day 16 :

wednesday, 30 may

We said goodbye to Capri in the morning as we took a SNAV hydrofoil to Sorrento. Eric persuaded Dawn to go to the closer port instead of Naples because the sea wasn't looking too pleasant that morning, and Eric's definitely not a big fan of boats and seasickness. We then took the local train to Napoli and were basically forced to grab lunch at the McDonald's there, since we were starving and didn't have much time before our train left for Rome. Word to the wise: french fry pizza isn't very good.

Once checked into Hotel Italia, we did some sightseeing. First stop was the Spanish Steps; we quickly realized we were almost there weeks before! Next stop was the Pantheon, which we really liked, and plan to go see again the next time we're in Rome. The Pantheon just makes you want to stay and absorb everything in there. We tried to do just that by sitting on a bench for a long time and watching the sun-spot move along the dome as the sun set.

From there we made the short walk to Piazza Navona, which is a wonderful place to people- and bird-watch. Dawn saw Eric's favorite kind of dog (English sheepdog) walk by with its owner, so we had to follow it until Eric got a good picture. This little walk inspired us to keep searching for dinner. Near the Piazza, on Via di Tor Millina, was a little restaurant called Ecce Bombo, which had decent food.

The best part of dinner was sitting in the outdoor patio and watching everyone go to Gelateria Da Quinto right across the street. This gelateria makes the most unbelievable desserts. We wished we had a videocamera to set up across the way and tape everyone who comes out and sits down in the chairs outside, enjoying their dessert - young and old enjoying the most monstrous sundaes and cones imaginable. Of course, we'd speed up the film and set it to a Philip Glass score, a la Koyaanisqatsi (one of Eric's favorite films).