Our Honeymoon Registry: Jon & Christopher

A Room with a View

We wanted to stay near the top of the Spanish Steps. It’s a beautiful, stylish neighborhood that’s close to everything. We’ve chosen the Albergo Internazionale on the Via Sistina. The Internazionale incorporates ancient Roman elements with Victorian painted ceilings and Venetian chandeliers. We've been corresponding with the booking clerk, Nicolo, and the hotel has offered us a charming, quiet room at the back of the hotel with a terrace and views out over the Borghese Gardens. Our budget prefers a room on the first floor facing the street. Help us climb the stairs.

Museum Passes

A museum pass will allow us entry into most of the major archaeological sites and primary museums. This is an economical way to see lots of stuff, it also helps us avoid that discussion; “Are two Caravaggios and one Tintoretto worth the 9 euro entrance fee?”

Transport Passes

We love public transportation. Initially it’s the challenge of figuring out how it works. After that, it’s a fun and efficient way to get around. Mastering the local system also allows us to travel further than we would if we could only walk since neither of us will take a taxi. We draw the line on some extravagances. Treat us to a weeklong transport pass and you put all of Rome and its environs within easy range.

Time to Relax

Whether its from "Roman Holiday" or "Three Coins in the Fountain," we have all learned that Roman life revolves around its sidewalk cafes. As we’ll be walking and traveling around, we’ll need a mid-afternoon break for tea and a pastry or a drink and some tasty nibble. We’ll lounge and watch the world walk by. We can also write in our travel journal and work on our postcards.

Cafe Canova

In 1818, neo-classical sculptor, Antonio Canova, bequeathed his studio to his favorite student on condition that it remain an atelier for sculptors. Hundreds of sculptors trained here until 1967 when the studio was converted into a café. Today, small tables cluster around the museum café’s collection. The café serves cocktails and delicious snacks. This might be the perfect spot for a late night stop.

A Couple of Evening Meals

When we first went to Rome, trattorias served cheap multi-course meals to budget travelers. But in the past few years, just as some pubs in Britain have been reimagined as gastropubs, many of Rome's casual, streetside restaurants have been taken over by young, classically trained chefs who work with the vernacular dishes but use fresh, seasonal ingredients and a degree of innovation unheard to Arthur Frommer's Europe on $5 a Day set. Imagine a paper tablecloth, a jug of cool wine, a handsome waiter in a clean white apron, house-made pasta in a light sauce with winter vegetables. Hmmmm…and all around us, Rome, on a crisp winter night!

Marble Muscles and Wine

Throughout the 19th Century, many Scandinavian artists came to Rome to study, some stayed forever, others took Romanticism and sun saturated colors back home to the North. Most of these artists lived on the Via Margutta close to the Spanish Stairs and an easy walk from our hotel. We’ll visit the Museo Hendrick Christian Anderson late one afternoon and then go to the 19th century wine bar favored by these Nordic artists. H.C. Anderson was a sculptor who favored monumental nudes--big, striding, muscular sculptures. Henry James was, supposedly, in love with this handsome blond artist and was his greatest fan. We'll explore the museum and find some good postcards for you. Then we'll head down the street to the Antica Enoteca di Via della Croce. This simple wine bar opened in 1842 and still features the original marble wine vats and old wooden tables scratched with the initials, names and doodles of many of these 19th century artists. Treat us to a carafe of wine and some snacks, as we share, with all the travelers over the centuries, the wonderful experience of exploring Rome.

Piazza Navona

Rome's Christmas Market is held in the Piazza Navona. The graceful sweep of this famous place follows the outlines of an ancient stadium built by the Roman Emperior Domitian in 86AD. Today, three of Bernini’s great fountains run the length of the piazza and Borromini’s astonishingly Baroque Sant’Agnese in Agone is at the piazza’s center. At Christmas time, a month-long holiday market is set up in the square. Many of the stalls feature Befana, the witch who brings presents on Epiphany. Others are full of straw ornaments, creche figures, and holiday treats. Given the attractions of the square and market, we’re pretty certain that a number of our rambles will take us through this beautiful piazza as we traverse the city. Treat us to some holiday snacks and help us in our hunt for the perfect Christmas witch to hang over our dining table in Sheffield. We'll enjoy her for years to come.

Potato Pizza!

We seem highly capable of finding new ways to consume carbohydrates. La Boccaccia’s potato pizza with soft potato chunks and lush mozzarella cheese is reputedly the best potato pizza in the world! The restaurant is also across the Tiber in the Trastevere neighborhood, a part of Rome which neither of us is familiar. We’ll ride the bus there, explore and have a delicious dinner—thanks to you!

Visit a Produce Market

There’s no place like an outdoor produce and provisions market to experience the flavors and scents of a city. We love to explore these markets and fill a string bag with fresh fruit, still-warm bread, meats and cheeses. We’ll forage for lunch this day.

A Night at the Movies

We love movies and we love going to them in far-away places. The experience of seeing a film in a foreign country is similar but somehow very different to the multiplex experience in America. One night we’ll brave an Italian movie theatre. We might see an American blockbuster or maybe an Italian art-film Either way, it will be fun!

Silk Ties

What could better set the appropriate sartorial tone at work than a well chosen Italian silk tie?

Int'l Herald Tribune

At four o’clock, foot-sore and thirsty, we like to drop down into a comfortable seat in a sunny corner of a café and read the paper. The "International Herald Tribune" is the best way to keep up with global news (as we don't read Italian with much fluency).

Luxurious Digs in Naples

We're budgeted to stay in a 5th floor walk-up pensione. Help us upgrade to the luxurious Excelsior Hotel. The Excelsior opened in the early 1900's and pretty much defines 'Grand Hotel.' Come on, it is our honeymoon after all!

A Night Out

An evening out on the town is always fun. Naples abounds in cultural opportunities. There will be performances in concert halls, churches and even the opera to choose from. Schedules aren't set yet, so we'll have to punt when we arrive. I bet the concierge at the Excelsior can help us.

A Day in Pompeii

We'll take the train, the Circumvesuviana Railway, 15 miles from Naples to Pompeii. It will be fun to explore the villas, temples and crooked streets of this city destroyed in 79AD. The archaeological site is enormous, so we'll need lunch in the cafeteria to keep us going. I also understand that the souvenir shops flanking the entrance to the site are chock full of reproductions of ancient sculpture, Roman glass, etc., ranging from the hideous to the 'must have.' This day in Pompeii is the complete package--transport, admission, lunch and shopping!

Pizza Dinner

Pizzerie Brandi claims to have invented pizza in 1899 to celebrate a visit from Italy's Queen Margherita. There are a number of contenders for Best Pizza in Naples, but Brandi consistently ranks among the best. I figure if the pizza here is good enough for an old queen, its...well, you get the point.

Seafood Dinner

Clustered along the sea front and the Santa Lucia harbor are dozens of restaurants and cafes offering fresh Mediterranean seafood. We've glanced at various menus on line can see that it will be hard to chose between something like 'penne con calamaro' or 'linquine con polpetti.' Whatever we do choose, it will be a change from what our stalwart local restaurants offer!

Neopolitan Wine

I doubt if a meal in Naples could be complete without wine. The region of Campania is an increasingly dynamic player in the Italian wine firmament. A number of young producers are reworking the region's older vineyards and rediscovering interesting local varieties of wine. Some of the best wine is still served in pitchers and sold as 'vino da tavola.' Some of the bottled varieties like the 'Fuore Rosso' grown in Amalfi, or the revived white 'Falanghina' from the slopes of Mt. Vesuvius might be fun to splurge on.

Tea and Pastries

After a long day of exploring, craning our necks to view dark paintings in dark churches and stumbling over crooked cobblestone streets, we'd love to sit in a sidewalk cafe on the sunny side of the street, relax with a sweet treat and cup of tea and write YOU a postcard.

Gelato

Some foodies say that the best gelato in Italy is found in Naples at the Gelateria Biliancione. This gelateria specializes in unusual flavors like 'fior di latte', 'nocciola', and 'zabaglione'. Isn't zabaglione a machine that grooms the surface of ice rinks? With your help, we'll find out.

Take the Ferry to Capri

We love resorts off-season, so true to ourselves, we'll take the ferry from Naples to Capri, about an hour away. Capri is, well, Capri--vertical cliffs rising out of the sea and a destination since the Roman emperor, Tiberius', time. It's a beautiful island of white-washed houses and narrow roads. Also, in December, without the, literally, 60,000 day trippers who invade daily in August, it should be nice and quiet. We'll explore and have lunch.

The Island of Procida

Procida is the smallest island in the bay, and unlike Capri, which is defined by luxurious tourism, Procida is characterized by lemon groves and its fishing industry. Pastel colored houses climb the hill behind the harbor. At the top of the small mountain is the 16th century 'Castello d'Avalos.' We'll enjoy the stroll and relax with a fresh seafood lunch in a cafe looking out on the harbor.

via San Gregorio Armeno

In our fantasy, Naples overflows with shopping options. But along with vials of ashes from Vesuvius, pottery plates and silken neck ties, exists, what must be, one of the shopping mother loads. The via San Gregorio Armeno is the center of Napoli’s centuries old Christmas creche business. Dozens of shops, hundreds of baby Jesus’s, thousands of camels, miniature palms, fruit stands, wise men, sheep and donkeys. You all know that one of us will be in shopping esctasy and the other will be patiently tolerant. I’m going to follow this gift listing with a couple of campari’s in a nearby café. You know that we’ll have to scour the shops, retreat, take a breath, and then plunge back in to buy. This gift purchases the stable, the centerpiece of our new Christmas creche.

Mary and Joseph

We'll need to start with Mary and Joseph (and a donkey).

Baby Jesus

Baby Jesus and His manger are essential.

Three Wise Men

Melchior, Caspar and Balthazar will bring gifts!

Camels

The Wise Men can’t get there with out their camels. Add three to the growing crowd.

Shepherds

Shepherds will keep watch.

A Flock of Sheep

Shepherds need sheep. Add a small flock to the crèche.

More Animals

Cows and more donkeys . . .

Birds

The scene needs some barnyard fowl-chickens, ducks and maybe some guineas.

Puppies

It seems like there should be a few puppies hanging around. I wonder if, among the hundreds of figures in the shops, we can find some schnauzers? Challenge us to do so.

Villagers

There should probably be some curious villagers, like the little drummer boy, looking on.

Cypress Trees

A stand of tall, dark green cypress trees will provide a nice background to the creche scene.

Olive Trees

Add a small grove of olive trees.

Palm Trees

We think there should probably be some palm trees arching over the creche, don't you?

Angels

Complete the scene with the heavenly host. Add some angels to our crèche.

The Star

Let's not forget the Christmas star. How else did the Wise Men and the shepherds find their way?

A Restorative Campari

After shopping for creche figures, we’re going to need a drink. We’re going to have to weigh the pros and cons of one angel against another and ponder which Virgin Mary is really the best of the best. This pause at a café will give us a chance to catch our breath, discuss and fortify us to make the really tough decisions!