Nora Roberts's Blog, page 50

Day Thirteen: Sorrento

It’s repetitious, but the day’s beautiful. The view is blues–deep sea, bold sky, the softer hues of the mountains across the water, etched clear. I love the long white wakes cutting through the blue behind the white boats. From this height, those wakes look impossibly straight, as if drawn with a ruler.

BW and Kat make their Sunday breakfast, Kat chopping, BW stirring. I hear Jason talking to them in the kitchen as I walk around outside because it’s so damn pretty. Day view. Photo by Kat, T...

Day Twelve: Sorrento

As clear and perfect a day as you could ask for, with the light pure, the breeze gentle. Rather than the soft, subtle blur of horizon, the line between sea and sky is sharp and defined between the two shades of blue. The sky’s cloudless, just a perfect sweep, with the mountains far across the sea standing out against it.

A view of the villa. Photo by Nora. Cacti with a view Photo by Nora. Lots of boats skimming, and more huddled near our little knuckles of islands. We think there must be s...

Day Eleven: A trip to Positano

We plan, such as we plan, a busier day. Since we Cized It Up big time with Shaun T the day before, Kat and I do a mellower hour with Petra Kobler. Still break a sweat, but we’re Liquid Grooving to start off the day.

Clean up, get dressed, grab the guides in case–set the navi system in the car, and we’re off to Positano–with the GPS locked into a parking garage.

It’s hard to describe a drive along the Almafi Coast without running out of superlatives. It’s simply breathtaking at every turn. The...

Day Ten: Sorrento

We got our storm. The skies not only look grumpy, they really are. Wicked winds, booming thunder, blowing rain.

Kat and I switch our workout spot to the living room. A serious, sweaty hour of cardio, cooled a bit by the wind through our open door. These are tough moves, baby, tough, complicated and fast–but we stick with it.

I might get it reasonably smooth after practicing it a half a dozen times.

Follow that with a nice yoga session to stretch it all out, and I’m out. Kat’s not! She hits it...

Day Nine: Sorrento

A day spent at home with sun and sea and sky. Not a bad deal.

BW decides on a hot breakfast, so with some kibitzing from me–and some help from Kat–puts together what I think of as a poor man’s omelette–some prosciutto, some tomatoes, some cheese (and some herbs I added) with scrambled eggs. It’s pretty! And apparently tasty as BW and Kat cleaned their plates.

Omelet by group. Photo by NR. BW and coffee. Photo by Kat.

It’s workout time. Some Shaun T today–cardio and his challenging 8-minute ab...

Day Eight: Sorrento

Note from Laura: We have a well illustrated post! Some of the photos below are from the day spent in Sorrento. All captions (and potential errors) are mine.

photo by Kat photo by Kat Leather and its minions. photo by j a-b

And now for the update:

Another pretty perfect day of sun and breezes and glorious views. It’s easy to just sit and ahhhh.

But we’re made of sterner stuff.

Kat and I hit the workout, solid cardio, some upper body–gotta keep those arms in shape!

Then we move to the grass, al...

Day Seven: Sorrento

Kat and I move to the shady patio for our morning workout, and since my girl feels energetic, we do a second round.

I think the woman who came to clean got a kick out of us dancing, squatting and lunging.

The internet continues weird, and only early mornings seem to work right now. Good thing I’m an early riser.

Workout and daily travelogue done, it’s hit the showers and dress for our trip into Sorrento to change money and poke around.

We’ve been given instructions on how to find the parking...

Day Six: Sorrento

The weather on Sunday morning changes minute by minute. I’m awake early to coolish temps and brisk wind. It blows the flowering shrubs, the trees around like mad fans. Then the sun beams, washing a glisten over the water. Then clouds roll in and we get about 90 seconds of rain. The wind stills; the wind kicks.

It’s kind of fascinating.

I hear dogs and roosters, and see one of the local cats stroll down the steps off the patio.

The villa grounds, with infinity pool. Photo by j a-b

BW’s up next...

Day Five: Capri to Sorrento

Our last day on Capri is both easy and breezy. Pack up what we’ve unpacked, gather our stuff from here and there. Obsessively check drawers and closets. Obsessively check drawers and closets again.

Our days here have been everything we could have asked for.

We’ve timed it so we can enjoy a leisurely lunch poolside before our ride to the docks in Capri Town. We do exactly that and enjoy our last lazy and delicious hour before we’re packed–literally–in our van for the final winding ride down. O...

Day Four: Capri

Fancy dinner calls for a fancy couple. Photo by j a-b

In the spirit of mixing things up, we take a lazier day after the day of The Big Hike.

This doesn’t mean skipping the morning workout, and Kat’s got some Piyo DVDs. They aren’t for weenies! A forty-something minute session gets the blood moving and the muscles stretched. Then it’s time for my three companions to get their massages. I opt to do a cardio workout as I’m getting TWO spa treatments.

By the time I get out of the shower, everyone...