From our vacations
She was doing her job and was shot. Her canine partner, Radar, was still in the car, so she didn't see it coming.
She and Annie had a trial in Tacoma and they were going to stay at our house. She has a husband, Brian, and a fifteen year old daughter, Whitney.
Brian asked to have a copies of the CD I made of all of us in Acalpulco. I can't beleive we were all there, enjoying margaritas, screaming at the tarantulas and swimming in the pool. Whitney was so cool and so fun. She is the most amazing teen girl I've ever met.
I'm going to Sequim tomorrow to be with Annie and help out in any way. I'm not looking forward to it. I think I can take Whitney shopping for something to wear to the service or help Brian with the dogs. I know Annie and I will lean on each other to be strong.
It's just all so fucking senseless.
Rick Steves recommends staying in Sorrento and doing side trips. He is right. We took the ferry to Sorrento and then the Circumcision train to Pompeii (or Combay, as DW would say. Leah couldn't remember the horses' names, Comet and Bombay, so she made one up for both).
Pompeii is the greatest. Earthquake in 62 AD, then the big blow in 79 AD. You could see where they had been rebuilding before the volcano blew. Pottery, carts, frescoes, casts of dead people and dogs. Fascinating. The cart ruts in the stone streets, water collection system and the bakery. All just there as though they left yesterday.
Hot, hot, hot as expected. Lots of stray dogs and stray zombie tourists. We ate lunch in Sorrento, back to Capri then left the next morning for Positano, which is way overrated. I would have skipped staying on Capri and Positano altogether. Oh well. Cute black kitty on Positano. Here are some shots.
I must note that we did have an amazing dinner at Next2 on Positano. Caprese salad, sea bass and zucchini flowers stuffed with ricotta. Very good stuff.
Not. It was too friggin' hot. BTW, it's pronounced KAH-pree, as the Mister pointed out 50 times a day. Of course I called it Kah-PREE, to irritate him.
Mr. JW Marriott picked us up in his van and dropped us about ten minutes walk from our hotel. Glorious hotel, lovely hotel, crank the A/C hotel. Great place, but not much to do but take a rickety chair lift to Ana Capri, way up on top the island with a great view.
If you recall, Tiberius was exiled on Capri and so were we so we made the best of it. Great lobster fettucine and caprese salad at a dinky cafe with Cheeto, our waiter. I wanted to order Fish Soap, but thought better of it.
We walked the evenings around the town, watching the Naples Mafia and their mistresses out for a stroll, too.
And then, we took the ferry to Sorrento, hopped the Circumcision Train to Pompeii, oh boy!! Don't be confused by the names, The Mister took a year of Italian to learn how to come up with Train Genitalia for Trenitalia and Gellatocraperia for the Gelcreperia.
I started to recap everything about our trip to Italy, but quickly became bored, so I'll do it a little at a time. First of all, it was hot, hot, hot and humid, humid, and humid. DW thought he was back in 'Nam with rotting wool socks, except he didn't wear socks to Italy, only one pair of shoes and boy, did I wish he wore more than one. Not only was he Crankypants occasionally, he became Crankypants Stinkyfeet, his new Indian name. Much better than Denny Manydumps, but I regress.
Amadeus (no relation) picked us up from the airport and took us touring the next day. Since we were tired and it was late, we located the local transvestite cafe for dinner and had boring food.
We toured a church housing Michaelangelo's Moses and St. Peter's chains, saw the Forum, Pantheon, Trevi Fountain and the Spanish Steps. The Colosseum looked cool, but the lines didn't and it was so dang hot! DW and John spent over an hour in a men's shirt store to buy $300 shirts, four of them each. I stood outside and held his cigar, the martyr and good wife that I am. Thank you.
The Vatican, St. Peter's and the Basilica were overwelming. DW got in trouble when we saw Pope John the 113th and said, wow, you could put a wick in him and he'd be a candle. Evidently, he is in the Miracle Phase and hasn't decomposed yet behind his glass coffin.
We did the Borghese Gallery, which was the best part. Only 100 people for two hours and magnificent artwork collection. I saw fleas on the monuments, but then, there were fleas everywhere. Lots of dogs in Rome with fleas.
Got on the train right before the Naples vs. Rome soccer fan riots, phew. Got to Naples, ferry to Capri. These are various Rome pictures, including our terrace at the Marriot.
