AND SO IT BEGINS….THE JOURNEY BACK TO THE STATES! (Friday, 9-17-2021)

 

The journey back to the good ‘ol  United States of America—here we go!

1. We bid good bye to Mamacita!  She guarded over our little courtyard and watched over our elevator!

2. We took the final walk down the streets of Napoli, luggage in hand, to the Metro!

3. We rode the Metro to the train station.  We rode the train back to the Rome train terminal.

4. We ate lunch at a restaurant in the train terminal after showing our vaccination card!

5. We rode the train from the terminal to the airport.

6.  We checked into the airport Hilton and found the ClearStay sticker on our door.

7. We performed our COVID tests for our flight tomorrow morning!  Luckily, all four of us were negative, so we printed our results and are ready to go!

8. We used the hand sanitizer to enter the Hilton dining room, where we had wine and appetizers.

9.  We enjoyed a fabulous last night true Italian dinner, compliments of Mike and Patte.  (Thank you!  Thank you!  Thank you!)  Oops, only remembered to take photos of the desserts!

Whew!  We fly from Rome to Germany tomorrow morning.  And then we fly from Germany to Chicago tomorrow afternoon!  We will be sleeping in our own bed tomorrow night!!!

NAPOLI, ITALY ON THE FUNICOLARE AND THE BIG RED BUS! (Thursday, 9-16-2021)

We decided it was high time to stay put and finally see Napoli today!  We took the funicolare up the mountain to see the views.

It took us a very long time (and many steps) to figure out where in the heck to go to see a view!  There was an entire town at the top!  John and I found our new residence name….FLORIDIANA!

And Patte found her HAPPY place at a nearby Gelateria!

Finally, after walking what seemed to be a million miles, after asking what seemed to be a million people, we FINALLY found a breathtaking view of Naples!

We stopped to grab a drink and rest our poor tired feet.  This is what is typical when ordering drinks in Italy!  Snacks!  Lots of snacks that always includes potato chips (usually Ruffles)!

When we got back down the mountain, we decided to take the Big Red Bus Tour.  And are we glad we did!  Not only did it give our feet another rest, but the neighborhoods we passed through were interesting to see and the views were AMAZING!

After our tour of Napoli was finished, we went back and packed once again.  This was our last evening in Naples.  We ventured out later to walk to the “pizza district” and, after taking in the sights and sounds of chaotic Naples, decided on a restaurant called Dante 42 in the Piazza Dante, a large public square.  Would you believe, our last night in Naples and basically the last night of our month long journey, and I, along with my fellow travelers, totally forgot to take photos of our world renowned pizzas!  You’ve just gotta believe me when I say, “They were SO SO GOOD!”  

CIAO FOR NOW!

POSITANO, SORENTO, AND POMPEI! (Wednesday, 9-15-2021)

The four of us woke up excited for our day — we were heading to the Amalfi Coast!  We were greeted by our tour guides, Luca and his fiancé, Gabby.

It took about an hour and a half to reach our first destination, Positano!  The views on our way there were GORGEOUS!

Positano was everything we imagined..and then some!  How the residents manage the steep roads is unbelievable.  Our guides told us they mainly find parking along the road getting in and out of town and walk to their homes! 😳😳😳

Our second stop of the day was to the lovely, peaceful, you just gotta love it, Sorento!  We walked along the cafe lined streets, browsed in some quaint little shops and came across a charming restaurant, Bellevue Syrene (1820), overlooking the Bay of Naples!  

We were seated at the BEST table on the amazing patio and enjoyed the food, the drinks, and soaked up that fabulous view!

Gabby told us to try the dessert pastry called Delizia al Lamone.  We did and it was AMAZING!

We needed a few hours more in Sorento, but we WILL be back!  Our next stop was a place to test various limoncellos!  John and Mike liked each and every one of them!

Our last stop of the day was the infamous Pompei. For anyone who doesn’t know about Pompei, the city was buried under 13 to 20 feet of volcanic ash in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79.  It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Luca and Gabby recommended getting a tour guide to walk us through the ruins.  We opted to do the audio tour so we could spend as much time as we wanted at various places.  We should have listened to Luca and Gabby!  The map was impossible to use — and John and Mike are proven experts at reading maps!  

We did the best we could. 

When we met back up with our darling guides and explained our disappointment, they suggested we watch Alberto Angela’s I TRE GIORNI DI POMPEI.  We all plan to watch it (if we can figure out where we can watch it) or, at least, get his book and read it.  The ruins definitely tell a sad, sad story.

We made it back to our little street where we ate a great dinner of….you guessed it….PASTA!

CIAO FOR NOW!