Tuesday 5/11 Rome to Naples to Sorrento

We left Monday 5/10 at 10 am and arrived in Rome (exhausted) at 9:30 am on Tuesday 5/11. But our journey wasn't finished. Sally had arranged for a driver to pick us up at the airport and drive us to the train station, where I easily bought first class tickets for Naples from the machine. Already it is clear I have not packed light enough. Sarah and Isaac each have a 21 inch suitcase, I have a 28 inch packed to the hilt, plus we each have a carry on and mine is way too heavy.

The train trip to Naples is very nice. We sleep. About two hours later we arrive in Naples where our journey is still not over. Sally made arrangements for another driver to meet us and take us to Sorrento. All these drivers walk very fast. We have a difficult time keeping up, because our luggage is so heavy and we are SO TIRED. He's very talkative and tells us all about the area. We can barely keep our eyes open. As we drive through a few tunnels to get to Sorrento, Isaac has already decided this is the coolest vacation we have ever taken.

Our hotel is the Hotel Villa Maria, on the corner of Via Capo. $150 a night for a triple. The first room they give us has one big double bed in it. By the time I went downstairs they've already realized the mistake and whisked the kids into a cute little room with 3 tiny beds. The bed is almost not big enough for my son. The kids have never seen a bidet and are grossed out when I tell them what it is for. Later when Sarah realizes the shower is too small to shave her legs she decides that is what the bidet is good for.

We have a little balcony that over looks the street below and you can see the bay and ocean. The kids are very happy except that Sarah's skating coach has given her some off ice exercises to stay in shape and she doesn't know where she can do her off ice axels.



Isaac has not slept since we left the hotel Monday am,
Sarah slept well on the plane. I gave her a headache pm pill but figured
someone needed to be alert so I only slept fitfully on the plane. In minutes Isaac is out. Sarah is ready to go out and do something and I'm beat. This will often happen on this trip --Isaac and Sarah on opposite ends and me somewhere in between. It;s about 5 pm so Sarah and I decide to shower and walk around Sorrento.

We stake out a reasonable place for dinner across the street. We check out the little shops, we find a place for gelato and an internet café. And most importantly - the bancomat( ATM.)


After our walk we came back and woke Isaac, otherwise he'd wake up too early. By the time he's up and showered, it's only 6:30--way too early for dinner in Italy. But we are starving and ready for bed. If we don't eat now, we'll go to sleep.

The place across the street, Café Rivage has people sitting out and enjoying drinks, but they are willing to serve us dinner. Isaac wants a pizza with pepperoni and doesn't believe Sarah and I when we tell him pepperoni is peppers. Finally the waiter tells him they are green, red and yellow vegetables and he decides on a prosciutto pizza. This will be the beginning of Isaac's love affair with prosciutto. Sarah gets the pepperoni pizza and I have the pasta special with tomato sauce, mushrooms, and yes, pepperoni.. We're so hungry that we agree to salads but we forgot that salads do not come before your meal here. The pasta was wonderful and I woofed it down, then dutifully ate my salad afterwards, but it wasn't that good. The kids loved their pizzas but were not interested in salad after that..