Update From Munich

We flew up from Naples to Munich this morning, we left the hotel at about 4:30 AM and drove to Naples airport.
Even in a Mercedes passenger van this was a bone jarring experience.
Anne asked if the roads dated from Roman times, I told that these roads are not as good as the ones the Romans built.

For our final night in the hotel we decided too eat at their roof top terrace.

It has a pretty limited menu but enough for a light meal.
I snapped a couple of pictures from the menu, it could be a Jimmy Buffet menu!








"Waiter, could I get another one of those Singapore Slings"
and of course everybodys favorite
"Cheeseburger in Paradise"

This is a piece of "Artwork" seen in one of the hotels in Naples.



It is aluminum expandable ducting cut and bent into this eclectic shape.
Maybe a new line of work for Baghouse Services.


Here are a couple from the bathroom of the hotel in Naples.
Recently renovated with new fixtures and fittings with marbles wall cladding.







This is the device for the toilet flush.
Note the pencil marks for layout not cleaned off quickly and now a permanent feature.

If my old boss Dennis Lightfoot were alive today, he would be turning over in his grave!

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Final Day In Naples (Part 2)

The batteries are charged up some, so here we go again.
On Sunday we drove up From Sorrento to Naples airport to drop off the car at Hertz.
As you know we travel light!
We had our stuff lined up for the bellman to pick up.



Driving here is always an experience; the drive from Sorrento out to the autostrada, which is kind of a freeway, is another of those roads which is either clinging to the edge of a cliff or going through a tunnel.

We made it to the freeway, here you get to experience the Italian style of freeway driving. They believe that if one lane is good, two lanes is better.
The German idea of drive right does not apply.
The Italian idea is drive wrong.

We dropped off the rental car and were picked up by a car service we had arranged to take us to the hotel.
His drive through Naples was a lot more skilled than mine.
He knew all of the streets to take and which ones were closed off.

Once at the hotel, it was too early to check in so we had coffee on the roof terrace.


This also where they serve breakfast and light meals at night.

Even though you know who complains about them, you can see she was setting up her iPad.

Once checked in, we walked around the area and across the bridge to
Castel Del Ovo. (Egg Castle) Legend has it that there is an egg hidden in the foundation and that if the egg should break the castle will fall.





We had a quick lunch near the marina just to watch the boats and boaters.





Of course I'm not on any pictures, I'm the camera man, driver, cabana boy, bellhop, and general factotum.

Now I know what the term "Maid in Waiting" means, I'm "The Guy Who's Waiting"

Back to the plot.

The main road which runs along the shore in this end of Naples has been pedestrianized, the kids can ride their bikes all over the place now and usually do.

The hotel is right on the shore and overlooks Capri and Vesuvius.

A couple of shots from inside.










Hey! check that out, I made it onto a picture.
Must have been a mistake.
These rooms have to be 20 feet high.

We leave on Tuesday morning at 4;30 AM from the hotel for a 6:30 AM flight from Naples to Munich.

I'll try to update more from Munich, if not we'll do a wrap up when we get home.

Ciao Bella


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Final Day In Naples

We spent Saturday looking around in Sorrento, kind of window shopping etc.
You guys know me, if I see a kitchen shop I'm going to be looking for gizmos.

I spotted this collection in the window.







I asked madame if she thought that they were spaghetti cookers.

She said no Norm, they are toilet brushes!!!
Well, I guess you can't be right all of the time.

We moved on to Piazza Tasso, (lots of things in Sorrento are connected to the Tasso name.
We sat at a restaurant for lunch to watch the world go by.
This is a really busy street intersection, where there are five streets which meet and a kind of nominal traffic circle in the middle.
Traffic lights and cross walks are considered by locals as suggestions rather than hard and fast rules.
A bus from Scotland arrived on the scene with of course the driver on the wrong side and about 50% longer than anything else, that caused a bit of confusion.



















He got a bit crossed up and had to make a few backwards and forwards shuffles to make the turn.

Some cool cars though.







This little old Fiat 600 convertible was something special.

Then of course there is the train.






He drives around town jamming up traffic as he goes.

We headed back to the hotel to have some down time before dinner.
On the way back we called into a small store to get som items madame wanted.
She talked to the owner who was involved with the Sorrento dog and cat rescue.
He had his latest rescue dog on the floor with him.






We made a donation to the rescue!
Surprise Surprise.

Then even more good fortune!
There was a wedding taking place at the local church.
We had to stop and see the bride, then much to our great pleasure we saw that they had gone down by the sea for pictures.







That held up getting ready for dinner by about an hour.

Before we went out I took a couple of pictures of Anne on the balcony of our room.







What a poser that woman is!
Then she took a picture of me standing in the place from which I had taken a picture of her. (If that makes any sense)







Finally we got ready for dinner and headed across the street to a neighboring hotel, La Favorita.
They had a restaurant and piano bar on the roof.







At the restaurant.
















Of course once we came back down to the lobby level, another photo op presented itself.







Anne loved this chair, just as well Amazon does not sell them.
I'll add more to this later, I'm almost out of battery.

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OK It Seems We Have A Connection

This trip has been plagued with bad or no internet service.
In Sorrento we were picking up a 2G network which was totally useless.
Nonetheless we are now in Naples and the service is much better.

We have done quite a lot since the last proper update.

For a start, you were correct Barb and Joni, I did have some jewelry for Anne, it was not bling, but it was coral, silver and a cameo, she loved it.





We were able to reserve the same table as we had in 2010 for our anniversary.




She lost her favorite hat during the scary cab ride down from Capri town to the marina.
She bought a replacement for 8 Euros and customized it later in Sorrento.




We were riding in one of the Capri Cabs, all convertibles and stretched from any old car they can find.








As you can see, the cars are a bit weird looking, they all have a Bimini top.

More pictures from Capri are below.




The cops have this little electric cart, of course you could not get off the island so they don't need a Ferrari!


The clock type is called Majorica.


More expensive stuff that you would not want for free.
If you look through the door you can see a Leopard Screen that you know who might want.
On the right side of the door was a dress which was $4,000, gulp!
This street is the Rodeo Drive of Capri.


The view from our table in the restaurant.
Lots of aspects of Capri remind me of Catalina, too expensive, too many people, blah, blah, blah.
However madame found it romantic!

More soon.




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More catching up

We are in Naples, at our final hotel The Excelsior.
I will post a detailed update later today once we are checked in to the hotel.






This the view from the hotel Terrace Bar.

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Location:Via Partenope,Naples,Italy

Catching Up

We took a boat trip from Maiori to Positano, this involves two boats with a change in Amalfi.

The coastal trip is really spectacular with villas and vineyards hanging to the cliffs.




The trip takes less than an hour out bound with a few minutes delay in Amalfi.
In Positano, Anne took off on a shopping and church visiting trip.
I found my own view...





There is a constant danger of fires at this time of year and the response to them is rapid, they deploy helicopters right away.

There was a fire on the hills between Positano and Amalfi, on of the helicopters can be seen below picking up water from the ocean.




On the way back we had about an hour Amalfi to look around.
We found the post office and how the "Take a number" system works in Italy.
It actually works very well, there four buttons on the machine, you press the one for the service you want and it prints you a ticket with a letter and number.
They have a signal board which then tells you which desk will serve you.
Easy, once you know which service you want!

On the boat we met a really nice Irish couple we were on the same boats both ways. They told us that they brought their own kettle with them to make tea,
no Steven, they did not make tea on the boat.



Back in Maiori we were met by one of the sights you dread!




An old guy wearing Speedos!
He even rolled them up to make them look worse than they already were.

The following day we headed for Ravello, the drive is pretty hairy in both directions. hairpin turns, steep cliff drop offs and motor scooters who ignore all rules of the road, not to mention the other drivers.

I stopped at a cross walk to let some people cross and three cars went round me.

Ravello is a quiet little town with very pleasant central square.
They host a music festival every year, we had reservations for a performance when we made our first trip plans, however during the revised trip, there was nothing being performed that was to our taste.
You know me, if it was not written by dead white guys several centuries ago
I don't like it. Except for Jimmy Buffett!




This is madame ready for the safari. Believe me, it was like going on safari just to make your way up from the parking lot! Only fit tourists like ourselves need apply!!!








The cathedral, or Duomo, as it is called in Italian, is very modest on the outside, but is magnificent on the inside, with marble, oil paintings of religious scenes and gold plated fixtures on the altars, of which there were three. One is discouraged from taking photos by a formidable-looking matron at the entrance, who also checks to make sure any female visitors are appropriately covered up. Of course, only foreign visitors take any notice of her. A skimpily clad Italian girl breezed past the "guard", waving a dismissive hand, which caused an American guy behind her to say, "Well, I guess God doesn't care, after all!"
Whilst in Ravello, we found three features that would make it an ideal destination for our friend Brent!!!





Plus, Anne , paying homage to Joni, ( which is as good an excuse as any to have hard liquor before noon!) had what she pronounced as the best Cosmo she's ever had, one that would have met with even Carrie Bradshaw's approval! ( Anne told me to write that, and said, as the Harley expression goes, "If I need to explain, you won't understand!"



After returning from Ravello, we decided to celebrate surviving near death experiences at every bend on the Costiera Amalphitana for yet another day by chilling out in Maiori. Although we never availed ourselves of the beach area allocated to our hotel, we were amused to find that "Townies" from Sunderland, probably ruffian soccer supporters, must have had a hand in the naming of the facility. ( Actually, it was just a bad speller! It was really called Lido Hawaii, to which a sign further down attested).







So, tomorrow, it's "On to Sorronto, pronto, Tonto!" It's actually Sorrento, but that didn't rhyme!
Norm and Anne
AKA
Armand and Michaela Cain
Only the older Brits will get that connotation.




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"Roman Around"

We have been enjoying ourselves so much, we forgot to update the blog!
Sunday 8/16
Decided that we needed a bit of culture - and we don't mean yogurt.

First though Madame had to take her constitutional along the "Prom" (for us Yanks that's short for "promenade" and has nothing to do with a school dance.




Then it was off to Paestum which has three Greek temples.
Yes folks "The old ruins went to see some old ruins"















There was even a bar that had Anne's name written all over it!





Back to our hotel where my hopes of a quiet night with my Nastro Azzuro were dashed when the Dancing Queen discovered that there was a band playing 70's and 80's "music".
I use the term loosely because you know my definition of music - compositions written by dead white guys, who have been dead For Centuries!
Anyway, I was rewarded for having to listen to such puerile drivel by the fact that one of the lead singers was a nubile wench called Cassandra who could, despite her diminutive stature, belt out lyrics like the fog horn on the Queen Mary!





For Madame, they were off to a great start by opening with Bryan Ferry's "Slave To Love", but when later they played a Pink Floyd number she knew that Brent had manifested himself in Maiori.




We are headed for Positano tomorrow.

Ciao Bella
Norm



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