Wow.

We are back.  Back in the blessed United States.  We had such a good time but we had such a hectic 24 hours on our way home.   Sorry I didnt blog the last couple of days.  We stopped in Positano which is off the Almafi coast and didnt have internet there and then made a quick journey back to Rome to get on a plane and head back to Nashville.  

Our stop in Positano was a pretty hairy adventure.  We took an overnight train from Cinque Terra that started at 1:37 at night.   We had to leave Vernazza at 11:30 to go to a slightly larger town called La Spieza.  That was fine except for the fact that La Spieza got a little shade after midnight.  Tab and I hung out with some very silent families who were visibly trying to ignore the sleeping homeless people sleeping on the train platform.  But it was worth the discomfort to sleep overnight on the train all the way down to Naples.  Our train was pretty cool.  We had our own little bedroom on it that had a locking door and a guy who watched over us as we slept.  He also woke us up with hot coffee when we were about an hour away from Naples.  

The trip to Positano was pretty scenic except for the time we were in Naples.  Rick Steves warns about Naples because it is known for its thieves and pickpockets.  Over 1/3rd of the city’s adult male population is unemployed which leads to rampant petty crime.  With great apprehension we rode the rickety subway called the Circumvensuvia to the town of Sorrento.  From there, we took a bus over the mountains to Sorrento.  We stayed at a really cool Pensione called Pensione Maria Lousia.  Our host, Carlo Milo, was amazing.  He was so hospitable.  Our room had a balcony that overlooked the Mediterranean.    You can check them out here:  http://www.pensionemarialuisa.com/.  

If you ever get to go to Positano, you will find that the city is really quaint and built on a cliff overlooking the ocean.  Think Cinque Terra on a much larger scale.  Both on the size of the town and the size of the scenery.  It is the town that Robert Downey Jr. and Marissa Tomei go to in the movie Only You.  It is very beautiful.  But it is very steep.  We counted 414 steps from our Pensione to the beach.  

One of the coolest things was we bought sandwiches that evening from a local deli and ate them overlooking the sea.  Believe it or not, we finally got tired of pizza.  As we were heading down we heard this guy singing in a deep baritone from up around the corner.  We thought we were going to be crashing a private concert but it was just some random guy just bringing it.  He had one of the most incredible voices we have ever heard.  We just camped out right there and ate our sandwiches, watched the sea and listened to an amazing free concert.

We left Positano the next day by boat to go to Salerno.  We found out there that there is a Trenitalia train station in Salerno.  It is right across the street from the docks.  The trip that way is cheaper, shorter and safer.  The views from the boat are really beautiful.

Our trip back was pretty uneventful.  We went out one more time to Piazza Navona and the Pantheon when we got back to Rome.  Tabitha bought some cool shoes and we went to bed.  

The next morning at 6 AM Rome time, 11 PM Nashville time we got up to head home.  It was such a long flight.  We were up about 24 hours straight, minus some small naps on the plane.  It feels so good to be home though and in our own beds.  

Here are some pics of Positano.  

Jet lag is seeping in and I am about to crash.  I am going to post some more pictures tomorrow.  I have to edit them down in size and I just hit a wall.  Its great to be home though!