I write this sitting on my balcony overlooking the Bay of Naples with the looming Mount Vesuvius reaching for the sky just on the other side of the bay.

Sorrento is a tourist haven and a sea coast town. But is very different. Sheer cliffs drop into the see and the hotels, shops, restaurants and homes are built on the hillside and cliffs. I hear Positano is ‘worse’. We shall see as we go there tomorrow.

From where I sit, I can see rising mountains with their codicils blinking in the night sky. Some appear as they may fall I to an abyss at any second. Heck, our hotel may look the same. 4 floors below me is a lemon grove.

We didn’t do much today. Just got here and went for dinner. Lisa had seafood (mussels and clams in pasta). I had home made pasta and eggplant. We did try the limoncello – and after dinner liqueur – very tasty and refreshing.

The train hit 300kmh on the way to Naples. It was fast. Naples is the nightmare everyone said it was. It took us 30 minutes to get away from the train station and this was with a professional driver. I’ve only seen traffic worse than this once – when eight lanes collapsed to two as we entered the Lincoln tunnel in NJ headed to NYC. Anyway. The scene there is bad. If you have ever driven from Gary, IN to Chicago through the side streets (not interstate) then you get the idea. But Sorrento is top notch. No worries

A couple of backfills:

1. Seriously, what is with Europeans and water retainment? This hotel is 5 star. First class all the way. The shower has no curtain or door. Just a half wall. How do you keep water from going everywhere you ask? Well. You don’t.
2. Europeans are not germ-a-phobes. Love that about them. Tonight at dinner, at another table, a bug flew in a glass of wine. Waiter took it in back, spooned it out and brought back the original glass. I can just see someone at Rafferty’s going nuts over is. I’ve seen little examples of this all over. But. We may have to draw a line at these reverse toilets. They come with towels and if you use them for what I think you do, I’m not sure I want to use one…
3. I wanted to talk a little more about the lunch we had in Tuscany in Ponsano. Here is how it went. We entered into the kitchen and were welcomed with a small glass of wine. Before going to our table we could sample some appetizers: Italian bread and olive oil, assorted salamis and Italian bread with lard spread on it. Yes, lard. After this, we went to our seats where the owner and chef greeted us and we had an excellent meal of beef, potatoes and veggies. It was an excellent lunch

I apologize for the lack of pictures. But it isn’t easy. I’ll try to get some loaded tomorrow. Ciao!