If there is a Hell, it is probably being an Amalfi coast bus driver.  Just being a rider was getting a little irritating.  I never rode the bus with people who thought it was a personal cab service before.  Interesting.

Anyway.  The best part of our time on the Amalfi coast besides spending Sharon’s birthday with her was staying at the Holiday House Gilda outside Positano.  I loved opening the kitchen door every morning to the most stunning ocean view.  It rained a lot, so I sat in the window and watched storms come and go.  It would be clear, then the storm would pass, then it would be sunny again.  This is how it went for many days. 

Staying there was like living with an Italian family for a few days.  The people who run the place were so wonderful.  We just completely fell in love with them.  Every day Rosa, Daniela and Gilda would make breakfast and talk to everyone.  They made us pancakes!  With syrup!  And fresh eggs every day.  I would never ask for pancakes in any hotel much less an Italian one, but believe me when someone puts them down in front of you, you just eat them. 

One morning, there was an Australian woman there with her husband and daughter, and it was her birthday but she did not know that the B and B people knew – Rosa had seen it on her passport when she checked in.  So at breakfast they brought out a cake and everyone sang.  You should have seen the look on the womans face, she was absolutely stunned and both she and her husband had tears in their eyes.  Plus we all got rum soaked cake for breakfast.  Awesome!

We also loved Giuseppe, Gilda’s husband, who would always bring us treats, including a bag of fresh balls of bufalo mozzerella, the last of which we ate today, with lemon infused olive oil on some crackers, overlooking the ruins of Pompeii.  Grazie mille, Giuseppe.

I felt like they were family when we left and I did not really want to leave.  It was a really special few days staying there.

Now we are in Pompei and we have been twice to the Scavi.  It is truly incredible, seeing all the vineyards and trees and plants mixed in with the ancient houses.  I am glad we went two days instead of one because we could not even do it all in two. 

It is our last night in Campania, so I guess we need to go and have some pizza… it has been an incredible couple of weeks here – the insanity and the glory of Naples, the beauty of the Amalfi coast… the ruins of Herculaneum and Pompei.  And still there is so much to do here. 

Tomorrow we head back to Rome and Colleen leaves Saturday.  Then I head north.  My energy is lagging a little, what with all those buses and ruins.  Perhaps some long train rides will rejuvinate me.

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