Italy overdue part due

After a few days at my father's house, we drove across Italy and headed for the Amalfi coast. We came by last year's destination, Naples, and the trip - despite my fear of driving on the motorway since last year's accident making it somewhat strained - was beautiful. We drove by Vesuvius and took in Naples from the top of a mountain before driving over on the sea side with the cliffs reaching deep into the light blue sea. Oh the wonders.

Vesuvius.

That's the outskirts of Naples...

When we arrived, we walked down to the harbour for a glance at the city. Some Israeli tourists took this photo which I love. Both because I'm in all black and the girls are in colours, and because of the lady in the back handling the photo business herself.

Amalfi isn't too bad. Apparently I've been here before; my parents spent their honeymoon here in June 1987. My mom was three months pregnant with me by then.

Kat and Anna are sun people and wanted to spend the days at the beach. So Klaudia and I took the ferry from Amalfi to Positano. The wind and sea was refreshing in all the heat.

Positano is just as beautiful as Amalfi. A little denser and richer (lots of yachts in the water and rich Americans) but charming.

Be still my heart!

Seriously!

When we came back to Amalfi, Kat and Anna happened to walk across the harbour and we went for ice cream. I love these girls, they're the best travel companions.

We stayed here and it was nice. There was a window in the shower which was heaven, because you could look out on the city and the cliffs and listen to people talking and old ladies singing in the adjacent houses when you were taking your bath. Heaven.

Klaudia and Anna pre dinner. Anna had bought the fan just a few minutes before and we were all admiring it. A fan was necessary by the way. Throughout the week we were in Italy, it was roughly 30 degrees each day.

On our last day, I did something out of character. I have never been one to lie on the beach a whole day but I was in a strange mood and I needed to rest a little bit, so I joined Anna and Kat's tanning regime and curled up in a beach chair with my book about the Hemingways and the Fitzgeralds in Côte d'Antibes in the 1920s. It was surprisingly wonderful to spend an afternoon like that listening to the waves coming in, watching tan Italian men strut by and just relax.

Italy overdue part uno

A month ago I went to Italy with the ladies. It was a great week (as always) with lots of sun, long talks, laughs, good food and adventure. I love Italy and I love returning all the time, making it a little more familiar each time. That pleases a recovering nomad like me.

The view from my father's house always gets me. I like the feeling when you discover that it actually feels like coming home. Even though you've just been there a handful of times.

We didn't do much the days we spent at the house. Mostly, we walked around more or less naked because it was so hot, lay scattered around the garden soaking up sun, ate watermelon, listened to podcasts, read books, drank coffee. One morning we drove to Pianella for the morning market.

Pianella isn't big but it's charming with its houses built around hills.

Those small alleys with coloured houses and plants and cats taking naps in the shades...

It was Anna's first time at the house so naturally, we had to show her Gran Sasso. Neither of the ladies had been to Rocca Calascio either, my absolute favourite.

You can't do Gran Sasso without visiting the arrosticini hut. Because we were there in the summer, it was full of Italians who were out on their bikes and it definitely gave it a different spin than the last few times when we were the only ones there.

When we were at Rocca Calascio, thunderclouds rolled in over at the next door mountains. It was scary and great at the same time. Nature is powerful when it rumbles deep in the distance, flexing its muscles.

There's something intoxicating about feeling like the smallest dot in the universe. This place makes me feel like that. (I suppose the same feeling lived in those two strangers taking in the rolling mountains).

It was my fourth time at Rocca Calascio. Every time I marvel at the thought of someone having the guts to have that castle built on the very top of a mountain hundreds of years ago. How on earth did they do it?!

Klaudia and Kat and the mountains.

I didn't take many photos around the house; mostly because everything evolved around getting tanned and talking. However, on our first night we made this spread for dinner and it made my heart skip a beat.

Seriously, this place!

Glimpses from summer

Ah, the weather has been wonderful the last couple of weeks. I've been able to produce a tan and I've enjoyed every second of the sunny evenings. I've said it before but summer in Denmark can be pure magic.

One day, I made pancakes for breakfast. I had begun a new book, a huge epic about New York, and I was spending a few days just reading. So pancakes went along perfectly with that.

A rainy morning I went to Nørrebro to do some stuff and I had morning coffee at this beautiful spot. It was full of young beautiful men who built some things inside. Not too bad.

More reading.

Chris has been living on my sofa for the last two weeks and some mornings we start the day at nearby Vesterbro cafés. Prolog in Kødbyen is definitely a favourite!

Someday I want to live in Christianshavn. Oh it must be wonderful having the water outside your window.

At the end of May, my aunt from Israel came to Denmark for a brief visit. I took the day off and showed her around Copenhagen. We went up the tower of Christiansborg to take it all in, and afterwards we took the harbour bus to Papirøen for a lunch by the harbour front. It was splendid all together.

For the last week, it's been 25 degrees. I've spent the mornings on the roof soaking up the sun and working on the tan.

Also, I bought a new bike!

On Tuesday, I spent the afternoon with the lovely Anna. We had ice coffee by the canals and walked around inner city. The roof of Illum is open and the view is decent. Also, it was so great spending time with Anna - I can't believe it's already been 4,5 years since we were roomies in Nørrebro!