Maybe I should've gone with a Nelson song "After the Rain" instead of a Guided By Voices reference in the title. The day before or after a bad day always seems to be much improved, if not awesome. In the morning the sun was shining and Doug, Doran and I decided to rent scooters and ride back out past Amalfi this time, to Ravello hopefully. Jeni wanted to get some shots of us with the scooters so after renting them we headed the 2 blocks back to the hotel. Jeni had her video camera ready and got each of us coming around the corner towards the hotel. I was the last one of the group and as I started to take the turn, I noticed Doug wiping out on the (esp for him) easy curve! I flat out died laughing! Of all the people to wipe out, Doug was the best one of is to have it happen to! No harm was done to man or machine so we got through our photo shoot and ripped off to the coast.
Doug, Dave & Doran on the Hogs.
It was a little cold in town and I wished I had gloves for the ride. As we tried a different route out of town, we got lost. Sometimes the "let's just go and see what happens" theory doesn't work so well. Drifting around some unknown town, I saw a sign for the town of Crapolla! We all had a hearty laugh and took some photos for posterity.
One town we didn't want to visit!
The local Police helped us get back on the road to Positano, which would get us out to Ravello. The coast was perfectly sunny and there was not much traffic to navigate. We opened it up and we were flying now, it felt amazing! It made me wonder why anyone would take a smelly bus on these roads, curvy and right on the cliffs edge. We knew from prior experience not to just sit behind a car if it was slower than us so we were darting in and out of on coming traffic most of the time. It was quite a thrill!! We stopped several times along the way to appease Doug's video "ideas" which we will see if they turn out or not. Wendy forgot to get sand from the beach in Positano so we dropped down there for a quick bit and we were back on the road again. We went thru Amalfi to Ravello where we decided to get lunch. We found a pizzeria that had take away pizzas. Doran and Doug really wanted some authentic sausage on theirs so they asked if the "Furter" was sausage and the man said yes. They ended up getting sliced hot dogs. I loved my pizza though with Ham, Mozzarella, Artichokes, Pepperoni and Tomatoes...mmm! The town is pretty small and we wanted to get down to another beach past Ravello so we scooted on but couldn't figure out how to get down there. Rejected, we decided to head back homeward, stopping at a new town called Scala just to see what was there. Scala led us up to the micro-town of Minuti where there was a sign for Punto Panoramico (Panoramic Point). We went as far as we could with the scooters, parked them and walked down the trail. We were WAY above Ravello and Atrani (town between Ravello and Amalfi) at this point and you could see everything including clear across the sea. I know it will be the best view, with the Amphitheater in Pompei a close second, that I will see on this trip! I wish I could even describe it but the picture will have to try for me.
An unforgettable view from Minuti.
It was getting a little late, factoring in the drive back so we turned it towards Sorrento and buried the needle (except for mine, whose Speedometer and Odometer didn't work at all!) At some point in the trip, I suggested that if we weren't going to be back on time, we should call the girls and let them know because they'll get worried. Doug said he had a calling card as Doran said "Jeni won't worry". Doug didn't end up making that call and when we returned, they weren't too happy about our lack of courtesy. Now, I've been in a few relationships in my life and I'm still amazed that after all this time, even when presented the option and reminder to be courteous, men still make it a second thought. What amazes me even more, is how the person who wasn't courteous can somehow find a way to be mad at the person who was sitting there worried about their loved ones safety.
Dinner plans were made for a Pizza place, imagine that!! As we walked down, Doran was ahead of the group and he just disappeared. He was being mopey or angry or whatever he had no right to be and none of us cared to have him around in that state anyway...brings back some memories of Pa doesn't it? I guess the nickname RJ is there for a reason. We all enjoyed our meals, Wendy and Jeni got Pizza and Doug and I split a steak and got our own pastas. My lasagna was probably the second best I've ever had (at least outside of my mom's house). Doug got his new favorite (and mine too) Penne all' Arrabiatta. On our walk back, we stopped at the #1 Gelato place in all of Sorrento, Primavera Gelato. They had somewhere around 50 flavors I bet and we all found something we loved, even though some of us might have bought $14 worth. There was a bowling alley a block from the hotel that we had seen earlier and the plan was to bowl a couple games in Italy. We were able to bring our own beers so we stocked up at the grocery store and gathered a group of at least 12 people to roll the night away. We had a lot of fun and by midnight, everyone was ready for bed. An Edward Jones Financial Advisor from Alaska's daughter, Andrea and I decided to continue the night with some hiking up some 300 steps that Wendy had done earlier in the day. We walked for almost 2 hours, enjoying whatever small town we were in and the views of Sorrento and the Bay of Naples below. We got back to the hotel and I, of course, had some internetting to do. I finally crawled into bed, just in time to be lulled to sleep by Wendy's snoring. Instead of counting sheep I counted tree trunks that Wendy was cutting! The girls will have to fill you in on the non-worrying portion of the day, they shopped is all I really know. One full day left!! I can't believe it's almost over and even though I would love to stay in Italy, my friends, my bed and American food are calling me! Ciao!
No comments:
Post a Comment