Slow day at work – so here’s my details on my trip – love that cut and paste!
Italy was fantastic. Who wants to see pictures?? I took a ton of them, and I can email some of them to you guys if you’d like. But for now, here’s a link that has some pictures of where I stayed.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PositanoThe short of it:
The food is awesome, the views are spectacular, definitely one of the most beautiful places on this planet – up there with the Grand Canyon, the Rockies, Hawaii, Lake District in Scotland (think Braveheart) but a different kind of cool. Everywhere you look is a work of art, medieval ruins, restorations and lots of gardens and lemon trees. The drive along the coast is wild ride in itself, because you are right at the edge of the cliff and the road is narrow and a series of hairpin turns. Lots of castles and villas on these cliffs, like something out of a fairy tale, all that’s missing are some dragons in flight. We stayed in Positano, a little fishing village huddled on the side of the mountain right by the sea. We had some excursion days and some chill-out and do-nothing days. Went to Pompeii, Capri, even into the Blue Grotto. Also saw Vietri, Ravella, and Almafi. Did a fair amount of shopping, and just about everything in Italy is expensive. The people are nice, a lot of them can speak English, as well as Spanish & French. Their way of life there is pretty laid back…they take afternoon naps and eat dinner at 9 or 10pm. The food overall KICKED ASS. The pasta and the pizza is just out of this world (NO sausage, this pizza is to be worshipped!). Gelato is yummy – it’s like ice cream, but made with milk. Limoncello is an after dinner lemony drink that’s pretty strong.
Okay I have to do this – limoncello - it made me think of Captain Hero getting drunk at Clara and Wooldoor’s lemonade stand, it would explain it if they were serving limoncello, which essentially lemons and alcohol.
Captain Hero: Keep ‘em coming.
Clara: I think you’ve had enough lemonade, mister.
Captain Hero: I’ll tell you when I’ve had enough lemonade, mister! Just give me the whole damn lemon.
The long long detailed version:
We flew into Rome from JFK last Friday. I traveled with an extended family. My friend Vanessa had asked me to join them. It was her, her husband David, her baby Leo, her husband’s daughter Airie from his first marriage and her best friend Stephanie, and Vanessa’s parents Bob & Ginny. Vanessa wanted a friend to pal around with when she had a break from Mommy-land, and asked me months ago if I would go with them. I was like, twist my arm! Since I was with a family, I was in proper polite mode most of the time. Which was fine, but there were some times I just wanted to cut loose and couldn’t. Eh well, that’s okay. I still had a blast, and will remember it for the rest of my life. Positano is not a big party town, so most nights I hung out with Vanessa on the balcony of their suite, sipping wine.
So we get to Rome Saturday noon, and took a little van service from there to Positano. Three hour car ride, but better than taking connecting flights - that can be a nightmare in Europe! We slept most of the way. Since Positano is on a side of a mountain, the van could only bring us halfway down – the hotel we were staying at was on the beach. So a porter from the hotel came up with one of those little tiny cars and took our bags down, and we hoofed it the rest of the way – very VERY steep and narrow pathways and lots of stairs. We checked in and unpacked and I wasted no time going out on the balcony and snapping pictures and grabbing a beer from the mini bar. Every room had a private balcony and there was, I kid you not, a Cartoon Convention going on at the hotel with a pavilion set up on the beach. LOL! I have the pictures to prove it! The people from Ice Age II were there, as was Roy Disney. The rest were from Germany, Korea and Japan and Italy itself. So we napped and then had dinner at Chez Black on the beach. Bob kept calling it the Black Cat, and I began to is as well. When they serve pizza here, it’s not cut. You have to cut it yourself. Or pull it apart.
Sunday was a recovery, do nothing day. Thank God. I woke up, took pictures, had breakfast. Went shopping. Wisely didn’t blow too much money on my first day. This place is dangerous - lots of pretty boutiques and very VERY expensive. Napped for 4 hours. Did some exploring. Napped again. Went to dinner at a fancy place. The hotel has babysitting services. Their son is 1 year old, and very cute but can be quite a handful. Oh man I am happy just being an Aunt (I have 5 nephews and 1 niece). I don’t want to be a Mom. Ever. I’m too selfish, and too much of kid myself. If I were a Mom, I wouldn’t be able to do all the things I do.
Monday – half day excursion at Pompeii. Snapped pictures like crazy. It was really something to see all what’s left after 79 A.D., and then the restoration, with the original foundations STILL there! Hard to describe, but seeing some of the rooms and courtyards made me think of the “I Claudius” mini series on masterpiece theatre. Great great series, a Roman soap opera in itself.
Tuesday – day trip to the Isle of Capri. Drove to Servinto (spelling?) took a big boat to Capri, and then got into a motorboat to the famous Blue Grotto, where we would get into a little rowboat to get IN to the Grotto. When it’s high tide, and windy, it’s questionable whether or not the Grotto will be open to the public. Because the entrance is small, and when you have waves…well, we were lucky. It was open, then they closed it, shooing the other motor boats away, and then they re-opened it. Woo-hoo! It was 3 people per boat with a rower guide with strong arms and hopefully a thick skull. Why? Because you have to hunker down low in the rowboat, and the rower maneuvers the boat into the grotto and sometimes the wave will push the boat up and he gets a nice bump on the head. Once you’re inside, you can sit up and take pictures, and they row you around in circles and the water is glowing blue by the cave mouth, brilliant brilliant blue. And the rowers SING while they are in there! LOL! I got a little video from this experience, it was just too cool. Love my digital camera!! Then, we almost got soaked by this wave when we came out and the rower almost bumped his head. I was curled up in the bottom of the boat laughing hysterically. After that, we went back to the port and a van service took us around the island. Too much to do and see for one day, but it was cool.
Wednesday – do nothing day. I’m glad we had some days to just chill out. I cashed in my traveler’s checks and did some shopping. The lady at the bank had asked to see my passport. My real name is Laura, but I love how they say it in Italy! She read it: “Larr-ra”. Drop the u and add some Rs with a trill on the Rs, like a purr. Even when I introduced myself to people there, they said it the same way “Larr-ra”. Oh, say it again. LOL. “Say my name, bitch!”
Thursday – trips to three towns. I think most of the family had just about had it with the van rides with hair pin turn after hair pin turn. If you are afraid of heights or get seasick, you are screwed. NO one wanted to sit in the back of the van but me. I was fine, and I continued to snap pictures as feverishly as a Japanese tourist. A little hard when you are in a van taking these turns at breakneck speed, it felt like we were going to go off the cliff at times. AND there are other drivers passing us!! These people are nuts.
Veitri – chilly, under construction, but lots and lots of ceramics.
Ravella – still chilly (high altitude) but great great views.
Amalfi – near the water and a LOT warmer. And boisterous. Lots of townspeople, tourists roaming the square that’s dominated by a huge cathedral with a ton of stairs. I ran up those stairs with the Rocky I theme going through my head. Bought a LOT of limoncello and wine to ship home, no WAY was I taking it on the plane! It wasn’t cheap, but what the hell.
Friday – do nothing day and begin to pack
Where did this week GO? We fell into a routine, be it an excursion day or a relax day, we fell into the routine of the locals. Take late afternoon naps, get up, shower, go to dinner. I took short naps because I wanted to get in a good walk before dinner and take more pictures of this beautiful town. Found a pathway along the cliffs near the hotel. You really have to walk everywhere in this town, it’s like a built in stair master. None of the locals are fat and now I know why. We were stuffing our faces day in and day out, and I don’t think any of us gained an ounce.
(going into GIRLY mode *Happy dance* I did NOT gain weight on this trip! I am rather fanatical about my weight cause goddamn it I like being thin, and I refuse to let myself go just because I am getting older. Fuck that. If I get over a certain amount I work out like a lunatic – end GIRLY mode, sorry guys)
Anyway I did these walks on my own, which was cool. At times I felt like the extra wheel of the family trip, sometimes Vanessa had her hands full with the baby and could not venture out. But overall I did not mind, really. I like being alone. I am a bit of a loner at times, just coming and going as I please and not answering to anyone for it. I had hours to myself before meeting up with everyone for dinner, usually at 8pm. Then after dinner, usually I hung with Vanessa, David and the baby while they TRIED to get the baby to sleep...sometimes to no avail.
On these nights, I didn’t want to hit the town on my own, can’t speak much Italian, and I’m certainly not about to throw myself at some Italian guy like a total dumbass American chick who hasn’t a clue of what they’re really saying.
LOL. That would be a Bleh moment!! Oh, on that note, anyone familiar with the play “Light in the Piazza”?? If not, remind me later to mention the storyline. It’s funny. And rather a coincidence to me seeing it after having watched The Other Cousin for the millionth time J
Anyway, nah, I stayed at the hotel. I hung out on the balcony sipping limoncello, facing the towering wall of buildings & lights of the Positano nightlife (and a sleepy one at that) and contemplating the naughty things my friends would dare me to do, like flash or moon the entire town (another Bleh moment., or a Foxxy one for that matter!) and run back inside, a rather passive aggressive act seeing that no one would really see me – except, perhaps, my friend’s parents - who were in the room RIGHT next to mine, and if their balcony curtains were open…oh God, I would die of embarrassment! I did venture down to the bar sometimes, and there was a little PC set up. Yep, you could access the internet for 3 euros for every 30 minutes. But I couldn’t log in to my email account or this site. That would have been cool. Oh well. See, I did think about you guys when I was over there!
Saturday. I was sad to leave, but I was ready to come home at the same time – I missed *my* bed and my cat. The beds at the hotel were okay, but nothing beats an adjustable Sleep Number bed. It’s good to be home!
Where did this week GO? We fell into a routine, be it an excursion day or a relax day, we fell into the routine of the locals. Take late afternoon naps, get up, shower, go to dinner. I took short naps because I wanted to get in a good walk before dinner and take more pictures of this beautiful town. Found a pathway along the cliffs near the hotel. You really have to walk everywhere in this town, it’s like a built in stair master. None of the locals are fat and now I know why. We were stuffing our faces day in and day out, and I don’t think any of us gained an ounce.