Ben Platt brunch

A break from the Italy posts for you all (all two of you!).  Life otherwise continues on, after all.  Heck, I even have to go to the office later this morning (and I am up waaaaay too early - it's 4:45 at the moment), so that will be fun, or something like that.

Yesterday, though, we got to go to a fun little event.  On Saturday, Van had seen an email about a brunch for the benefit of the Grammy Museum at a restaurant in North Hollywood we'd enjoyed in February with Courtney and Robert.  Brunch and a performance.  By Ben Platt.

I've turned into quite the Platt fan this year, it seems.  I've been loving his Honeymind album, and one of the songs will be at or near the top of my 2024 songs list.  His concert at the Greek earlier this summer was fantastic.  So when Van

asked if the three of us should go, it was an easy yes for me.

Verse was once a recording studio, I think.  Now a restaurant with a good bar and food, it's a place with great acoustics for live and intimate music. 

The seating was first come, first serve, and we ended up being not especially close to the front.  Not a concern, happily.  We were placed at a table of six with another party of three and ended up having a good time chatting with them.  The restaurant is clearly not used to sending out a hundred plates of the same course all at once, so the service lagged, but I didn't mind.  I sipped my rose and enjoyed the first course of a little mushroom tart

and then the main of a lobster Benedict. 

And then Ben came on.

The show was like an excerpt of the Greek performance, and that was totally fine.  He focused on his current album, he did the same couple of covers that he had done at that summer concert. 

Conrad, who had missed the Greek concert because he was sick, loved what he heard.  Ben was great.  Terrific singing, clearly so deeply happy and in love with his new husband.  It was well worth going.

And then we came home where, despite my best efforts, I ended up napping late in the afternoon.  Sigh.

hotel gardens

A small break here before I press on.  I would be remiss if I didn't share photos from the hotel gardens.  The fruits and vegetables they grew supplied the restaurant.  Hotel guests were free to roam the gardens, and there were places to sit and just enjoy the peace of the space. 

The Il Monastero grounds also included a small vineyard.  Indeed, there was wine produced and bottled.  I don't think we tried it, alas, and the vines had been harvested not long before we traveled there.  Still, it made for a lovely setting, especially with part of the castle complex looming above.

Some garden photos, then.  More to come from Ischia and the rest of Italy! 

breakfast in Ischia, Italian style

We'll never fool anyone into thinking that we're Italian at all.  Heck, to hear us bludgeon even the simple "buongiorno" greeting, you'd think that we had something against the country and its language.  Not so, I swear.  We're just tourists.

When Conrad and I visited Italy in 2017, we adopted the practice we observed in Rome of going to a nearby coffee/pastry shop and standing at the counter, enjoying a hot drink and a sweet treat for breakfast.  Where our hotels did not provide breakfast, we enjoyed this habit.  On Ischia, our hotel provided breakfast.  And yet, we were up and walking early enough that one morning we decided to have a pre-breakfast.  We had passed a place a few times on our walks, and it lured us in one day. 

Coffees,

pastries, sitting outside on the sidewalk instead of standing at the bar.  Close enough!

A nice find there were the sfogliatella. 

Italy week on Great British Bake Off first showed me them (oh, the bakers struggled), and then I sampled one at a Christmas Eve Feast of the Seven Fishes dinner at a local restaurant (underwhelming, sorry to say).  Here was my chance!  Friends, it did not disappoint even remotely.  That flaky, crisp pastry!  So good.

So yes, Conrad

and Van

and I attempted to fit in.  Ha!  But we weren't unhappy when, during our next leg in Bologna, the hotel did not provide breakfast and we were left to fend for ourselves at a nearby cafe.  But we'll save Bologna for another blog entry!

Italy recap: getting there

Brace yourselves, friends:  there will be many recap posts to come.  Many.  Well, until I both run out of endurance and have to move on to other blog topics!  But many.  And although I am starting with the start of the trip, I will certainly feel free to pop all over the place in my blogging depending on mood and energy.  So, ready to go on a deeper dive into the recent vacation?

We headed to LAX early in the morning on September 10. 

18 days ago - wow!  It was before the Polaris Lounge opened, but we were through the doors as soon as it did, appreciating how quiet it was. 

Eventually it was aboard our first flight,

to Newark.  Some airplane breakfast in our bellies,

then some napping all around.

We had time in the lounge in Newark, and I showered and changed, freshening up for the overnight flight to Naples.  We headed to the gate,

then boarded and got our pod seats. 

Dinner was served,

but you know I availed myself of some champagne first! 

Lights out, and I think I managed something like 2-4 hours of sleep.

I had a window seat for the flight overseas, and that meant that when I woke up, I was able to peek out and get my first glimpse of Italy on this trip, the mountainous northwest of the country. 

We continued down past the coast

and then over the middle of the country, affording me views of lakes and mountains and towns and even the Adriatic coast. 

Lovely to watch and try to figure out on Google Maps.

We landed, more or less on time.  We deplaned not via a jetbridge but down stairs

and headed to a bus that would take us over to the terminal.  Luggage, customs, and then on to meet a driver who hustled us by car to the port

for us to catch a ferry over to Ischia. 

That crossing was a pleasant one, an hour and a half or so.  Another driver met us on Ischia and took us through the town and across the causeway, depositing us at the foot of the castle complex.  We walked through a tunnel

to an elevator, headed up, and emerged just below a plaza where we caught a closer look at our fantastic first hotel, Il Monastero. 

It wasn't long after that that we were checked in and unpacking, settling in to enjoy the first leg of what was a very good trip indeed!