Sorrento: The Sequel

Wednesday, April 7th and Thursday, April 8th

We woke up, packed up and started to make our way to the train/bus station so that we could hop a bus to the area near our bed and breakfast. We picked up some pastries (aka breakfast) to take with us to munch on while there. We ate a little then hopped on a bus to Santa Agata, the village that the B&B is in. We hopped off at one place in Santa Agata and realized we were not close at all to our B&B. We found a taxi and he drove us a whole 5 minutes to the B&B where he charged us 12 Euros (not a 12 Euro drive, Ladies and Gents). We didn’t have much of a choice, so we paid the man and checked into the B&B and into our sweet room. It was huge!

Katie took the laptop upstairs to do some Facebook business while Rachael took a nap. Turns out the springs on that bed were worn out on the side that Rachael was napping upon because she rolled over at one point and fell of the bed. Good times. She went back up stairs to tell Katie about it and we decided it was a good time to eat those pastries we brought with us. We went to our room and devoured them then went back upstairs together to write up some blog posts and upload some pictures online. We got upstairs and saw that the owner of the B&B was sitting on the couch where we were before, talking on the phone so we sat together on the other couch that faced the beautiful view of Sorrento and had our backs to the front door of the B&B. We had been sitting there for about 15 minutes when the owner ran outside to go and check on something.

We kept blogging when all of a sudden, we heard a very familiar voice say “Damn, I like that hair cut” We turn around to see Marty and Joy! We were so surprised (as you all have probably seen in the video below. If not, scroll down and watch it). We honestly had no idea they were coming. They got us good! We laughed, we cried, we took pictures. A good time was had by all.

Turns out they had been planning to surprise us since we started planning our trip. Originally, we had planned to be in Spain by now so they had each booked plane tickets to Barcelona. Upon finding out that we were still going to be in Italy, they booked the B&B in Sorrento to anchor us for a couple of days so that they could catch up and not be chasing us all across Europe. Thank you to anyone and everyone who helped arrange it and keep it all a secret. It totally worked out! The owner (who was totally in on it and ran to grab their camera when he saw them drive up) helped us move our stuff around and get a 4-bed room with a fantastic view.

We dropped our stuff off and caught up on everything! Their crazy plan and adventure to find us, the naysayers (toldja so!), and how everything just fell together perfectly. They couldn’t have done it without the help of Cathy, the Delta agent who helped them figure out how to track us down. Thanks from the whole Woodmere Gang, Cathy! Turns out, Joy was pretty quick on her feet because the aforementioned “Starbucks” where she and Marty were meeting was actually the Atlanta airport. They fed us that line to cover for all the airport noises and we somehow didn’t hear any of the announcements in the background. After chillaxin’ for a bit and letting the moms shower (they had been traveling for two days straight) we headed out to downtown Sorrento to grab some dinner. We found a cute little restaurant where we shared some prosecco and vino and ate a fantastic Italian meal. After dinner we walked around for a bit and had some gelato then hopped on the bus back up to our hotel and went to sleep.

We woke up Thursday morning and had a delicious breakfast upstairs. We then hopped on a bus to Positano (which according to some information we read is synonymous with “Summer fashion”). Those bus drivers are so talented! The road first goes up some winding roads high up onto a hill where you can see the Mediterranean on both sides of the land. From there it weaved back down toward the ocean to smaller roads and tighter turns. We gained a lot of respect for bus drivers that day. Once in Positano, we walked around and window shopped. Marty got her self a fabulous new Italian hat and jacket, Katie and Joy got some fabulous beaded tunics and Rachael got herself a nifty linen shirt. Now, the Woodmere Gang is synonymous with “Summer Fashion!” We walked around and made our way to the beach. We noticed that the prices went up the closer you got to the shore - good thing we did most of our shopping away from the sand!

It was around 5pm when we made our way to the water and we felt like we’d hit Positano pretty hard so we decided to check out Amalfi. We weren’t thrilled with the idea of walking back up the hill to where the bus had dropped us off so Joy (who we lovingly refer to as JL) had the brilliant idea to check on a water taxi. Win! It was only 6 Euros apiece for us to take the 20-30 minute cruise from Positano to Amalfi and the boat was leaving in 20 minutes. We timed it perfectly! We, not at all faint-hearted, decided to grab the very front seats of the boat even though it was a little chilly and overcast. We discussed the fact that the men working the boat were probably placing bets on how long we’d last out front so we showed them what Georgia peaches are made of! We basically had a 30-minute dance party all the way from Positano to Amalfi. When she gets home, you all should ask JL to do her patent-pending Toaster Dance for you. We also made some new friends on the boat.

Once we got to Amalfi, we could see a really neat-looking church so we made our way toward it. We were all fading fast after our epic dance party so we decided to park ourselves at a café right in front of the pretty church and enjoy the scenery. There was an interesting fountain there, too, that people kept leaning over to drink out of, so apparently the water is okay to drink out of fountains. Glad we got that cleared up. We took some neat pictures during our time out.

We didn’t know much about Amalfi, so we just shopped our way up the street and had a great time looking at all the beautiful ceramics and fun souvenirs. Before long, our tummies decided to tell us it was time for dinner. We found a neat little restaurant where we had a great meal and a fun waiter. We shared a bottle of wine and relaxed after our serious shopping day. The junior Woodmere Gang-ers were thrilled to have our mommies with us because we finally got to souvenir shop like pros!

After our delish dinner, we figured it would probably be a good idea to check on bus times to get back to Sorrento. We made our way back down to the bus station (but not without making friends with a lady at a neat ceramic shop) and found out that the next bus was also the last bus of the night to Sorrento and we had 45 minutes before it left. Oh, darn! That means it’s gelato time (our favorite time)! We found a teeny gelato shop that was having its grand opening that week. The girls didn’t speak English, but they had some amazing gelato! We unanimously agreed that these girls were destined to be millionaires because it was the best gelato any of us had ever tasted.

Our bus pulled up to the station as we made our way toward it so we boarded and waited the 20 minutes or so that we still had left before it was supposed to leave. JL wrote in her travel journal, Katie took a nap and Marty and Rachael talked and laughed and sang and danced the 20 minutes away. Once we got moving, we weren’t able to do any of those things anymore because we were all trying to keep from getting sick on the windy mountain roads. After an hour or so, we finally made it back to our wonderful hotel and not a moment too soon.. Our unsettled stomachs were very thankful. We caught up on emails and such and headed to bed to rest up for our Roman adventure the next day.

XOXO J&K&M&R