Date: Sun, 25 Dec 2005 08:52:23 -0800 (PST)
Subject: Buon giorno e buon natale
Buon giorno,
Buon natale (merry christmas) to all!
I'm back in Europe for the sixteenth time -- this time to Italy. I flew here on
Friday, and the last two days have been spent driving from Napoli to Sorrento
to Positano to Amalfi to Salerno to Cosenza -- along the Amalfi coast and then
down the western coast of the country. Now I'm in the town of Cosenza, which
will be my base for the next two days as I drive along the "boot" and "heel" of
the country.
The coastal raod has been one of the most scenic oceanside roads I've ever
driven on! But I'll get to that later...
The flight was scenic too. From San Francisco to Dallas, we went over the
snow-covered Sierras. To you bay area skiing enthusiasts, its a good time to go
to Lake Tahoe right now! Nice view of Mono Lake from my window... then across
Nevada and Northern Arizona/Southern Utah -- I could recognize I-15 and the red
rocks just to the east... very near or above Zion and Bryce National Parks....
and then across New Mexico. Again I could make out the red cliffs that I've
seen so many times from I-40 near Gallup and Grants, NM. Looking at those, I
wished I hadn't flown this holiday but had taken a cross-country roadtrip ---
like the "good ole days". Was reminded of my song "I'm driving through New
Mexico" (to the tune of "I'm dreaming of a White Christmas").
Well, the flight was 10 minutes late in leaving San Francisco but arrived in
Dallas 25 minutes early. And for a flight arriving at DFW so early, our gate
was actually unoccupied! Amazing! There was enough time for a stop at the new
Terminal D admirals club -- one of my favorites -- and then the
B777-international flight to London Gatwick. Flew right over Detroit and
Toronto but both cities were under thick clouds. So I fell asleep and woke up
over Ireland.
Aaaah, beautiful Ireland. With the night lights at Cork.
I took some pictures of the sunrise over England, just before landing. After
that was a quick hop across the channel and over the beautiful but probably
un-driveable snow-covered Alps into Italy...
Napoli airport. Where this email began...
My rental car is an Opel Corsa -- no Mercedes this time -- and it's perfect for
Italian roads! About 3/4th the size of my car, it can get in and out of tight
places with ease, and I needed that yesterday!
The Saturday drive was from Napoli to Sorrento (repeat from a previous trip),
then Sorrento to Positano (new).
Picturesque. I've uploaded all my pictures to the webpage so you can see them
right now. Absolutely gorgeous! The pictures speak for themselves, so all I'll
say here is that this road KEPT ME AWAKE! I had read on some online blogs that
if you can drive along this road, you can drive anywhere in Italy (and
therefore, the world!)... Some sections reminded me of Hana Highway in Maui,
and the whole road is very much like Hwy 1 along the California coast, except
the drivers are India-style! But I survived to write this :-)
The motel in Positano was overlooking the sea. That statement is a little
unfair because really EVERY building in Positano overlooks the sea! The entire
town is built on the cliffs, and aside from the one-way main road that zig-zags
through town, all other "streets" are actually stone staircases. With TALL
steps. I only went down 120 and came back up those 120 but I had had enough of
that! "Dinner" on christmas eve consisted of 4 bananas, 2 bags of breadsticks,
1/2 a bag of chocolate wafers, and 1 bottle of water. Coincidentally, my lunch
today on Christmas day was most of the same.
But this has been a long email and I'll leave today's story for the next
one....
http://www.callmewanderer.com/eur0506/
Ciao!
Out the window while landing at London Gatwick:
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On the road from Naples to Sorrento and then to Positano:
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