When The Moon Hits Your Eyes

(What do you think the boy is looking at?)

The Holiday Inn Naples was a great place to recharge and plan out the next destination. I did have a pizza in Naples, the birthplace of pizza. As many of you know, pizzas in Italy are very different than the pizzas we are used to. They are thinner and have a great deal less cheese. I had to ask for meat on top because none of the menu options included meat (I know I shouldn't have, but I didn't have anything to eat all day).

The next morning I got up and took a train to a town near Amalfi. The person at the train station in Naples said it was no problem to get to the town of Amalfi from the station. They didn't inform me about the 100 or so stairs down to the bus stop to get to Amalfi. 100 stairs and a lot of questions to random people on the street later I got on the bus to Amalfi. Amalfi is located between mountains and the ocean. The only way to get to it if you don't have a car is yacht, helicopter, or bus. The road to Amalfi is close to scary. It was built many, many years ago and I would call it a 3/4 lane road. The turns are dramatic and only intensified due to a thin wall between you and a fall off a cliff. Motorcycles and taxis speed by and every turn seems like a magic trick. Add Amalfi bus driver to your most stressful jobs list. I made it safely to Amalfi.

Amalfi is a very small, enchanting (a word I use sparingly, unless in discussing the Disney classic) town. I walked across the street from the bus stop which was essentially next to one of the only beaches in Amalfi and found my hotel. My hotel was literally on the Duomo Square. Here is a video giving you a basic tour of the square (I'm really sorry it is sideways, I am used to the camera function which can do both! Sorry.):



So basically my room was right in the middle of everything. This was mostly good because I could see everything very easily, but the noise from the square was a bit much. Also, Orbitz advertised the hotel to have wireless internet in every room...not so much. I asked the very nice clerk about the internet and he laughed and told me to walk 100 meters up the hill to get internet. Charming, but I let Orbitz know about false advertising. In the end they gave me a $50 credit. Not bad.

(Sorry a little photography fun with the same scene just adjusting different stuff)
As you saw the square has a beautiful fountain surrounded by quaint gelato and lemon slush stores. The Amalfi area is known for having the best lemons in the world. The most interesting thing about the fountain in the middle of town square is the lady in the middle. The miracle of the endless lactation as I think of her. She has a constant stream of clean Italian water flowing constantly out of, well, chest... It is well know that in Italy, if you see a fountain, fill up your water bottle because the water is cold and clean. I watched children, adults, even local police officers help themselves from the fountains, but of course this tempted the immature side of me (which is 90% of me) to feed from the gift bestowed upon the lady on the fountain. I resisted, but just when I did a older man did this:



I don't feel quite so immature anymore.

The first evening I had a pasta dinner and a glass of wine in the square before heading for bed. The next morning I got up and went straight to the beach to enjoy the sun. A very comfortable lounger, umbrella, and towel were 10 euro. I got my money worth by reading/swimming for 6 hours. When I had my fill of sun I rushed back to get cleaned up in my "suite." I barely made the last trip to the Emerald Grotto.

The Emerald Grotto is an pristine cave found by fishermen in the 30's. It is called the emerald cave because of an opening deep under the water that lets light in giving the entire cave an emerald color. It was pretty impressive and the boat that took me out to the cave caught two fish on the way back. Well worth the trip.

I still had 20 minutes before the Duomo closed so I charged up the steps to embrace the history and beauty of the building...I also wanted to see what all of the loud bells were all about. Evidently this is THE place to get married in Europe. That explained the bells. What I didn't know before my tour was that the Duomo is the final resting place of the Disciple Andrew. It was a moving experience to pray there. No pictures are allowed inside.

I walked around the town some more and finally got a pizza and a peroni and returned to the room. I sat down with the tourist office and figured out I had to take the 5:15 am bus to Salerno with 10 minutes to get to the train station and get on the train...It was way too much fun for before 9 am. I'll leave out the details, but I did it. I will say Italy needs to work on its signage. I traveled from 5:15 to getting into Cannes, France at 9:49 PM with 4 connections. I accidentally took this picture, but this is about how it goes:

Thank you Eurail pass. The entire journey cost 6 euros for reservations. I spent the time helping old ladies with their lead filled bags, sleeping, reading, and watching Dexter. I only did this stuff when it was obvious the other travelers were not interested in talking or didn't speak English.

(Sunrise over Salerno-beautiful)

I found my way from the train station in Cannes to my hotel fairly easily. Cannes is a mini-Los Angeles. Everyone hear is dressed to impress and it feels like everyone here are models. I'm staying at the Hotel Anna Livia in central Cannes. I'm about two blocks from the beach and right in the middle of the nice restaurants and clubs...too bad nothing here fits into my budget. My A/C didn't work last night, but the desk clerk got me a small fan which worked for the night. Today they put a massive A/C unit in my room. It is finally cool in here (For the price I'm paying I'm amazed they did anything). I passed out pretty easily last night after traveling all day. This morning I slept in and hit the beach. A lounger and an umbrella cost 7 euros here. I must say in terms of the beach points game I lost a ton of points. The beach was like watching the movie Calendar Girls without anything censored... I learned a good bit about gravity today. It hurts my eyes. I spent about 4 hours in the sun reading/ swimming.

I have a theory the Mediterranean has more salt than other oceans I've been in which I think makes a person float more. I swam some laps today and I  can lift out of the water easily doing the butterfly. Also, I can just stay still and naturally just float up to the top. In the Atlantic I would be at the bottom of the ocean. Another observation, reading after swimming my skin starting feeling tough and I looked at my body to find actual grains of salt had formed on me. I looked like a pretzel. One last thing, I'm reading "The Passage." Great book so far.

After the beach i walked around a bit. Cannes really flourishes due to the famous film festival one week in May. It is incredible how much that one week impacts the place year round. You can find all of the expensive stores within about 4 blocks. I walked past the Ritz Carlton Cannes and wow... First of all the hotel is beautiful. The second thing I noticed was a Ferrari parked in front with a sign. You could rent it for 60 minutes for 440 euros= about $565. Crazy. The hotel had its own dock for yachts. I looked at the menu for the restaurant and almost everything was around 50 euros= $65. I had a nice talk with my Dad today and he told me I should get a drink there tomorrow...we'll see. It will destroy my budget, but I'm sure it will be an experience.

After seeing the 5 star hotel I walked back to my...what claims to be a 2 star hotel to get cleaned up and work out how to get to Barcelona on the 5th. I was excited to get an e-mail from my former boss who has family in Spain that she will be in Madrid amazingly when I am there with her husband, a really great Tejas alumnus. It will be really great to see them.

I kept things simple this evening by booking my Barcelona ticket and getting simple stuff for dinner from the grocery store. I have to make room for that one drink at the Ritz tomorrow.

Thanks to all those that have given me kind words on the blog. It is tough to keep up, but it helps to hear it isn't boring. I hope to hear all about your travels when I'm sitting behind a desk very soon. Again, please e-mail me with any places I should check out or things I should do. Hope all is well back home and Hook 'Em tomorrow against Rice.