Italy Adventures - Sorrento Beauty and a Farmhouse Dinner

Welcome to Nature Friday where we get to meet new friends and share a picture or two of what nature looks like around Blogville. 

In order to get our blog back sooner I have decided to let Mama use MY Nature Fridays for the next few weeks....

In return, she promises to:

a) post a picture of ME with the NF intro

b) make sure Nature is involved

AND

b) have all this Italy stuff posted by the end of July

Today, she said something about wrapping her and Daddy's time in Sorrento.....

(that intro should definitely get me an extra cookie, right Mama?)

Thanks again Rosy....but let's wait until this afternoon before you get any more treats! 

We didn't get to spend as much time as we would have liked exploring the town of Sorrento, but what we saw of it was beautiful. 

 Sorrento is the start of the famous Amalfi Coast Scenic Road. You can drive the 25 mile along the southern coast of the Sorrentine Peninsula.

Of course, it is twisty turny and crowded with buses, mini vans...and suicidal Vespa drivers! 

The town of Sorrento itself is a bustling beach town with a small village atmosphere. We spent a fun couple of hours just walking the streets, window shopping and taking in the views.

I especially enjoyed the scenic glimpses of the ocean through the rocky coast!

After our afternoon in Sorrento, we had the pleasure of touring a local farm where not only were we taught how they pressed their own olive oil....

but we learned all about the lemons of Sorrento. 

I wish you had smellavision because the smell of the orchard was divine.

The lemons in this grove were actually "spliced" onto bitter orange trees making their lemons huge!

After touring the lemon grove, we  experienced the fun of shaping mozzarella cheese.

We watched the young man roll and braid fresh mozzarella. After showing off his handy work, we all made our way to the dining room where we enjoyed a delicious meal including olive oil, mozzarella and limoncello made with fresh ingredients produced on the farm!

Here is a short(er) video of some of our time in Sorrento:

Sorrento was just amazing and someplace I would love to visit and explore more. After we bid farewell to Sorrento, we were off to Assisi, and then Verona but more on that Tuesday!

We do hope all our friends get to enjoy some Nature this weekend!

Show us your nature! It can be flowers, your current weather, a scene out of your window, or maybe a picture from a vacation, walk or other journey! Any kind of nature picture will do! If you don't see a link below, click HERE  to go to our Hoppity Page.

Thankful for Good Pets

 

Today, for Angel Brian's Thankful Thursday, I wanted to say how thankful I am that, after almost nine years, I have finally trained Mama on how to give good pets!

It took her awhile to learn that chin and neck scritchies should always be part of a pet session...

Between my eyes and along my snooter are more of my favorite places to be petted that also took her awhile to figure out.

Whew, I sure do love a good petting session and am very thankful that Mama finally knows all my favorite places to be scritchied!

Do you have your humans trained to scritchy scratch all your favorite spots?

Thank you to Maxwell and Angel Brian for hosting the

Thankful Thursday Blog Hop

BWW - Springtime Western Tanagers

 

This season, it seems that some of our usual Spring birds have just stopped by our yard for a day or two before moving on.The Western Tanager usually sticks around most of the Spring and Summer. For some reason,  this year they seemed to disappear after only a few days. 

Luckily, TC caught a glimpse of them visiting the fountain:

I see you up there Mr. Hummer, but a lot of your friends are  missing this year too.

What kind of birds are you seeing in your corner of Blogville??

We are joining Sandee at Comedy Plus for the 

Wordless Wednesday Blog Hop this week!

Italy Adventures - Pompeii

 

Happy Italy Tuesday! Thank you for joining me as I re-cap our trip to Italy. We'll get back to the Amalfi Coast and Sorrento on Friday but today, we are going to go back in time and explore the ruins of Pompeii.

 The eruption of Mt. Vesuvius lasted 2 days, over 19 feet of volcanic ash covered Pompeii. I can't even imagine what it must have been like to experience a catastrophe like this.  Excavations didn't began in earnest until the 1700s and it was amazing how much has been unearthed that has shed light on what life was like all those years ago.

I'll take this opportunity to say that the historians that our tour company hired were excellent. I say historians because, in Italy, there are hoops you have to go through before you are able to lead groups through historical sites and places.  

One of the more recent discoveries, Pompeii fast food,  or as it was called, the thermopolium. Citizens whose kitchens weren't safe, or did not have kitchens, would gather to eat at the counters of the thermopolium.  Ready to eat meals were kept warm in terra-cotta containers sunk into the counter. The thermopolium was also a place for people to gather and exchange news, chat with merchants and see what was going on in other parts of the town.

Above is the "Teatro" where performances were held. Although I didn't get a picture, they also have one of the oldest Amphitheaters in the world (constructed in 70BC). It was mostly used for Gladiator events.

Imagine living in a town without modern plumbing....most of the roads were built lower then the buildings to allow for wastewater to flow easier without getting into businesses or homes. 

Raised cobble stones, like the one Ed is standing on, were used to get from one side of the street to the other.  

This is the Temple of Apollo, built in the 6th century BC was used for religious and political meetings.

Frescos (paintings done on fresh plaster) that have been recovered give a small window into what life must have been like in Pompeii before the eruption.

Here is a video/slide show of everything we experienced in Pompeii:

Thanks for joining us during our tour of Pompeii, I'll be back Friday with a peek at Sorrento, another coastal town.

We are joining Sandee at Comedy Plus for the 

Happy Tuesday Blog Hop this week!

Mama's Sweet Potato

......

Seriously, Mama?? 

I don't see the resemblance!

We're also joining Comedy Plus for the 

Awww Monday Blog Hop!

 

Nature Friday Episode of Italy Adventures- The Island of Capri

 

Welcome to Nature Friday where we get to meet new friends and share a picture or two of what nature looks like around Blogville. 

In order to get our blog back sooner I have decided to let Mama use MY Nature Fridays for the next few weeks....

In return, she promises to:

a) post a picture of ME with the NF intro

b) make sure Nature is involved

AND

b) have all this Italy stuff posted by the end of July

I am trying to use the sad look get extra treats too.

I'll let you know how that goes....

Thanks Rosy, I think you get plenty of treats already, but we'll see ;-)

Now...on to today' adventure... 

After we left Rome (and made a stop in Pompeii to be featured next Tuesday) we headed south, past Naples and to the Coastal Region of Italy where we stayed in Sorrento and were lucky enough to be able to head over to the beautiful island of Capri for a morning. To make sure I followed Rosy's nature rule, I have included mostly blue water and rocky pictures. The video at the end will show you around the island a bit more.

It was a short ferry ride from Sorrento to Capri, the water started showing it's beautiful blues from the beginning of our journey.

It had been a drizzly morning, but we were lucky enough to see the sun peek through as we headed to the island.

When we arrived at the island we traded the large ferry for a smaller boat for a tour of the Capri coastline.

Capri is known for its beautiful limestone coastline...

...and did I mention the blue, blue water???

We were amazed by the plants that made their home nestled in the rocks.

The number grottos (indentations or caves along the coastline) were amazing and, believe it or not, the water became an even more beautiful blue the closer we got to shore.

The Capri coast is also known for its "Faraglioni" or seastacks.

The Capri Faraglioni are probably the most popular. 

We thoroughly enjoyed our time in Capri both on the water and walking around the island. 

This video will give you just a little peak of the things the island had to offer, along with more views of our coastal tour:

Thanks for joining us today as we looked back on our time, along with the nature we found in Capri!

We hope everyone gets out to enjoy some nature this weekend!

Show us your nature! It can be flowers, your current weather, a scene out of your window, or maybe a picture from a vacation, walk or other journey! Any kind of nature picture will do! If you don't see a link below, click HERE  to go to our Hoppity Page.

Thankful for Unplanned ArCee Fun

A couple of weeks ago, Wagonmaster Mama wanted to take Daddy on a day trip to check out a town our RV  club is visiting in July.  Do you believe they were going to leave us alone ALL DAY?! Well, I told them it might be nice for Rosy and I to go too, and it would be even nicer if we all went TOGETHER in ArCee. Of course, they agreed and so early that Saturday morning we all headed out to Raton, NM! 

It seems Mama has a new group of Duckies for ArCee. A couple of them flew all the way over to our house with her from Italy!

We had a nice ride north, through the mountains

After about three hours, we arrived at the Raton KOA! Mama took us for a walk around the park

I kept an eye on Daddy to make sure he didn't miss anything while setting up our campsite.Then Rosy and I ate dinner while Mama and Daddy went out to explore the town.

We all snuggled for a bit after they got back and then all called it a night.

After a good night's sleep, Rosy spent some time in the big bed looking out the window

(She sure is a Nosy Rosy, isn't she?)

 I had a nice morning walk after breakfast while Daddy got Arcee ready. I don't know why, but Mama likes to take me for walkies early, before any other campers are up. I didn't get to bark at anyone...sheesh!

After another short walk, we hopped back in ArCee and headed home!

Mama said the scenery was just as nice on the way home. I didn't see much of it because I was busy doing this.....

I know the pawrents were so thankful to have us along on our trip to Raton and I am so very thankful I suggested we go!

From Mama: Sunny has started to really enjoy her time in ArCee. She takes car sickness meds on Day 1 for the ride and then she is just fine. She hasn't had any problems with car sickness on the way home. This is a BIG thankful for Ed and I!

Thank you to Maxwell and Angel Brian for hosting the

Thankful Thursday Blog Hop