. They essentially gave us a couple of nice views of the coastline, not much more. We walked partway down the Via Krupp, which apparently leads to Marina Piccola. From there we walked back to the upper village, and Ann found us a relatively inexpensive take-away restaurant for lunch. I had Ravioli Caprese (aka in the style of Capri), her salad was bland. I felt a little bit energized after the food, but this place was definitely not my vibe. I didn't want to go further up the hill, so we walked around the village through a neighborhood leading up to the Arco Naturale. Didn't make it that far before we had to turn around because of time constraints. Back to the funicular and down to the marina area, where we sat at an overpriced Cafe while Ann had a limoncello spritz. Then we walked to the ferry back to Sorrento and got on. Ferry ride was a little rougher on the way back, but I dozed for a couple of minutes before it launched. Back to the Airbnb before 4:30, time for a rest. I did go to the store and pick up a few things before calling it a day. Here are a couple of bullet point notes from our excursion:

We saw our first Swarovski store of the trip, right after I had seen a pair of custom sandals decorated with Swarovski crystals

There's a mild obsession with the people of Naples regarding Diego Maradona. Apparently, he played for Naples for a period of time and led them to their first and second Serie A titles

At the lookout point in the Gardens of Augustus (aka Krupp Gardens) there were a number of locks attached to the iron railings, like we've seen before on selected bridges

On the Via Krupp, I heard two young women discussing the best photo look. One of them said to the other, "You could show more belly, just pull your skirt down a little." The other lady really didn't need to do that, IMHO

I saw my first mobile toilet cart ever in Capri city, which has narrow alleys and, apparently not enough facilities. Ann wasn't paying attention, and she came a little close to getting hit by the toilet cart, which certainly would have made for an entertaining story

Capri certainly isn't my kind of place. Tooany tourists, too many tourist shops, upscale fashion junk, just a few nice vistas to walk to and see from a boat

04-22-2026 Run/Walks

Slept okay, although I was up reading for a long while. Got up after 7:00 and got ready for a morning run. It had been a while, and initially I was slow both in pace and in having to avoid pedestrians. Picked up the pace in the succeeding two miles, running negative splits throughout

Avg pace = 8:51/mi

Total distance = 3.23 mi

Elapsed moving time = 28:55

Avg heartrate = 123 bpm (Coospo)

Relative Effort = 7

I stretched before, and that seemed to help with right leg tendon tightness, both during the run and through the day. Still, I'm slow and need more speed work to get faster. Back to the Airbnb, and Ann was up. I was sweaty, had a shower and felt better (<!>). Then we went out to find some breakfast. I found a good bakery, where got some bread and chocolate croissants, but they didn't have coffee. So we walked over to a restaurant, Radical, recommended by the baker. It was a breakfast place, so we ended up eating breakfast there (pretty good shakshuka) and saving the croissants for later. Then we explored the downtown area more fully, visiting the local cathedral, stopping at a church with some wonderful photographs by Rafael Celentano, including an iconic one of nuns on a swing (nice little selection of photos of Mother Teresa as well). We walked through several tourist alleys, stopping at a place that made their own limoncello, talking to Andrea, the guy who handed out the free samples. We bought a small bottle for Laura, then walked back to the Airbnb. Had a break for a while, then in the early afternoon we went out for another walk, seeing a small waterfall with a little altar nearby, then walking up a serpentine road that really led to nowhere but was supposed to provide good views of the city. Mildly interesting, one decent vista. Back to the flat, where I had a little nap and read for a while before we walked in the late afternoon to get a gelato (chocolate and banana, very good). We walked down to a seaside viewpoint, then through other parts of the downtown shopping area. Back to the flat, stopping to get food for breakfast and a bottle of wine for our own happy hour in the flat (watching Young Wallander) prior to dinner. Ate at a vegetarian/seafood restaurant, Green Wave, that has only been open four months. Food was decent, service was good (free little appetizers but a €10 cover charge), prices were a little high for what we got. Still, enjoyable. Back to the flat after that, and a quiet rest of the evening.

04-20-2026 Walks

This was an interesting tourist day. We had tickets to get into Pompeii when it opened at 9:00, so we got up early and were walking to the train station before 8;30. Train was crowded, but we were able to get two of the last seats together. As one would expect, the entrance was crowded. I thought it might be less so, given it was a Monday, but no. It took a while for the opening crowd to get through the entrance gates, and then we were in the compound. Highlights included:

Temple of Apollo - worship area

Baslilca - hall of justice, with two naves separated from central hall by brick columns, similar to future church designs

Central Forum - main gathering place, open area with shops to the east

Temple of Jupiter - aligned with Mt Vesuvius in the distance, head of old statue of Jupiter visible

Forum Baths - very cool and well-preserved, with dressing room and cold, medium, and hot bath areas

House of the Tragic Port - with mosaic tile work showing Cave Canum (around here is where we started to run into tour group crowds)

House of the Faun - largest house in Pompeii, with cool little bronze statue reproduction, nice grounds, some fine mosaic reproduction as well (Alexander vs Darius)

House of the Small Fountain

House of the Large Fountain - right next door

House of the Vettii - very popular spot, owned by two brothers, with beautiful wall frescoes, some of them erotic

House of the Golden Cupids - I couldn't find the statues here, pretty internal garden

House of the Wounded Bear - with cool "HAVE" mosaic in front

Amphitheater - oldest known one from the Roman Empire, could hold up to 20000 people

Plaster casts - created by filling voids created when people were burned in the lava and ash from the eruption

There was more to see, but we had reached the end of the incomplete Rick Steves audio tour, and Ann was ready to leave. We walked back to the train station and got on a very crowded train to Sorrento, standing room only for about 2/3 of the trip. Ann found us a sandwich shop that was open in the afternoon (I had my first Aperol Spritz). Food was a little weird, quite messy. Then we went back for a rest in the afternoon (<!>). Evening was quiet, we walked to the market, got some curry rice for dinner and food for breakfast. I spent some time packing up gear into my backpack for the Amalfi Coast ride. Agreed to meet with Ann during the ride. To bed fairly early.

04-19-2026 Walk

Slept okay, about five hours before I woke up and could get back to sleep. I read for a while, had some cookies, and then willed myself to sleep, waking up when Ann's alarm went off at 6:45. We showered, packed our stuff up, ate a light breakfast (including gelato we had bought for the previous evening), and left the Airbnb around 8:15. A little over 2 minutes to walk to the Roma San Pietro train station, which was easy to find. Our train to Naples left on time at 9:13. No issues on the train ride down, I had a very short nap. We got to the central station around 12:10 and dropped our backpacks off at a nearby pharmacy, where Ann had made reservations. I found us a really fine little family-owned pizza restaurant, Nonna Anna, where we had a nice lunch. Then we headed toward the Naples shopping district. I was watching my stuff, but somehow someone picked my pocket and stole my power bank out of my cargo shorts Velcro pocket. Pretty amazing and frustrating, but at least it wasn't anything important. That incident bugged my happiness for sure. Ann was guiding us to supposedly cool areas of Naples, but I was unimpressed. It was gritty, somewhat dirty, and filled with tourist shops, stands, and restaurants /bars. We walked to another train station, found a gelato place and had some, then Ann had some digestive issues that had to be attended to. She considered finding a Metro station and getting back to our starting point, but it was not clear where to buy tickets or where to pick up the Metro. So we ended up walking back, slowly and carefully watching for pickpockets. Got back to the pharmacy and picked up our backpacks, then we took a Metro to the ferry dock area. We got there early but it was a nice afternoon to sit outside. The ferry ride was uncrowded, we didn't have to pay extra for oversize bags, and the view from the left side of the boat was beautiful, including some nice pics of Mt Vesuvius. Got to Sorrento and had to climb a bunch of stairs from the shore up to the town, that took some effort. The town itself is pretty, quaint and upscale touristic. I was tired by this time, ready to find the Airbnb and relax for a bit. We did, after a little trouble following the directions to the building. We rested a while and then I found a nearby place for dinner. I was 50:50 about eating but was totally glad we went. We ate at a very small place (mentioned in Rick Steve's travelogue), Addu Mamma, in the kitchen. It was excellent, perhaps the best gnocchi I've ever had. Lots of lightly smoked mozzarella mixed in the sauce made the dish for me. We talked through dinner with a nice guy from Switzerland who was also traveling through Italy. Ann and I shared a bottle of wine over dinner. We were really tired after the long day and glad to rest at the Airbnb.

04/18/2026 Walks

This was a very busy sightseeing day. We had an early start, given that we didn't go to sleep until around 2:00. I woke up at 5:30, did some sleuthing about how to get to the Vatican Museums as well as a pastry shop to have breakfast beforehand. Ann got up at 6:30, and we were out the door by about 7:15. Coffee and pastries were good at the place we went to, then we walked to the museum entrance, where the lines were pretty huge, especially for those folks who needed to buy tickets. Still, we didn't get into the museum proper until about 8:30, it opened at 8:00. We walked directly to the Sistine Chapel, Ann didn't stop much on the way. I took my time a little more, the galleries on the way to the chapel were mildly interesting. The chapel itself wasn't at all what I expected, was rectangular, and the Creation of Adam central fresco was smaller than I thought it would be. It was still very impressive to consider that Michelangelo spent four years painting the frescoes on the ceiling. We slowed down after that and walked generally back to the main entrance, including the iconic octagonal courtyard, which was cool. There were some beautiful paintings by Rafael, fine sculptures as well, including works by Bernini. The grounds were also impressive, although we didn't explore them too much. Spent about three hours in the museum, then Ann and I were ready to take a break. We walked back to the Airbnb, which is up four flights of stairs. Took a little break, and I had a refreshing 30-minute nap. Ann found a sandwich shop nearby, and we walked over. Took 15 minutes before we got a table, but the sandwiches were decent and the right amount of food. From there we walked over to St Peter's Square, saw another long line to get into St Peter's Basilica. Once we got in the line it took us maybe 45-50 minutes to get into the basilica itself. In the line, we talked to a family, originally from India, visiting from Boston. The basilica was consistently impressive, sculpture by Michelangelo, main alter by Bernini. Many former popes are entombed there, and the underground grotto area was interesting to walk through. Crowds were annoying but not overwhelming. Used a mediocre audio guide for the Tour. It worked okay but didn't have enough stops to talk about. After the tour we took the elevator up to the plaza by the dome of the basilica, then it was about 200 challenging steps to get up to the walkway near the top of the dome. The views were worth it, very impressive. Walking back to the upper plaza was easier, Ann took the elevator down (longish line) while I jogged down the ramped steps. That gave me a few more minutes to walk through this impressive basilica and take some additional pics. We were pretty much walked out (so we thought) by this time, so we found a little cafe near our Airbnb and had a drink. Stopped at a Carrefours Express after that and got some snacks and light food for dinner, then headed back. We were all ready to settle in for the night when we got a surprise text from Laura, saying she was staying overnight in Rome after her flight from home. I debated whether to get up and meet her, but we decided toeet in the middle, near the Parthenon, about 15-20 minutes away. We got dressed and walked over there, and she showed up about 1 minutes after we did. Found a restaurant nearby and had drinks and dessert. I told the story of our travel adventure, which has some comical elements that make it entertaining (now that it's over). Split up after that, but we both ended up walking, separately, over to the Trevi Fountain to see it at night. Lots of folks out and about on the way over, but the walk back to the Airbnb from there was sparsely populated and through a lot of dark streets. We didn't feel unsafe, but we were both definitely ready to lay down at the end of this long day. Took a little more than a half hour to get back, I was super glad when we made it. It didn't take long to get to sleep after three extended walks during the day.

04-17-2026 Walk

Continuation of travel adventures 

We had a layover in Istanbul for about two and a half hours on Saturday evening, after our flight arrived at the gate around 7:15, after a seemingly interminable taxis to the gate. It was okay, we had time. We were in row 15, so we got off the flight (seats were somewhat cramped) and found a place to sit at one of the gates in a largely deserted but fancy terminal. I took another longish walk around the airport terminals near us. Got on another full flight to Rome okay, there was a fair amount of confusion in the boarding process, and some minor chaos around line formation and cutting. We were toward the back of the plane on this flight. It was about two hours, another long taxi to the gate, then we ended up taking an airport bus to the customs area. It took us about 20-25 minutes to get through customs, no issues with the new EU policy, which apparently was turned off at the time we went through. We got out of the terminal and, after an initial misdirection got to the place where we could pick up our Lyft taxi. Less than 30 minutes to get to the Airbnb, driver was moving fast. We arrived just a little after 1:00, and a non-English speaking guy let us in and showed us the flat. I was in bed and reading by 1:30, asleep not too long after. I ended up logging 14k steps, unexpectedly, during our long travel experience.

04-16-2026 Walk

Well, this was a crazy, frustrating travel day, maybe the craziest ever. We got up early, packed our stuff into the car, and left home around 6:45. Ran into just a little traffic until we got into LA. But we were early to the area near LAX, so we stopped for breakfast at a Norm's. Food was okay, I ate my huevos ranchers and half of Ann's French toast (turned out to be a good plan), had made full-strength coffee for the drive up, so I was caffeinated. We got to the airport parking garage around 9:50, so we made great time. Right on the shuttle, a United rep helped figure out why my ticket wasn't showing TSA pre-check and fixed it, and we got to the gate with lots of time to spare. I ended up walking through Terminals6, 7, and 8, just to pass the time. On the plane, and this is where the fun began. Before we were scheduled to leave, the captain let us know that there was a mechanical problem with the plane that they were fixing, so maybe a minor delay. Not too long after, he got on again and said it would take longer than expected. That's when I told Ann we should get off the plane and start figuring out out to rebook our flight. The gate agent, Jill, took some time to get us on a Alitalia flight that left really soon, but check-in was closing soon and it was in the International terminal. I was able to get Ann checked in but not me, and we missed the bus to that terminal. So we walked back and asked the gate agent what to do. I was really anxious by this time. She said to get to the gate and plead our case, so we hoofed it back to the shuttle bus stop only to just miss the shuttle. I was carrying my bag as well as Ann's, and I tried to get the guy to let us on the bus, no luck. We weren't going to make that flight, so we again walked back (I was walking quickly to get a better place in line) to the original gate. She tried for about 15 minutes, off and on, to find us a flight, without success. So she told us to have a seat, and Ann started checking SkyScanner for flights. She found a Turkish Airlines flight that looked promising and went up to show it to the gate agent. Voila! After about 10 minutes, Ann came back with a reservation code but no tickets. We walked all the way over to the gate, but there was no Turkish Airlines agent. When I tried to check in online, after a few attempts we got a troubling message that this flight was going to be canceled. Yikes! Checked online for flight status, and all looked good, so we decided to walk down to the ticket/check-in area for Turkish Airlines. Turns out you can just walk downstairs in this terminal (I have no idea why not), so we had to walk back to Terminal 4, where the shuttle bus had dropped us, exit the terminal, and walk from the outside back to the departures area for the International terminal. Took us about 15 minutes. We found our way to the Turkish Airlines check-in counters, and I got in line for Economy class, while I asked Ann to see from one of the Business class agents (shorter line) if we were in the right place. That agent (Maheshi) was able to convert our reservation code into two tickets and check us in. Whoohoo! Back through security, with a very short TSA Pre-check line, and to the gate. We had burgers (not bad) using the meal voucher from United to cover 3/4 of the cost. I also got a sandwich for the flight, since it was unlikely I could get a vegetarian meal on the plane. Still, it was better, much better, than it might have been. I was already resigning myself to at least one night in LA or San Francisco before we would be able to get on a plane. Very late arrival in Rome will cause some issues, but I don't think there will be anything money can't solve. We had a layover in Istanbul for about two and a half hours, where I took another longish walk around the airport terminals near us. Got on another full flight to Rome okay, there was a fair amount of confusion in the boarding process, and some minor chaos around line formation and cutting. We were toward the back of the plane on this flight. It was about two hours, another long taxi to the gate, then we ended up taking an airport bus to the customs area. It took us about 20-25 minutes to get through customs, no issues with the new EU policy, which apparently was turned off at the time we went through. We got out of the terminal and, after an initial misdirection got to the place where we could pick up our Lyft taxi. Less than 30 minutes to get to the Airbnb, driver was moving fast. We arrived just a little after 1:00, and a non-English speaking guy let us in and showed us the flat. I was in bed and reading by 1:30, asleep not too long after. I ended up logging 14k steps, unexpectedly, on this day.