Italy Vibes

So if we are friends on Facebook you may have seen my carefully curated minimal selection of photos that I’ve shared from my recent trip to Italy. You may even, perhaps, have thought, OMG, how many more of these is she gonna share?? Or you may have simply fumed, I don’t have the kinda time to go through all of these, lady!

Yeah. Sorry about that.

But trust me. I could have posted a whole lot more.

 

When you have everyone in the group sharing photos with one another, it’s a lot. (And by “everyone in the group” I mean, at one point, there were twenty-four of us. That’s a whole lotta picture-taking going on.)

Except for Joe. He lost his phone before we even arrived. He spent a couple of days prior to our arrival with his two younger kids, Stella and Joey, in Tropea, which is in Calabria in the southern region of Italy. And let’s just say Joe had to make a decision about jumping from the rocks into the Tyrrhenian Sea and thus destroying his phone – or being a hero.

He chose being a hero. Good dad.

Anyway, I digress.

I have been busily going through all the photos and saving the best ones on my external hard drive for safekeeping. Or infamy. But either way, it has been a little tough to sit at my computer even longer to start bangin’ out blog entries.

I’ve actually been doing other things, too, since I’ve been back. Like recovering from jet lag, which gets harder and takes longer the older I get. And visiting with friends (so I can share even more photos than I’ve shared on social media). And reading my book club book, which must be finished before 2 pm tomorrow. Eek.

Oh. And trying desperately not to contract the evil Cyclospora parasite that is affecting way too many people in my neck o’ the woods right now. Explosive diarrhea? Yeah, I think I’ll do my best to avoid that little situation, thankyouverymuch.

Sadly, though, I’m too afraid to eat my favorite summer salad, which is filled with strawberries and blueberries and grilled chicken and all sorts of yumminess. I don’t know that my lettuce- and fruit-washing skills are up to the task since sandblasting it will surely shred the lettuce and annihilate the berries.

 Ah well. I guess not eating will give me a little more time to (hopefully) finish this blog.

 So let me just start by saying, my trip to Italy was ah-mazing. I had the best time – from beginning to end!

 Were there a few snafus? Glitches? Missed ferries? Oh, you betcha! But when you’re with a big group, it’s sort of like herding cats – you’re gonna miss a few every once in a while and mayhem is likely to ensue.

But I’ll talk more in detail about those, uh, incidents later.

 

We started out in Rome and then drove down the Amalfi coast past Sorrento and into a cute little hamlet called Massa Lubrense, where we stayed for the first five days in a gorgeous Airbnb villa.

By the way, I just Googled Massa Lubrense to learn that it has a population of about 14,000. So, see? Cute. And definitely not a bustling metropolis. But a perfect landing spot from which to take day trips to places like Sorrento and Capri.

At this point there were twelve of us staying at the villa while Joe's oldest son, Luca and his girlfriend Lauren were staying at their own Airbnb down the hill a short drive away. Well, I suppose one could walk. But not this one. My knees are doing great, but I’m definitely not yet Superwoman who is able to scramble up and down hills in Italy without breaking into a major sweat.

 

Oh, who am I kidding? Had I attempted the hike (as most of the group did one afternoon), they would’ve had to call Italy’s version of 9-1-1 in order to locate me in a ditch off the cobblestones somewhere and attempt to resuscitate me.

 

But we had an incredible time in Massa Lubrense. Our first dinner was at La Torre Ristorante, One Fire, which was a short walk from our villa, and sort of set the stage for the rest of our trip. I thoroughly enjoyed every moment and smiled through much of it – from the welcome we received (mostly due to the owner’s remembrance of Nick, Joe and their family and friends who were there last year). 

And they welcomed those of us who hadn’t been along for the ride last year as well – kissing both cheeks with great enthusiasm and ushering us to a long table outside under the stars. The meal was delicious and we ate, drank, laughed and sang Italian songs with the owner, Tonino Mazzola, after dinner. 

 

The next day we hung out in the infinity pool at the villa, which was perfection. Some of us brought our floaties from home so we could laze around in the warm water and look out over the hills toward Capri. Some of us did not bring those floaties back home so we had a little extra room in our suitcases for the bottles of wine and limoncello and souvenirs we brought back with us.

 

Speaking of which, I am now a convert on the whole lemon-Amalfi Coast thing. Every time I see something lemon-related, I want it. And I’m not generally a “decorate in yellow” kind of person. Go figure. I guess the Amalfi coast vibe got to me.

By the way, let me just tell you about our drive from Rome to the Amalfi coast. Yeah, I’m kind of jumping around a bit. It’s hard to be linear on a trip of this magnitude.

There were nine of us in Rome who planned to head down to Massa Lubrense together. Nick, Beth, their three daughters, Milana, Lili and Avi, friends Dave and Bonnie and Charisse and yours truly. We were all going to meet up at the train station because the thought was that two of us would take the train from Rome to Naples, where Joe would pick us up and drive the rest of the way south to Massa Lubrense. And Nick et al would take our luggage so we didn’t have to wrestle with our bags on the train.

Easy enough, right?

Yeah, not so fast there, Skippy.

Charisse and I ubered to the train station with our bags and found a restaurant at the end of the station to hang out in while we waited for Dave and Bonnie to get themselves to the station – and the rest of the crew to get from the airport with their newly acquired rental van (which is another long story in itself. If you know Nick and Beth, ask them about it sometime!)

But…herding cats – right? Dave and Bonnie got lost in the train station. Apparently, it’s way bigger than it looks from the entrance Charisse and I landed in compliments of our Uber driver. Dave and Bonnie’s driver let them off in another time zone and they had to use a satellite map to find us.

Which they did. Eventually. They ordered lunch just about the same time Nick arrived with Avi to collect our luggage and start the Jenga-esque maneuvering to get all the bags into the back of the van.

Nick stated that he thought all nine of us could fit into the van and nobody would need to take the train to Naples.

Ohhh-kay. I wasn’t sure I believed it, but I was certainly willing to give it a shot.

Meanwhile, we were standing outside the van while Nick sweated with the suitcase situation when a waiter from the restaurant we had just left ran up to us. He had in his hand 50 euros in bills that had dropped out of my pocket (in anticipation of using that money for the train tickets).

None of us could believe that someone would be so honest and kind and it took us all a little by surprise. But, as Nick said, it restored our faith in humanity. Especially since, as tourists, you hear a lot about the pickpockets in Rome and other big cities in Europe.

 

Once the bags were all stowed in the back, the nine of us somehow Jenga-esqued our bodies into the van, and we were on our way. I’m not sure who was the most uncomfortable, but I’m willing to bet it was Charisse who was in the middle in the front seat and got her left knee smacked by the gear shift every time Nick had to shift gears.

 

Fortunately, we had a pit stop or two where we could unfold ourselves into relatively upright positions and walk into the Autogrill, Italy’s version of a 7-11, which by the way, is wayyy better than any 7-11 I’ve ever seen. One could order pizzas, baked to order, and pasta dishes and paninis, oh my! And every version of sweet or salty snack item one could want. I had to laugh when I saw a massive tub of potato chips – and then bought it for the group during our stay at the villa. I figured someone at some point might fancy a chip. Or ten.

 

The only question was where we were going to store this tub of chips as well as our other culinary delights in the van as space was at a premium. But somehow we managed.

 

As we got closer to Sorrento, the beauty of the countryside was mesmerizing. Or at least to those of us who had never been there before. It was incredible, particularly since we were quickly coming upon the golden hour with the sun just beginning its descent.

 

Just then, Nick announced we were stopping for a photo op – and a limoncello spritz. 

He had a conversation in Italian with a roadside vendor who fixed us all up with drinks – and then we proceeded to take photos – of us, the countryside, the setting sun and the vendor himself. Nick gave him a 50-cent piece to thank him for his kindness to our large group - and the vendor, in turn, gave Nick and Beth a couple of magnets to remember him by.

This is when I learned that Nick and Joe bring half-dollars (I think they’re Kennedy half-dollars, but I’m not positive) with them on their trips to Italy to give away to waiters, shopkeepers and other folks in Italy as a way of thanking them for exceptional service – or just for being good people. 

Thus, Nick and Joe are remembered. It’s either that – or it's the fact that they’re twins that’s memorable. Or perhaps they're remembered because they bring a massive group with them every time they travel to Italy.

Regardless, they do get remembered. It happened in Florence the following week when we stopped for lunch.

 

But that is a story for another day.

 

Stay tuned…