I Can't Get No, Satisfaction!

Well we actually didn't get to see the Pope this morning, I know he's pretty disappointed. We woke up around 10 or so and Gigi's luggage still hadn't been delivered. We went to talk to Max and he called the airport and told them to hold it and we'd come pick it up. We took a cab back to the airport and while Gigi was going through all the luggage shenanigans they were putting her through, my mom and I grabbed something to eat. Surprisingly the airport has fantastic food! I had strawberries and pasta salad and she had salmon. We got the luggage finally and grabbed a cab back into the city. Little did we know what we were getting ourselves into with our cab driver, Francesco. He seemed to be just another talkative Italian then he popped in his CD. He had about 20 recordings of himself singing American songs. It ranged from Elvis, to Mick Jagger, to Pink Floyd (his favorite because he mentioned them about 10 times). My personal favorite was when he sang, "These Boots were Made for Walking". But when he got into "Satisfaction" my mom and I got into it too. It seemed to describe the day perfectly haha.

When we got back we had enough time to go by Piazza Navona and shop around a little bit. I've been waiting to take my mom there because I knew how much she'd like it. We ended up getting a couple pieces of art and stopping for a bite. We stopped at this one place in the piazza that was famous for this ice cream creation. I had white chocolate truffle, and it was a ball of gelato-ish ice cream covered in white chocolate shavings with whipped cream and a cone drizzled with milk chocolate. Yum! We walked around a little more after that stopping at a bead shop then hopped on a bus back to the Residence.

Mom standing in front of the fountain in Piazza Navona

My favorite place in Rome

My white chocolate truffle yum!

Ladies! 

Then began our adventure to the Almafi coast! Kyle had rented a 9 person van to drive his family as well as mine to the Almafi Coast and Pompei the next day. We left around 4 on what we thought would be a 2 and a half hour drive. Pah. He drove as I navigated, truly testing my directional skills and Italian because the directions were in Italian. And let me tell you, the streets of Italy have crazy drivers, no lanes, no signs, and us. Getting out of Rome alone to get to the highway took an hour and a half. We were right in the midst of rush hour and we had to turn around at one point which took 30 minutes because of traffic. We had finally reached the highway on what we thought would bring easier navigating later on. The highway was a breeze and we were on it for about an hour and half. Then we hit Salerno. The directions took us through Salerno from one toll road to the next. Navigating the streets of Salerno at dusk was no easy task, the street signs weren't visible until the last second and even then they were almost impossible to see. We made it through unscathed, but then came Vietri Sul Mare. Again windy streets following confusing signs but we made it through and could almost taste the Almafi Coast! We reached a fork in the road following what we thought were the directions. We ended up in a little town on the coast with one way streets and absolutely no signs. We somehow ended up at a dirt road on a dead end right next to a cliff. We were trying to figure out how to turn around this monster of a van when a kind man came out of his house and helped direct the van then gave us some directions. We were trying to get to Ravello which is on the Almafi Coast and he pointed at little lights off in the distance up the rocky mountainous edge. Oh boy. His directions were, "Go leftttt leftttt, up, aroundddddd, aroundddddd, Ravello." Imagine this with a strong Italian accent and you can't help but giggle. Well thats what we had to work with. So we went lefttt lefttt. And up, and aroundddd. These were the windiest, smallest roads I had ever seen. Every time a car drove past us we held our breath. If I put my hand out the window on either side of the car I would either touch the rocks or get it chopped off by a passing vehicle. We even passed huge tour buses with inches between us. I was so proud of Kyle for handling these roads, I never would've been able to drive along them. And we drove and drove, not knowing how far we needed to go but we could see small towns and lights in the distance as it was about 9:30 at this point. I kept my eyes peeled for signs and eventually we reached Minori which is right before the Almafi Coast and where my hotel was. I was scanning signs on every building as quick as I could and out of the corner of my eye I saw the sign for "Villa San Michele". HOME. We pulled over on the side of the road and my mom, Gigi, and I hopped out with our bags as quick as we could. Kyle and his family were staying at a bed and breakfast not too far away up the mountain a little more in Ravello. We talked about when they were going to pick us up the next morning then headed to our humble abode for the night.

Never have I ever seen a more beautiful place. This is probably the 100th time I'm saying that on this trip but every place we've been has one-upped the next. The hotel was basically carved into the side of the rocky mountain. You enter at the street then walk down 200 steps leading to our room. Each level had lounge chairs, exotic flowers, lights, tables, and beautiful tiles. The concierge led us to our room down and down, until we reached one level. We walked around boulders popping out of the side of the wall to our room. We had a queen size bed and a twin. Thankfully my mom brought me ear plugs because she and Gigi snore. It was a chorus of snores throughout the night and they were off beat from each other so they took turns. Walking out onto our hugeee balcony we could overlook the water. It was the clearest blue I've ever seen even at night. We had a tree growing on our balcony and a lime tree right next to it. There was a tile bench, lounge chairs, a table and chairs and even more room to move around. I could not believe we were in a place like this, and I could not believe we were only there for one night.

One of the walkways of the hotel, gorgeous 

Walking down to another level 

No big deal, just walking by a boulder our hotel was built around

One of our beautiful views, the picture doesn't do it justice

 After dropping off our things and catching our bearings, we ventured off down the windy roads towards food. Almafi was only a km down the road so we started trekking. These roads are the same we had driven along, lacking width and anywhere for pedestrians to walk. At one point a huge tour bus and a car were driving past and I turn back to see my mom leaning over the stone wall to get out of the way, I couldn't help but crack up. We walked along single file until I could see a beach down below and what looked to be like an area with some restaurants. We found a small staircase which I could kind of read a sign for leading us down to the beach. The staircase popped us out right in a seafood restaurant that was open at 11 at night thankfully. We grabbed a table and met our waiter/restaurant owner Salvadore. He brought us free aperitif hinting at what would be a fantastic meal. We all ordered the white fish, which he said his restaurant was famous for, and gave us the option to pick out our fish on our own. We all turned down the offer. I didn't want to stare into the eyes of my dinner. I ordered the white fish with garlic and olive oil and it was incredible. I also had garlic bruschetta and a mixed salad and white wine of course. Throughout dinner we could see inside some karaoke going on. There was a man with a dj table and a mic singing along with whoever was up for it. It seemed to be a very local place, and all the people in the restaurant were friends or neighbors. We were probably 3 out of 10 that were there at this hour. After finishing our meal Salvadore was trying to convince us to do karaoke. Well I wasn't going to turn down an opportunity to do it a 3rd time was I? So my mom and I were handed mics and we asked for any song in English, there were two haha. The musical stylings of Elton John began to come through the speakers and my mom and I started off beat and off from each other singing "Your Song". The guy helped us out and sang a long a bit, and we got the hang of it. Musical talent does not run in our family. Before I knew it they started up "Stand By Me" making me sing again. My mom ran off and I was joined by an Italian woman named Osella. She wasn't bad but her pronunciation could've used some work haha. She and I looked to each other and I couldn't help giggling through parts of the song we messed up. I took my bow and rejoined the table hoping they weren't going to pull out anymore English songs. Salvadore brought us a free dessert which were these little creme puff chocolate balls which I'm convinced had rum somewhere in them. I truly will not forget this dinner.

Gigi and Mom!

Salvadore holding our dinner haha

Mom's white fish with lemon

Me and my girl Osella singing "Stand by Me"

 We walked back along those curved rocky roads to our home. Again having to stay as close as possible to that stone wall to not get run over. We made it back and got ready for bed. I walked out onto the porch admiring the scene once again and taking a mental picture. My mom attempted to help me get the ear plugs in and apparently I have really small ear canals. Every time she tried to roll it smaller and shove it in my ear it would just pop right back out. That gave way to some giggles haha. Eventually we shoved them in and fell asleep anxiously awaiting the morning to admire the view once again.

Almafi