Ravello, Sorrento, and Capri - 9/25
Note: these were written up in the past week, but I'm posting them now. So no, I'm currently not in Italy (sadly).
My personal idea of hell has now changed. It is: riding in a van for an hour along the Amalfi coastline, where the twists and turns strive to emulate Lombard Street, except for 50-some miles. After a stint of trying desperately not to throw up, we then spent a little time in Sorrento, only to find all the stores closed. Then, we boarded a boat to get to Capri, amidst extremely choppy water, and I tried very hard not to throw up again.
Thankfully, we're safely ensconed in the hotel room now. The weather is still grey and windy, but at least I am on stable ground. My mom's eyes lit up as we walked to the hotel. The tiny streets here are crowded with tourists, but instead of the standard tourist-y stores (though there are those as well), I've already walked past Furla, Ferragamo, Dolce & Gabbana, Valentino, and Robert Cavalli, just to name a few, and that's just been in the last three blocks to the hotel.
(some time after)
And now, we are back after having walked around the city a bit. It has even more alleys and backstreets and twists than I had previously thought, some of which are so narrow that I can reach out my arms and touch both walls. Everything here seems quite expensive and high end, although there are probably a good deal of restaurants that are within my price range. Dinner was ok, though not remarkable, and my dad was quite disappointed by the wine.
It's not to hard to tell when my dad is profoundly disappointed in wine. When the waiter poured him a glass, my dad did the whole swishy glass thing, then took about a minute sloshing the wine around in his mouth with his nose in the air.
"Ordinary," he pronounced in Chinese.
"Okay," he said to the waiter, nodding his head in indication that it was fit to be served.
Unsurprisingly, my dad the wine freak has already bought two bottles in the three days we've been here. And if having wine at every meal weren't enough -- the hotels here serve champagne at breakfast -- we ended up going back to the hotel room to open one of those bottles of wine, so my dad and his friend (my mom's friend's husband) could wash the bad taste of the other wine out.
We kept losing my mom and her friend to the various clothing stores and jewelry stores around here, so finally, my sister and I ran on ahead to the gelato place that seemed very popular.
Although they wouldn't let us try any flavors (booooo), the gelato indeed warranted the lines that we had seen earlier in the day. I got chocolate and hazelnut (eat the two together and you get Nutella!) while my sister got strawberry and yogurt. The yogurt was quite good, light and tangy, but the chocolate was great, rich and dark, but not too creamy or overpowering. But the best part was the waffle cone, which had been freshly made. It was crunchy and a little sweet and just the right texture, and me and the sister person have both decided that we obviously must go by that place every day.
My mom's friend and her husband got ahead of us; while they had gone to get water, they came back to the hotel with a second cone.
I've already seen two or three restaurants tucked away that I want to go to.
Hopefully, tomorrow won't rain, and there won't be any bumpy car rides, bumpy boat rides, or really much of any sort of transportation that doesn't involve my own two feet.
My personal idea of hell has now changed. It is: riding in a van for an hour along the Amalfi coastline, where the twists and turns strive to emulate Lombard Street, except for 50-some miles. After a stint of trying desperately not to throw up, we then spent a little time in Sorrento, only to find all the stores closed. Then, we boarded a boat to get to Capri, amidst extremely choppy water, and I tried very hard not to throw up again.
Thankfully, we're safely ensconed in the hotel room now. The weather is still grey and windy, but at least I am on stable ground. My mom's eyes lit up as we walked to the hotel. The tiny streets here are crowded with tourists, but instead of the standard tourist-y stores (though there are those as well), I've already walked past Furla, Ferragamo, Dolce & Gabbana, Valentino, and Robert Cavalli, just to name a few, and that's just been in the last three blocks to the hotel.
(some time after)
And now, we are back after having walked around the city a bit. It has even more alleys and backstreets and twists than I had previously thought, some of which are so narrow that I can reach out my arms and touch both walls. Everything here seems quite expensive and high end, although there are probably a good deal of restaurants that are within my price range. Dinner was ok, though not remarkable, and my dad was quite disappointed by the wine.
It's not to hard to tell when my dad is profoundly disappointed in wine. When the waiter poured him a glass, my dad did the whole swishy glass thing, then took about a minute sloshing the wine around in his mouth with his nose in the air.
"Ordinary," he pronounced in Chinese.
"Okay," he said to the waiter, nodding his head in indication that it was fit to be served.
Unsurprisingly, my dad the wine freak has already bought two bottles in the three days we've been here. And if having wine at every meal weren't enough -- the hotels here serve champagne at breakfast -- we ended up going back to the hotel room to open one of those bottles of wine, so my dad and his friend (my mom's friend's husband) could wash the bad taste of the other wine out.
We kept losing my mom and her friend to the various clothing stores and jewelry stores around here, so finally, my sister and I ran on ahead to the gelato place that seemed very popular.
Although they wouldn't let us try any flavors (booooo), the gelato indeed warranted the lines that we had seen earlier in the day. I got chocolate and hazelnut (eat the two together and you get Nutella!) while my sister got strawberry and yogurt. The yogurt was quite good, light and tangy, but the chocolate was great, rich and dark, but not too creamy or overpowering. But the best part was the waffle cone, which had been freshly made. It was crunchy and a little sweet and just the right texture, and me and the sister person have both decided that we obviously must go by that place every day.
My mom's friend and her husband got ahead of us; while they had gone to get water, they came back to the hotel with a second cone.
I've already seen two or three restaurants tucked away that I want to go to.
Hopefully, tomorrow won't rain, and there won't be any bumpy car rides, bumpy boat rides, or really much of any sort of transportation that doesn't involve my own two feet.