Prairie Boy

Saturday, Oct. 22
Today started out with overcast skies, drizzling rain and very low clouds, modestly covering the surrounding hills.  Perfect for a travelling day except for switch back roads rendered invisible with a smearing of pea soup fog.  After an hour of driving the weather completely changed, readying us for a sun drenched time on the Amalfi coast.

Our last trip in the van. 

No problems returning the van so off we go now completely under our own steam and really pleased with ourselves that we have carry on luggage.  A lady at the information booth, tells us the boat is 30 minutes from leaving for our destination on the coast so we scramble out onto the street, brazenly cross in heavy Italian traffic and find the boat launch. Don assures us that he read you should just step out into traffic and they will stop. The theory goes that if you make eye contact drivers know that you know they are there and they will keep going, whereas if you just step out they will stop because they think you don't know they are there. In any event pushing Don onto the street in front of me seemed to work well.  We are soon loaded onto the boat and begin eating our lunch prepared the night before.

On the sunny upper deck of the boat to Positano.

Preparing to eat a Gherkin Pickle.

Unable to move our eyes off the spectacle of ancient houses clinging to solid rock and arched roadways moving tiny buses around impossibly tight corners we begin our journey on the Mediterranean.

Praiaino, the town where our hotel for the next few days is located.

We disembark from the boat in Positano and begin a steep walk up the hill to find our bus to Praiano.  Turns out we have three hours to kill before our bus arrives so the shoppers shop, the coffiers coffee and the  gelato eaters, well they eat gelato. We arrive at the most picturesque place you could imagine.  Storybook terrace with wrought iron railings overlooking small fishing boats bobbing on the aqua marine sea with the occasional gull doing a fly by.  Look behind, up the mountain and small castles grow from the bed rock miraculously transforming the granite foundation into buildings with real doors and windows.

Soon the sun begins to set and we gather to begin our evening of dining.  We meet the most interesting, entertaining woman from Connecticut that has Italian roots and has us in stitches talking about politics in the USA and her other life in Italy.