Last days of our greatest adventure!

Sorry I dropped the ball on the blog for the last few days in Italy. I was really trying to just soak it all in, and enjoy what time I had left. First off, I really want to thank all of you for following along, even the critics have been thoroughly entertaining, and have helped me with their amazing and in depth grasp of the English language. But honestly, thanks for all the kind words and encouragement. I was obviously never a great student, so I'm glad the majority of you were able to read through my poor grammar and spelling. On to the story!

On Friday, September 18th. we planned on sleeping in and then taking a bus down the Amalfi coast to Positano, another Cliff side village with a nice beach at the base. Shortly after my last post, Allison and I received a call from Lynda telling us, there are no buses, because a cruise ship in port took them all hostage for the day... bummer! There's the culprit, to the right! Lynda and Steve decided to hop a boat to the island of Capri, and invited us along. We decided to have a lazy day and bum around the pool, which is Oceanside, and drink Pina Coladas like the silly American travelers we are.. What's one day? ha ha.

After sitting around the pool and having drinks, we decided to get lunch next to the hotel. It was more like a dinner. Once again we had octopus, Mussels, clams, and risotto. (B.T.W., I didn't gain any weight on the trip, we all look pretty great after all that eating. Oops, there's that pesky ego again) Once again we had the house wine, but we tried white this time. I think it was 8 Euro for a liter, and better than anything you get, for around $30 at a restaurant in the U.S. After lunch we strolled around the town, looking for souvenirs and gifts to bring back, which was silly, because we didn't have room. Sorry everyone : (.. Later we ran into The Capri crew, who had a nice time but really didn't get what they were looking for. They can tell you more about it, in the comments, if they choose. Later we had another great meal and ended the night at a bar ran by Louie Depalma, from Taxi. He made great drinks, sold awful Grappa, and sold posters off the wall, what a character. May be hungover tomorrow..

The following day, we woke up and hit the bus station in hopes to catch a bus down to Positano... Success!! We had a half hour to spare, so we went to the local market to get stuff for a picnic lunch. here's the list: 2 blocks of cheese, a Salami, 2 bottles of wine, 2 bottles of water, a bunch of grapes and 2 loafs of focaccia bread.. How much do you suppose that would cost in the U.S.? Good wine, don't forget! 25 Euro...Yeah 25 Euro total! And everything was high quality! We boarded the bus, and set off for a crazy ride! Cliff side roads which would be small for a compact car, and buses flew on this thing. I'm not afraid of heights, but at times I would look out the window and straight down 100's of feet. It was a lot of fun, very pretty, and very scary all at once. At one point a lady screamed and Allison laughed at her.. Poor thing. Real nice Allison. We soon arrive in Positano, and like every place else, completely stunning. Another coastal town built into a cliff, with tons of multicolor homes, churches and a really nice little beach. We get off the bus and begin a 1000 step staircase to the bottom of the cliff to grab a spot on the beach. We finally make it down to the beach and find a few beach chairs with umbrellas, then run into the water, we were all really hot after the long walk down. When you get to the water edge it was a small rocks hill, which made the water dip from 2 feet to 15 feet in a few steps. The water was warm but refreshing, I could have easily stayed in it all day. With further inspection we realized the rocks were speckled with sea glass, tons of it. So after our perfect lunch, we all sat on the shore looking for sea glass, sound pretty lame right? It really was relaxing and fun. Don't forget, we were in the Mediterranean sea, we were surrounded by the most amazing beauty, and the water was so comfortable. After a great day at the beach, we were ready to head back and have some wine our balcony's.

There was an amazing lightning storm in the distance, across the bay over Naples that night. It was quite a sight, and great way to end the day/trip. We all knew this was the end of our trip, since the following day would be a drive into Naples, dinner and then an early flight home. And that's exactly what it was.. I near flawless trip! I can't think of a better way to end this trip, it almost seemed scripted for us. I had an amazing time, and couldn't have asked for a better group to go with. I originally made this blog to keep the memories written down, and to share the experience with everyone who cared to do so. I think it's become much more than that to me. With all the great feed back and input, whether through email, word of mouth, and comments on here, I really feel inspired to continue travelling and continue blogging about it. Obviously I don't mean career, although who wouldn't love that? I think I've picked up a hobby I really enjoy, and hope to continue for years to come.

Check back occasionally, I hope to post about concerts, restaurants, and the little adventures in between. Allison and I have already talked about taking a trip to Napa, Sonoma, and Lodi California in the very near future.

A special thanks to Steve, Lynda and Allison, for allowing me to join them on their adventure. You were all so great, and made me feel so welcome. I hope to have more adventures with you.

I would also like to thank My Dad for driving us to and from the Airport in Boston, you're the best! Next time maybe you'll join me on the trip instead of reading it on your computer! Let's get that boat..

And once again, thanks to My mom, Jen, Lori, Rich, Pete, Mimi, Joe, Marcel, Erin and Judd, Althea, KO, Doug, Nick, Mel, Jacki, Ted, Jessica, and Friends of PF, for all your great or uncalled for comments.. Also thanks to the rest of you who quietly followed or mentioned it in person.. Ciao

Check www.flickr.com/photos/bovs00 I'm going to make a set of my favorite photos, and I hope to have all the Nigro's photos up there soon..

Day 11 or Day 3 in Sorrento, Volcanos and ancient ruins

As I said, we're into the relaxation part of the trip. Today we slept in, and plan on heading to the beach, that's our only plan. The weather is looking great so far, it should be about 82 and clear sky's. We'll be taking a bus down the Amalfi coast to a beach that sounds really nice.

The trip from Rome to Sorrento was fun, I drove about 3/4 of the way. Most of which was highway, but there doesn't seem to be a maximum speed. The signs are posted with Minimums for each lane. The high was are wide with nice straight aways for the most part, and truck tend to stay in the right lane. We passed through Naples on our way to Sorrento, and and was very dirty and congested looking. In the pictures from our trip to Mont Vesuvius, you can see some shots of it. After we passed through Naples we got dumped onto some very narrow busy streets, you need to drive aggressive, and you quickly realize there aren't many rules. I actually had a real lot of fun. We eventually reach our hotel, which sits on the water in a tiny section of fishing village.

Sorrento is about the size of Portsmouth NH. Lots of shops and restaurants which leads to a few small marinas, where fisherman head just off shore to net Sardines and the catches of the day. A few menus just say "1 fish" which changes daily depending on the catch, you can't get fresher than that. It's a very nice little town, seems to be a lot more locals and less tourists, so it's been a nice change.

Yesterday we took a day trip to Mont Vesuvius and Pompeii. It was a 30 minute train ride to Pompeii and an hour bus trip to Mont Vesuvius. The ride up Vesuvius was really beautiful, the views were spectacular. Naples actually looked really nice, nestled against some mountains and lead to the Mediterranean Sea. The bus driver pointed out the Canyon created by the Eruption lava which spilled down the side. We eventually arrived at a staging area where you start the walk to the top. The walk up was mostly soil surrounded by volcanic rock. It was a very steep but quick hike to the top, less than a half hour. At the top you can look into the top, The crater was gigantic. You could make out the different layers of rock and see steam seeping out. It was a very cool sight and also scary to think it's natural.

After that, we hopped the bus back to Pompeii, so we could stroll around the ruins a bit before heading back to the hotel. Pompeii is dated pre-Christ, so I really wasn't sure what to expect, history is very interesting to me, but I really have a hard time with dating civilization. At any rate, the ruins were spectacular, and in surprisingly great condition. They have been doing a lot of work preserving and restoring some of the areas. The streets were truly impressive, cobbles stones streets with curbs and sidewalks. A lot of the side walks still had tiles and marble on them. Some of the stores still had oven like structures and artwork painted on the walls. Really amazing stuff. There were a few theaters and a Colosseum. I couldn't believe the shape these were in, what a great place. They say it takes a week to see everything there is to see, we saw about 2 hours worth and were wiped out. Time to head back to the hotel enjoy some happy hour, then get dinner. Big day of sun and sea ahead of us.

I hope all is well with everyone! You're all missed. The Nigros say the same. We're on our last few days and going to make the most of them. Thanks for following, I thing the rest of my updates may be filled with "we relaxed here" "we ate this" and "we drank that" Talk to you soon.