Day 5: This was probably my favorite day of the entire trip. We started off with our breakfast, as usual, and then we were off. We had to take different buses than the other days because of the size of the roads in that part of the country. See, we were on the coast again and in the mountains, so the roads narrow and winding. So we had two different buses, one for the anglophones and one for the francophones. I took my Dramamine, and we were off. The program for the day was to see three Italian villages along the coast of Italy. The first was Sorrento. And let me tell you, the drive there was even amazing. The whole drive we were pretty much on the edge of the mountains, almost hanging off the road. And what we below us? A gorgeous blue sea that stretched out forever. And above us? A brilliant shining sun that lit up the trees and flowers that lined the mountain side. Really, it was absolutely breathtaking. And we weren't even out of the bus yet! The ride was also a little bit scary, as the driver was, of course, Italian, and tended to be a little crazy. But we had full confidence in him, and he got us through all the winds and curves of the road safely, even if at times it looked like we were going to crash into things. As we went, our Rotary man (Bernard De Boyer) gave explanations of a few things as we passed them.
Then we got into the village. Wow. I really don't have many words for the things we saw. It was unlike anything I have ever seen. A whole city built up on the side of a mountain with colorful houses and beautiful scenery everywhere. These cities are also amazing because there is barely any car action going on. So we had a few hours to just explore on our own and walk through the backstreets and discover the village. It was still early morning, but everything was open and busy. And as much as I expected it to be, it was not that touristy of a place. The best thing about it, and most of Italy, is that even though there are obviously tourists EVERYWHERE, it's not the way it is because of the business. It's just really like that. There is ivy growing up the buildings and music in the streets, fountains in the middle of pathways and little alleys that lead to who-knows-where.
So we spent a few hours taking pictures, seeing the shops, and just having fun. And I found my Italian bathing suit :) It's purple and has all kinds of stones on it that were put there by hand, in Sorrento, by a man who makes costumes for Italian theater and film! Great find! The other thing that is typical of Sorrento is an Italian lemon liquor called limoncello. And BOY is it strong! We sampled some in one of the stores (yes, at 9 30am) and yes, I gave in and bought some to take home, along with some lemon chocolates that they had as well. It was splurging day for me, don't judge.
After our time was up, we met back up with Rotary and got back in our buses to go to the next stop, Amalfi. Again, the drive was just as lovely as the things that we had seen and were about to see. I honestly have no words to describe it all. You just have to believe when I say it's gorgeous. Plus, unfortunately, photos cannot even begin to do it justice. Anyways, we drove for a while, admiring the views and having a splendid time imagining what it would be like to live there. Finally, we got to Amalfi and got out of the buses for some more exploring. This time, they gave us each ten euros and it was time to go find lunch. And of course, Savannah and I managed to find amazing little restaurant. And what did we get? I'm glad you asked. This lunch featured a wonderful bruschetta, topped with tomatoes, basil, mozzarella cheese and just the right amount of salt. Oh my goodness, I love bruschetta so much I can't handle it. We also got a really wonderful pizza that actually didn't have any sauce on it, but instead just fresh tomatoes, arugula, and parmesan cheese. It was definitely the real deal when it comes to authentic Italian pizza. And so delicious. We topped it off with a glass of red wine shared between the two of us. Talk about a lovely meal.
After lunch, we went looking around the city and found ourselves in the center at this giant church that was really quite incredible. But eventually, it got to be time to go back down to meet everyone else and our exploring had to come to a close. But we managed to go back in time to have a little time on the beach! Even though it wasn't very hot, we still took off our shoes and ran across the beach (even though the sand was rocks) and put our feet in the water. And of course, me being me, I decided it was dance picture time. So we went up on the pier and took some really beautiful pictures as I jumped around and made kind of a fool out of myself. The Rotary guys probably thought I was completely insane. But that's ok. I only fell once and it was no big deal :) Oh and Jordann lost my flip flop in the sea... But we got that back, so whatever. Anyways, the next destination was Positano, yet another lovely village, so it was back into the bus for us.
This last leg of driving was kind of difficult. The fact was that we were all tired, the scenery was quite calming, and many of us found ourselves dozing off. But we quickly woke up when we saw the city ahead of us. Here, the roads got even smaller and the turns tighter. When you see the city from a distance, it looks like it has literally just sprouted out of the ground. Everything is completely vertical... It's really incredible. This time we had to pass through a sort of tunnel to get into the city, but as soon as we did, we called it gelato time and I got some tiramisu gelato. And we went over to a little ledge to look out over the sea as we ate. And this is where things get a little bit more... Interesting.
All of the sudden, someone comes up to me, a man, with another man, middle-aged, and the one says to the other, can you take a picture with my friend please? And I looked at him, and for some reason, I just said "Ok!" really enthusiastically and took a picture with him. But the other guy was like, "No you need to get closer." "Ok now laugh." Kind of weird stuff. But don't worry, it wasn't creepy. It was actually really funny. After I was done laughing my head off, the one taking the pictures was like, "Ok who's next?" And they took pictures with three or four other exchange students that were there with us. We could tell that the one who was in the pictures was embarrassed because he was laughing just as much as we were. And I kept asking who they were and what they were doing. Eventually, we found out that they were just two random guys from the States who were in the city too and they had been eating lunch and got into a conversation about how you meet people. And they both realized that they didn't really know how to go about meeting random people. So they wondered if this tactic would work. And obviously it did! Their names were Randall (the one taking the pictures, the really funny one) and Jonathan (the embarrassed one) and they were just on vacation. They were cousins actually. Randall was from St. Louis and had never left before. Jonathan was from the Big Apple. But regardless, we talked with them and laughed with them for a while and eventually took a group shot with the 10 or so exchange students that were there. And I said that they could totally be in a reality show called "Randall and Jonathan Meet People" and it would be a huge hit. So that became the running joke for the rest of the day.
We spent the rest of it just walking around, and we honestly didn't have that much more time left after our adventure with Randall and Jonathan. But that was not the end of our experiences with people. As Savannah and Jordann and I were getting ready to go back to the bus, we passed by a fountain and we wanted to fill our water bottles. Well there was an old man standing there and he immediately engaged us in conversation. He was Italian and spoke Italian to us, and I have to say, he was missing teeth, so it was kind of hard to understand him to begin with. But I also have to say, I'm so proud of myself because I was able to follow along! He told us all about when he was younger and was in the army and about where the water came from that came out of the fountain. He even had old black and white photos on his person of him when he was in the army. It was sweet in a weird kind of nostalgic way. And again, it may sound creepy, but it really wasn't. In fact, it was cool.
Well from there it was back on the bus to go back to the hotel. Again, we fell asleep on the bus. We had some time that night and were trying to figure out how to go out, but it never ended up happening. A couple of us had walked around the city looking for something to do, but all we found was this little bar where we got a drink before dinner, but that was it. So I went to bed early. But then I heard in the room next to me someone knock on the door, clearly not an exchange student and he said with an accent, "I am the gigolo that you ordered." My eyes shot open and he went on, "I am gigolo that you ordered." Then the person in the room said, "I did not order gigolo, I ordered three women, one black." By this point I was a little freaked out. The "gigolo" said again, "No you order gigolo. I am here. Will you let me in please?" After that it was over. I don't know if it was legit or a joke, but it kinda made me feel weird... Anyway, that's when I fell asleep.
Well Day 5 was obviously huge. Again, favorite part of the trip. Part III coming soon! And stay updated for pictures as well!
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