Day 2 turned out to be not such an adventure after all. Unfortunately the cold has made for a fairly down beat second day. Call it man-flu, whatever you like, it has just left me feeling grotty.
We decided it was probably not a good idea to take on the Italian roads, when I wasn’t firing on all cylinders, and opted to spend the day at the hotel, by the pool. Temperatures were up around 25 degC, even though it was cloudy for most of the day. We lay by the pool but didn’t actually get in the water. I did test the water but it was pretty cold. There were only two folks brave enough to get right in and they didn’t stay long.
To mitigate the disappointment, we again had lunch with a couple of beers at Bar Acquarello. Planning to eat in the evening, we avoided the cheeseburgers which were very good but very filling.
The evening meal was really very good. Gerry had Breaded Scallops on a Rice Timbale (black rice moulded into drum shape) to start, while I had a “Caprese” salad (mozzarella and tomatoes with basil in olive oil). Gerrys main was Sea Bass with potatoes and garlicky courgette slices. There was also some Provolone in there too but not sure if it was added to the fish or the potatoes. My main was lamb with sweet potato, cherry tomato and what looked like a black tortilla chip. My lamb was simply superb, very tender and tasty. Gerrys bass was lovely. Unfortunately, I had to finish hers as there was simply too much. All washed down with a couple of bottles of Nastro Azzurro, beer by Peroni.
We would have had a bottle of wine but thought it unwise as we intend to attempt the Amalfi coast road in the morning. I will definitely need my wits about me for that.
So that’s it for today. Not much of an adventure but enjoyable nonetheless.
Not much sleep Monday night. Tried to get some shuteye but failed and eventually, 02:00 Tuesday morning, it was time to load the car and head off to the airport. The journey was uneventful apart from the small issue of the entry to the M23 from the M25 being closed.
Seems every time I go to the airport, these days, some part of the roads system is totally closed. Be it the A3, North or South bound, doesn’t seem to matter. Or the M25, so many opportunities to cause chaos. Anyhow, we managed to navigate around the road closure and were soon at the airport. At 04:00, it was a tad cool, actually just 3 degC and as usual there is a guy wandering around in shorts and t-shirt. I guess he was an optimist.
Our next hurdle was check-in / baggage drop-off. Having nailed the online check-in Easyjet are now trialling passenger self-service baggage drop-off terminals. Basically they have done away with a friendly person and replaced them with a computerised set of scales.
This was a painful, financially, experience. It turns out that our holiday deal, via Secret Escapes, only included 15kg of hold luggage. I missed that little nugget in the Secret Escapes paperwork. I already knew we were one or two kilos over our allowance after doing due diligence and checking Easyjets allowances on-line. 23kg it says. We had 24kg. Our new friendly (sic) computerised scales cheerfully informed us that we were 9kg over our limit and that we would need to pay a charge of £10 / kg. 90 jaw dropping quid. “Is that the total for the return journey ?” I enquired of a real human. “No, just the one way” she replied. She was a bit more helpful and suggested that once we were in Italy we go on-line and amend our booking, pay for extra baggage or another hold bag. That way we would pay a significantly lower fee.
Suitably chastened, educated, and therefore wiser, we coughed up and proceeded through security to go and find a cup of tea while we awaited our departure gates announcement. When said gate was announced we made our way to the waiting area. There we discovered that we had to take a bus ride to the plane. I haven’t had to do that since the seventies. The ride took so long we are pretty sure that, although we were booked into the Gatwick North Terminal, we actually departed from the South. Either that or, as one wag quipped, we had travelled half way to Naples by road.
Another niggle with the boarding process was that we had paid for extra leg room and priority boarding and should have boarded first. Instead it was more like the January sales. Two coach loads of passengers arriving at the plane together and boarding from both ends at the same time. It was never going to end well. I know, we all have allocated seats but it is the principle and of course, the money.
The plane took off pretty much on time, we had a smooth flight and arrived at Naples airport around 09:40. Even at that time of the morning Naples was significantly warmer than the UK.
Our next challenge was to find the car rental office. There is a courtesy shuttle bus, apparently driven by the grumpiest, near mute, guy imaginable. He efficiently navigated the 5 minute drive to the rental offfice. Still no happier, he started to unload the luggage, then just wandered off leaving the rest for his clients to sort out for themselves.
The car rental experience was much more pleasant. An upgrade from a Renault Twingo, to a Citroen C3 with more luggage space and most importantly, for me, more head room. Also, surprisingly, we only had to pay around 20% of the deposit we had been told was due. i.e. 300 euros as opposed to 1500 euros. The lady at the rental desk was very helpful, providing us with clear directions to escape the chaos around the airport, and get us on our way to the hotel.
The journey to the hotel was not as slick as it should have been. It started well, using my phone as the satnav. However we entered a tunnel, after about 15 minutes driving, and the GPS lost it’s bearings and couldn’t reconnect. It took us a while to find a safe place to pull over and restart the navigation exercise. We were then taken round in a huge circle. Having been through each of two tunnels twice in each direction, we weren’t sure the app and GPS actually knew where we were. So, another stop and restart seemed to sort things out and we eventually arrived at the hotel.
Old Building on the Mountainside Behind the Hotel
Old Building on the Mountainside Behind the Hotel
The Towers hotel is in a superb location and we are really pleased with the room, which has fab views, across the Bay of Naples. Mount Vesuvius is visible directly through our window. We both enjoyed lunch sitting on the terrace with Vesuvius as a back drop …..
Gotta Love A Peroni – My First Beer Of Our Stay In Italy
Vesuvius – Viewed over Cheeseburger and Fries
….. and after a brief walk along the shore line we returned to our room and crashed.
But not before I had taken a few snaps of the surrounding area …….
Castellammare Di Stabia
Mount Vesuvius and Coastal Lights
Scoglio di Rovigliano
Heading For Home
Annoyingly, the cold that I had just over a week ago, has decided to put in an encore appearance. So due to that, and the rather large cheeseburger and fries for lunch, we decided to bypass dinner and headed for beddy-byes.
So here we are, suitcase packed and ready to begin our Italian adventure.
That’s the good news. The bad is that we will have to set out at silly o’clock in the morning. Our flight is due to take off at 06:00 which means leaving the house at around 02:00, and that is my normal time for hitting the hay. So not much sleep tonight.
The flight gets into to Naples around 09:30, which means we will have the best part of the day to really get our holiday started.
In a few days my wife and I will be heading to Italy and the bay of Naples. We will be based at a hotel about half way between Naples and Sorrento. As this is our first time to this region it will be something of an adventure.
Obviously we plan to do the major sites, like Vesuvius, Pompeii (and/or Herculaneum). A day trip up and down the Amalfi Coast road, probably a day trip to the island of Capri as well as the Sorrento peninsula and Sorrento itself.
Does anyone out there have any suggestions with regard to any other “must see’s” or “must do’s” .
We will be out there for 10 days and have a hire car so can get around a bit.
We are not museum buffs, nor are we into adventure sports. We do like nice scenery and gentle walks, interspersed with a bit of food and wine.
So come on, hit me with your best shots. What are the less known about, perhaps less touristy things we should be considering ?
Just the other day I was going through stuff, looking for old photo albums belonging to my Dad. I was reintroduced to these silks.
Basically I had forgotten all about them. Unfortunately they haven’t been looked after hence the fading, staining and creases.
From what I can gather they were produced in the early 1900’s and are sometimes called “cigarette silks” or “tobacco silks,” although the material is more likely to be satin. They were inserted in packs of cigarettes or could be obtained by sending in coupons stuffed in the packs.
The silks feature famous people, works of art, military coats of arms and sporting colours.
I have scanned some of those that I have and posted the images here just for curiosity. Most appear to have been produced by BDV. They don’t appear to have any great value but are collectable.
Wednesday was a very full day. We were taking my daughter to a show, booked months ago, as a Christmas present.
So, late on Wednesday morning, off we set. Up the A3 and around the M25 on a two-hour road trip, up to the O2 London. The journey was incident free and we duly arrived and parked up.
On entering the O2 complex there was the usual light-hearted discussion about where we were going to eat. There are so many eateries to choose from but finally, decision made, we entered Ask Italian and were quickly seated.
There followed a leisurely lunch, with my daughter choosing the Penne al Pollo Della Casa, my wife the Sea Bass al Forno and for me Pork Belly Porchetta was the order of the day. The ladies washed their meal down with a couple of Italian Twinkles (Prosecco with elderflower cordial, vodka and a twist of lemon) apiece.
After lunch we decided to while away the next couple of hours with a trip on the river, courtesy of Thames Clippers .
The trip up to Westminster and back can be completed in around two hours, if you don’t disembark. London has so much to offer the tourist that the temptation to get off and explore is very strong. But we were up against the clock to a straight round trip it was for us.
County Hall augmented by The London Eye
There is much to see as you sail up the Thames.
Thames River Scene
Tower Bridge alongside the Tower of London, the Gherkin, St Pauls, The Monument, The Globe Theatre etc. etc.. The Shard appears, disappears, then magically reappears, towering over London as the Clipper follows the rivers and its meanderings through the city.
Shard – London
At water level it is easy to forget just how the river winds until you realise that city landmark which was on your left has now transferred to your right.
By the time we reached Westminster the sun was truly beginning to set. Great news, for as we started our return journey, the city illuminations were being turned on.
Golden Jubilee Bridge alongside Hungerford Bridge with Festival Hall on the far bank.
The London city skyline is constantly changing. No two visits are ever the same.
Tower Bridge with The Shard
I didn’t have my camera with me on this trip so the preceding photographs are from an earlier London trip.
And so our voyage of discovery was over and we returned to the O2. The timing was spot on and there was a constant stream of people heading into the arena. We joined the flow and were soon in our seats.
Anticipation – Elbow O2 2018
The arena continued to fill but by the time that John Grant and his band hit the stage there were still many empty seats. I know that some folks deliberately don’t bother with the support acts. I have never understood this attitude. You have paid for the whole show, why not get full value for money. Money aside, this is the opportunity to see and hear new acts, the rising talent as it were. In this case John Grant isn’t that new. However, he’s not that well-known either.
John Grant @ The O2 London Elbow Tour 2018
For those of you who missed his performance on Wednesday. Shame on you. He was superb. I for one will be looking out his albums to have another listen to his music and will definitely keep an eye out for future performances.
But, of course, we were all really only there for one thing. And that was to see and hear Elbow. They did not disappoint.
Mirror Ball Elbow @ O2 London 2018
Performing really early songs, mixed with newer material. The classics were there and the audience was more than willing to sing along and support them.
John Grant on stage with Elbow O2 London 2018
Towards the end of the show John Grant returned to join Elbow on stage. He was greeted to a huge applause from the audience.
Elbow @ O2 London 2018
I believe it was in America that the lighting of matches, candles and lighters became “fashionable” at concerts. This being 2018 we moved on a bit with the technology and now we use battery power.
Mobile Phone Torches – Replacing naked flames, as in candles / matches and lighters
The picture doesn’t do justice to hundreds, if not thousands, of phones being waved around the arena.
Regardless, the band played on and eventually came to the end of their set.
Elbow @ O2 London 2018
They left the stage for a few minutes while we sat in the semi darkness waiting. I found it quite strange as there was little or no clapping or calling for the encore. It always used to be de rigueur to work for the encore. Eventually the audience woke up and we all were clapping, stomping and cheering. The band duly returned and the show was truly brought to a close with a storming performance of “One Day Like This”. Guy Garvey worked the audience, milking us for all he was worth.
We had waited some time to be able to get tickets to see this band. It was well worth the wait. And the bonus is that we have been introduced to John Grant. Fabulous nights entertainment.
And then we were done. Arena lights up and heading for the exits, out into the cold night air and our transport home.
Crowds Leaving The O2 London
For us it meant a, reasonably short, queue to exit the car park. The O2 parking pages, on the web, do say it can take an hour or more to escape.
We then had the reverse of our earlier road trip, arriving home just before 02:00 Thursday morning, gagging for a quick cup of tea, before tumbling into bed.
Despite the dire warnings of the forecasters, we still don’t have any snow. Well, not strictly true, I guess, as my car does look like it has a bit of a dandruff problem.
My Car Has Dandruff
The wind blew a hooley most of last night, so I was expecting snow drifts this morning. Boy was I disappointed and I know my great-granddaughter, Summer, is too. She was hoping for a “snow-day” or two off from school. To be fair the school is closing at lunchtime.
How do I know this ?
The school, much to my surprise, sent me a text message early this morning. Unbeknownst to me, my granddaughter had provided my number as one of the emergency contact numbers. They, exercising due diligence, had informed the parents and emergency contacts.
Anyway, the forecasters are still warning of imminent snowmageddon so, Summer may still get her wish.
So, until “The Beast From The East” puts in an appearance this is what I’ll have to put up with, looking out of my lounge window …..
The Beast from the East still hasn’t put in an appearance
Although we haven’t been inundated with snow it is still cold, bloody cold. It is -4 outside and there is still that biting wind to contend with. Not sure what the windchill factor is but all I know is, I am staying inside to keep nice and cosy.
My thoughts are with all those in the UK who are having to contend with conditions much worse than we are experiencing down here in southern Hampshire.
Sitting in the car waiting for the girls to come out of the bingo hall.
The heater is struggling to keep the interior warm as Britain falls under the grip of “The Beast From The East”, media’s name for the weather front scheduled to dump snow on us over the next 48 hours.
My phone tells me it’s -4, the car thinks it’s -3.
WrAnTz 