Monday, our last full day, was a daytrip to Paestum. Once again, we just barely missed a train, and had to wait an hour for the next. I was surprised that it was an hour and forty-five minute ride, but we didn't have to change trains in Salerno. The train we took seemed to stop at every little station along the way. So we arrived shortly after noon, and headed straight for lunch first. We found a fairly nice resaturant, though not too expensive. Paestum is supposed to have the best mozzerella-- there were several buffalo farms and processing plants nearby-- [View Full Entry]

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Today was definitely a good day. It started a bit slow, but we were in no hurry. First, our hotel's hot water supply gave out about 8:00, so I decided to postpone my own shower in hopes of at least getting some water pressure. Greg went to breakfast and reported enjoying a sfogliatella. We finally got out the door about 10:00, but by the time we got to the train station, there wasn't another train to Caserta for an hour. So we sat around and read our guidebooks, no problem. When the train pulled up to the Caserta station, we could [View Full Entry]

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Curses! Foiled again by public transportation! This morning, we set no alarm, but were still up at 7:30. We had to pack our suitcases with some more souvineers, so it took a bit longer than usual. Still, we were ready by 9:30. After dragging our bags to the top of the stairs, we learned that we had just missed a bus and it would be 45 minutes until the next one. But we used the time to enjoy the view and read more in our guidebooks. After we finally got down the hill, we had to wait another 30 minutes for [View Full Entry]

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Today we spent most of our time on Capri. Last night, Greg spent an hour trying to figure out how to see Capri in the morning and Paestum in the afternoon. It would have worked, but the public transportation didn't run as advertized. First, the bus from our hotel into Sorrento took at least half an hour, and it was jam packed with mostly locals who got off at many various stops. We got off at the train station, where we planned to catch a bus down to the ferry port. I had planned to get off at the main square, [View Full Entry]

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Today, we drove up the Amalfi coast! We checked out of Hotel K (and their hard-as-a-rock matress) at 9:00 when Giovanni arrived. He was a nice, older man whose English was good, if thickly accented. He loaded our suitcases into his BMW, and we were off. It took longer to drive out of Salerno than I had expected, but we also arrived in Ravello quickly. Well, I say quickly only in comparision to the hour plus I thought the drive would take. Being up on top of a mountain, there were many twists and turns to get up to Ravello itself, [View Full Entry]

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Wednesday, we woke up, re-packed our bags, grabbed breakfast, and lugged our stuff to the tube. We had a hard time finding a train with room for us and our stuff. They were very crowded at 9:00 am. Finally we just pushed our way onto one, and we were ready for the hour-long ride to Heathrow airport. Unfortunately, the train had zero ventilation, and I started feeling very bad. When a seat opened up, I took advantage of it, but the ride seemed unbearably long. I was more light-headed than nausous, but the headache was just awful. When we finally arrived, [View Full Entry]

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So far, we're already off to an eventful start! Our flights from DFW to Toronto and Toronto to London were each on time, long, and rather dull. The cross-atlantic leg was only 6 hours in duration, so it didn't leave us the opportunity to sleep much. Still sleepy, we rushed through customs and claimed our bags quickly before dashing a mile (well, it seemed that far) to check in for our Alitalia flight. We were so happy to be on time. Then everything fell apart. Italy's air traffic controllers were on strike today, we learned. What a mess! Instead of the [View Full Entry]

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