Thursday 25 August 2011

Last Port

Palermo, Sisley
I was sick today and stayed in the cabin the whole day.  Here is what happened in Palermo from Tim.
Vhari and I decided to go into town.  There was a bunch of horse drawn carriages at the end of the pier, but we decided to walk. We were aiming for the big church built by John the Great in 2 billion BC.  Shopping was quite spectacular.  You could get a custom suit made for 60 Euros, BOOS and Blueberry cologne for super cheap.  My label whore daughter with have nothing to do with the I love the Cabana knock offs.  We found a big mall, and went into it because it had air conditioning.  She found a shirt that was 55 Euros, but would not buy it.  We walked over to the big church, which was spectacular from the outside, asked Vhari is she wanted to see the inside.  She gave me the stink eye.   I took her through the ghetto part of the city, and Vhari was soooooo not impressed.  We went back to the department store that she saw the shirt.  One the top floor there was a restaurant called the Mozzarella Bar.  We had the world famous mozzarella salad and prosciutto ham.  It was the best mozzerlla we have ever had.  I ended up buying the shirt for Vhari for coming with me for the adventure.

Naples, Italy
I’m back – feeling way better.  Travis tended to my every need yesterday.  It was nice to have a man slave.
Today is our last port, Naples.  We have heard so many bad things.  There has been a garbage strike for 7 years, 1 out of 3 people are unemployed and people in other parts in Italy will not travel to Naples as they feel unsafe.  Woo Hoo we were so excited to dock here, could hardly wait to see the slums/garbage.  This was also the birth place of pizza.  After a family discussion the kids did not want to get off the boat.  Vhari wanted to hang with her friends and Travis was ready to go home last week, so we let them stay on board.  Tim and I off on an adventure!  We decided that we would take the ferry over to the island of Capri.  Simple one would think.  That is what we thought.  We bought our tickets for the 10:00a ferry to take us over.  You have to understand the size of this port.  There are 5 different companies that ferry and your ticket give you no clue on which boat you go on.  We lined up at one, nope wrong line.  We were moved over to another line.  (It is now 10:00a)  Nope that was not the line either.  Thinking that this was a little complicated we checked a sign on when ferries return from Capri to Naples to make sure that we could get back on the ship on time.  The signs made it look like we would not make it back....... We asked at the info desk, they point at a boat that was just loading (it is now 10:20a) said that was it and through us a schedule for return trips.  We were the last to get on the ferry as they lifted the gangway behind us.........no turning back now.  Thoughts went through our heads how the kids would manage when we don’t return.  We just hoped that Holland America would help them a little.....no money......no parents......no clue what was going on. 
We made it to the Island of Capri.  It reminded us of Santorini.  A village nestled in the mountains.  Quite beautiful.  It turns out that there was three ways up.  Taxi, gondola, walk.   (we did not know this at the beginning)  I found some stairs and started walking up.  Thinking that is would take us up a block off the busy pier street. Nope not the case.  (I need to say at this point that is was 36 C) These stairs took us to the top of the town.  Imagine you are in a hot yoga studio, without dry weave clothing on.  Tim and I were dripping by the time we made it to the top.  (I usually wear some sort of lululemon short if I know that we will be walking – not today I had the Old Navy shorts on and sweat so much I looked like I peed my pants)  Anyway – we made it to the top, and it was so worth it.  The town and the view were spectacular.  We were in the company of my old friends. Chanel, Louis, Jimmy Choo etc – Tim was in full cardiac arrest when he saw the shops.  We looked for a place to eat.  I could smell wood burning from the oven, I followed the smell.  I know that I have said that each meal was better than the next – this was really great.  The balsamic vinegar was like a reduction.  I could have just drunk that.  The pizza was great, and my salad was amazing.  The beer was icy cold.  Tim also really peed his pants when found out that the Edge from U2 and Mariah Carey had eaten there as well.  He took a picture of the pictures that were posted all over the restaurant.
After lunch we headed back down, hoping there was a chance that we would make it back.  We hit the ferry with 5 minutes to spare before departure to Naples.  Made it back to the ship on time.  We will go back to Capri and stay at least a week.
It is hard to believe that we have been away for 26 days.  We are all still talking to each other. Have awesome memories, and looking forward to our next adventure.   We sat around trying to remember all the places we have been and in what order, like they do on the amazing race.  Well, we could not do it.  Thankfully we have this blog to look back on and the itinerary to remind us where we have been.

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