I’ve been in Amalfi for 10 days now, 7 with the CDV group where we toured Pompeii, the Isle of Capri, Positano, Revello, a winery with grapevines that are 400 years old, the Blue Grotto, the Green Grotto, a Limoncello producer and had cooking classes where we made pasta, pizza and a number of side dishes. The group of ladies that did most of the cooking at the villa where we were staying were some of the funniest women I have been around in a long time. Three sisters, one niece and two friends. The oldest was Philomena and she reminded me of the woman who posed first on Calendar Girls where her son walked in. She had some of the best lines for the guys and was so quick with the retorts it was amazing. Not only was she a great sport but one of the best cooks around. Her daughter, Claudia and youngest sister, Lisa run Costa Tours in Minori which is the town right next to Amalfi so if you need to book an excursion look them up. The wifi at the villa above the Hotel Luna was a bit spotty and I was unable to blog from there most of the time. Rocky from CDV showed up on Thursday and gave us the trick to better wifi (keep the door to the closet where it is located on the bottom floor opened a crack).
As a follow up to my blog “The Court Jester”, I did go into town and bought a pair of baby bottle nipples, however, I decided to take the high road and did not use them during my toast. That however did not stop the jerk from shouting out a remark which I made sure fell flat. After I thanked our host for the week, Spartaco who was leaving us the next morning to host the Sicily tour he shouted out “If Spartaco told you you had a beautiful body would you hold it against him.?” Please remember Spartaco speaks English but does not always understand the intended meaning behind such phrases. I just kind of froze, stood there, whipped through all the retorts in my mind that I wanted to say and then yelled back “How ’bout those Red Soxs?” This shut down the crickets and everyone started laughing. Earlier in the week during dinner a lady in our group from South Africa brought up the US election and our candidates. Bob, the husband of Kathy (another wonderful lady) would every minute or so try to change the subject by shouting out “How ’bout those Red Soxs?” or “How about them Cowboys?”
Speaking of Bob and Kathy, the first cooking class really broke the ice for most of us. There was a lady from San Antonio and her friend in our group, Vickie and Terry. We were all in the kitchen putting our potatoes into the big pan of water and Vickie decided she wanted to take a picture so she puts her hands into what she thought was Terry’s pocket to grab her phone, instead it was Bob’s pocket. His eyes about fell out of his head when he turned to see Vickie instead of his wife. I thought poor Vickie was going to faint after she realized she had her hand in the wrong pants. So Vickie punches Terry on the arm and blames him for moving away. Terry is trying to defend himself when Kathy walks in and says “So that’s the way its going to be this week – is it?” We laughed so hard we cried, then a few hours later some other woman grabs onto Bob by mistake. It starts the laughing all over again when Kathy informs us that Bob is the shyest guy in the whole group. The following night we are at dinner, the only seat available is next to Bob so I make a point of telling him I won’t stick my hand in his pocket. Next thing I know we are having a group picture and I lean over and put my hand on his leg. I removed it as quickly as I could but it was too late – he shouts “Hey that’s my leg you just grabbed!” So now I’m as red as a beet and trying to make excuses. The rest of the ladies and I decided that Bob may be the shyest guy in the group but he has pheromones that are attracting all the ladies. Kathy then states “I was first blaming all of the ladies but now I’m not so sure that my Bob has been totally innocent in all of these happenings.” So of course I pop off and state what B.O.B. stands for and that starts the laughing all over again. I would go on vacation with everyone in the group again with the exception of her majesty and the court jester. Overall, ignoring them, we all had a great time.
Saturday after everyone left I went to the promenade in Amalfi and did some serious people watching. I loved seeing all of the older Amalfi gentlemen get together and talk, I could almost understand what they were saying just from their hand gestures alone. The most important note from watching people for most of the day is the fact that from the youngest to the oldest of the people from Amalfi they all know one another not only by name but as friends and family. It was like watching a huge family get together. I checked into my Airbnb place which I already stated is 267 steps up from the main street. Well, my large bag had to have weighed at least 70 pounds and the porter carried it up the steps on his back. I didn’t feel so bad and out of shape when I saw that he had to also stop several times to catch his breath. However, instead of paying him 7 euros a bag for his service I paid him 35 euros. I carried my smaller bag more than halfway up and I figured it was worth every euro for his help.
Sunday I was fortunate enough to be invited back to the villa above the Hotel Luna to have lunch with the new group with CDV. They are a reunion group having met 4 years ago this is their 3rd trip with CDV so they all know one another. They are a great group of people and you can tell have had a lot of fun together over the past few years since they met. They’ve held 3 parties in the US for the group and it sounds like they all stay in touch. After lunch I headed back to my place to grab my cameras so I could take pictures of the Regatta Race. This race is between crews from Amalfi, Genova, Venezia and Pisa. It is preceded by a historical parade where each town has participants dressed in the era of when the ports of Italy were the most important in the world. After having a shot of limoncello after lunch when I got back to my place I pretty much passed out so I overslept for a large part of the parade. I was fortunate enough to be in the right place when new barriers were moved however and got to see the entire group parade from the church to the port. I have some great pics that I hope to download onto the blog in the near future. Then after that portion of the parade I headed up the street toward the hotel to see if I could meet up with the CDV group. It started to rain pretty heavily and most people moved off the side of the cliff area that drops to the mediterranean so I took advantage with my umbrella and again was in the right place. I had a great view of the finish line for the race and was able to get great pictures of the Amalfi team crossing the finish line first.
Yesterday, I decided to go up to Agerole (Bomerano) and walk the Path of the Gods. However, I pulled a dumb blonde move and got off the bus too early. Thinking the town cannot be that much farther up the mountain I began to walk up hill to the Bomerano square. One and half hours later walking uphill on a winding road with no sidewalks trying not to get hit by the cars, scooters, trucks and buses going by I finally reached the town. After I found the square I inquired where to buy a return bus ticket so I went to the bakery, bought a pastry, water and bus ticket and took the first bus back to Amalfi. I may try again tomorrow since I now know where to get off for the trail to walk. Today I recovered from my 4 mile walk uphill on the beach with a sunbed, umbrella and bottle of water.
Just another day and a half in Amalfi left, I leave early on Thursday morning to go back to France. It’s hard to believe but I have less than two weeks before I will be in Texas again. I am looking forward to seeing my son, I miss him most of all.
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