After a great sleep, the best so far, we had a wonderful breakfast at the farmhouse, exchanged a few emails (one for a recipe for limoncello) and then said goodbye to our fellow guests.
We drove to Sorrento today, and after being on the autostrada for about 30 min., we realized we should have dropped the car off in Orvieto and taken the train. The autostrada is a great way to get from one place to another, but there is nothing to see, and it is just stressful for no good reason. The speed limit is 130 km/h and then they go faster on top of that. They drift from lane to lane, sometimes not commiting to either. When they pass you they literally come right in front of the car, no signals just them drifting in. Then, a guy on a motorcycle comes right in between us and another car and we were going 130, seriously, what a death wish.
Anyways, as we approached Naples, the whole scene changed from where we were. They are having a garbage strike, which doesn’t help, but the outskirts are really sketchy. We have no desire to stop…best pizza in the world or not.
We stop in Pompei and again, a different world. We are led to a parking lot that is actually a restaurant that has parking to go and see the ruins. If you eat there the parking is free, we didn’t eat, just went to the ruins.
This is the one place that I wished we had a guidebook so we knew what we were looking at in the ruins. But, we walked around, and it was very cool, and saw some great artifacts behind bars that had been excavated.
As the drive was a sketchy one, I was getting very worried about heading into Sorrento. Never judge a book by it’s cover. Sorrento is great so far. The souveniers are more expensive and generally it is more of a tourist area, but is nice all the same. We had a most fantastic dinner….again…another in the running for best dinner. It was kind of funny because we just ordered the special which was a red snapper and the salad bar. The guy in charge then took us personally to the salad bar where we witnessed our catch of the day…and the only red snapper….being taken away to the shouts and clapping of other waiters and cooks.
The salad bar was amazing with everything from octopus to broccoli. When our dinner was served, 3 men came out to help with the presentation, cleaning, and serving of our fish. It was just before this that we realized we hadn’t asked the price of the dish. Uh oh….all this pomp and circumstance was making us nervous. After dinner, Rick had a cappucino and they brought us a little plate of desserts…and then followed up with a shot of limoncello.
Needless to say….we were a little nervous about the bill…but it turned out to be not to bad. We had a great meal that was fresh as fresh could be, fantastic service, we were in Sorrento, and that was all we wanted all along. We sat back and thought about how this fish came to our plate, from the fisherman out in the early morning, to these gentlemen serving us and taking such pride and pleasure in cooking this fish. This was certainly our best “out to dinner” dinner we have had. We both agreed that when you have all of these factors, then the price is worth it. And it was. Thank you Mr. Red Snapper for a wonderful meal and memory.
When we got back, I had a long bath, the first in many years, and the first tub in our travels, and decided I need to do this for myself more often.
In the last few days I can tell that I am starting to relax and clear my mind. I am having very vivid dreams. Dreams of my mom, my kids, my life. I see why some people keep busy during the grieving process, it is not pleasant coming to realize that someone that meant so much to you will not be around for your future. I’m glad to be doing it here on the trip of a lifetime, with a partner whom I love and am happy to spend the rest of my life with. This trip has been a great journey to learn what I can and most importantly what I want to do.
Orvieto surrounded by clouds in the morning. 
Getting to Pompei. Lave flowed between the arches. 
An amphitheatre in Pompei. 
Us on a wall, in a place where 20,000 people lived. 
Tracks from carts in the stones. 
We aren’t sure what this is, perhaps someones house. 
A ditch running through the town. 
Pictures in the brothel…in case you forget how it’s done…. 
Another explicit picture. This building was closed to all women until 1979. 
A room in the brothel. Apparently it was mostly young people and foreigners who frequented this place. 
From inside a public bath. 
In the public bath. 
Some of the grounds. 
A person. 
Another person. 
Someone praying…at least that it what I would be doing. 
Some of the relics. 
A poor dog…interestingly enough there are many stray dogs that inhabit pompei. They just roam around. 
A cart and another person. 
On the way out. This place is really kind of creepy. We had a really strange feeling walking around in there. 
On the road to Sorrento. 
The road hugs this cliff. 
Me at my dinner. 
Sipping a little bit of lemon heaven. 
The perfect end to a day.
Clearly Carla 