6 July

6 July

Possible names for Positano:  Town of a Million Stairs. Town on a Cliff. Town That Looks Like the Set of a Movie.  We took a ferry from Sorrento to Positano, which was kind of expensive but very nice.  This brought us to the beach of Positano, where you look up and see hundreds and hundreds of buildings hanging on the cliffside.  We checked in at the info center to see how to get to our hotel and were told "Oh, your hotel is at the top, I'm so sorry."  A map of the town (worth looking up, actually), shows one main road, one way, going in a loop around the main part of the town, a few other roads, and many, many sets of scale (stairs).  Mostly you take the stairs, because the road is just wide enough for a car to drive, cars to be parked on one side and oh, we forgot about pedestrians.  Our hotel was 520 steps up from la spiaggia (the beach).  We were instructed to bring our small luggage on the local bus, which takes the one-way loop around town, but not allowed to take the big luggage on the bus, so they have porters in little motorized wagons that bring up your luggage--just 8 euros per bag!  Cheez wiz.

Highlights:
Beautiful in an amazingly different way.
We were despairing of doing laundry any time soon and then discovered our hotel was RIGHT across the street from a laundromat!  La Lavanderia Arcobaleno (Rainbow Laundry). Paid 32 euros to do three loads of laundry there, but had an amazing view of the Tyrhenian Sea while we washed and dried.
Two of the best dinners we have had in Italy, at Next2 and Da Vincenzo.  Next2 was Italian-NYC fusion and Da Vincenzo classic Italian. Both were just outstanding. Finn has learned to order spaghetti bianci (white--meaning no tomato sauce or meat), and they made such good spaghetti...who knew it was possible? At Da Vincenzo we were seated outside, where a narrow row of tables was on the side of the road. Lane pointed out that he'd never eaten at a restaurant before where he was worried about the waiters getting hit by a bus while serving us.
I have another story, but it deserves its own blog post, so stay tuned

Lowlights:
Did I mention the stairs?
We took a water taxi to a smaller beach nearby so we wouldn't be on the big, busy beach right in town. This beach was also crowded, the boys got bored quickly, and everyone got a sunburn.  The beach was rocky and just made me long for sand, and space between bodies.

Meh:
Our hotel room was spacious and had a great view (of course) but not otherwise really special

A few things I have learned in Italy:  It is difficult to get around and figure out how to navigate all these new kinds of transportation, different ways of getting food, etc., but we are getting the hang of it. I know that I have to take my produce to be weighed and get a sticker put on it before I pay at the front; can order carbonated water (frizzanti) for Lane and me and non-carbonated (naturale) for the boys; always remember to validate my train ticket before getting on the train; and even asked a bus driver (in Italian) if he could tell us where the stop (la fermata) was for our hotel. And when eating, be prepared for absolutely any kind of service, from remarkably prompt to being completely ignored for half an hour at a time.