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Published: March 15th 2018
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Bike Week in Sorrento
Dee test driving one of Francesco's motor scooters. Today we said good-bye to Sorrento (and southern Italy), flying from Napoli to Vienna, home of the famous Wiener Schnitzel, and former seat of the Austro-Hungarian empire on the banks of the mighty Danube river in Austria. But before our mid-afternoon flight, we enjoyed a brief farewell visit to Francesco and Anna Ruggiero at their home.
The Ruggiero property, surrounded by its vegetable gardens and fruit trees, has a nice view of the surrounding hills, and is tucked away off the beaten track in Piano di Sorrento.
Francesco gave us a tour of the house and their extensive garden, complete with artichokes, fennel, beans, lettuce, onions, tomatoes and many other vegetables that have or will soon be planted; they also have lemon, orange, peach, and cherry trees on the property. Anna made us all coffee, and we chatted with them for at least 45 minutes before it was time to leave for the Naples airport. We urged them to pay us a visit in Florida, so we'll keep our fingers crossed!
We made it to the Naples airport 2 hours before our flight, said a tearful good-bye to Francesco, and then grabbed a cheeseburger after checking our luggage.
Security screening was a breeze, with no waiting whatsoever, and the easyJet flight flight to Vienna was smooth and quick; we arrived 40 minutes before the scheduled arrival time. After buying a few sandwiches and other goodies to eat later, we met our pre-arranged taxi driver for the 20-minute ride to our rental apartment, located about a mile northeast of the Old Town section of the city.
This is one of the few apartments we've rented over the years where guests check themselves in, i.e., no owner or agent on the premises upon arrival. We were given door entry codes, with access to a lock box with the key, and all worked to perfection. The apartment is small, but nicely furnished, very clean, with modern appliances and a nice outdoor patio in the rear of the property.
As it happened, we would meet the owner, who graciously offered to stop by and resolve a cable TV issue we'd encountered. He turned out to be one of the most fascinating people we've encountered in all our travels; very personable, a great conversationalist (his English is better than most Americans!), and has traveled extensively, in both Europe and the United
States (including NYC and Florida). Over drinks, we even discussed the sad state of affairs in Trump World, about which he was very knowledgeable and understandably puzzled, like most Europeans we've met. He's also given us many tips and suggestions for places to visit during our stay, his favorite restaurants, etc., for which we are most grateful.
We were both pretty tired after our arrival, which is usually the case after a travel day; up at 5AM, lugging bags around, and a lot of walking at the Naples airport (even worse at Vienna). So we turned-in early, hoping for some warmer weather in Vienna, where the temperature dips into the 40s at night.
Dee's comments: Up early, ready to go. Nice farewell visit with Francesco and Anna at their house, then to the airport for our easyJet flight, which was easy! Arrived 40 minutes ahead of schedule, but were charged 12.70 euros for coke, gin and tonic, and a small container of Pringles (Yentil not happy). Arrived at Vienna apartment, which is just as pictured on its website--very clean and comfortable. It's a little chilly here, and we're both pretty tired!
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Jeni
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Wish we had a garden like Francesco’s!
Their garden is amazing and they have chickens! Love the apartment in Vienna so mid-century mod! Ah yes the sad state of Trump World, I think puzzled is a nice way of putting it! : p can’t wait to see the sights of Vienna. ?