If you'd been following our gang on Facebook, you know this trip had a rocky start. Our "Italy/Greece Gang 2015" started in Orlando whoopin' it up at the airport, ready for our big adventure. But it wasn't to be without incident: our flight from Orlando was detained 3 hours (they had to get a blow-dryer to dry the glue for the new part, no joke!), so we missed our connecting flight in Jersey, headed to Munich, by about 40 minutes. United Airlines told us that we had to book our own flight, even though there were 11 of us (no joke again!), and we still had another connection to make. Sooo...a stress-filled 90 minutes later we caught a flight: had no idea what would happen to our luggage, our layover in Munich was now going to be THIRTEEN hours, and we'd miss the first day of our tour. We sucked it up, made some calls, did some complaining, and prayed for luggage and a safe trip to our final destination of Naples. That didn't go so smoothly either...arriving in Naples at midnight, almost 48 hours after we started, there was no sign of our luggage. Sigh...we knew that was going to happen! When our luggage caught up 4 full days later, we were convinced the worst was behind us. But God, and maybe even the Greek gods, had a different plan. Our dear friend Brian, my friend through every life event for 34 years, passed away in Greece, 10 days into our tour. To say his that his death was devastating, especially so far from home, is an understatement; but his razor-sharp, acerbic wit stayed with us, and eventually allowed us to see the slightest bit of humor through our grief. He and I competed for attention is most everything we did (hard to imagine me being competitive, right?!), and he ultimately won; I'll forever remember that this trip was all about him ♥
So here we go!
The first day of our tour - at the Munich Airport! At least we got some fresh air in that 13 hours! But to be fair, there was tons of shopping and SO many places to eat!
I have to share this...we finally landed in Naples, boarded a bus, and ended up at the airport, where I snapped this picture. WE BOARDED A BUS THAT DROVE US ABOUT 300 FEET! We were exhausted, exhilarated and hysterical when we got off that 4 second bus ride!
We were driven to our hotel in Sorrento, on cliffside roads with amazing night views! After a restful 4 hours sleep for all of us, we hit the ground running! (in the same clothes we'd been wearing since Friday...)
First stop, Capri! We boated around the island, peering in the caves and grottos.
See the littler fisherman?
The water colors were amazing!
We took a funicular ride to the top of the island for this view!
Thankful we didn't have to walk this...
We all snapped this same shot, it was breathtaking!
We left Capri, and ran around Sorrento to buy some clothes for our dinner at an Italian farmhouse that evening. Not the best idea...clothes were either touristy t-shirts or very expensive local clothing. We settled for touristy!
Our walk down a longggg stone staircase, carved into the side of the mountain, headed for dinner.
We were not disappointed; apperitivos, appetizers, pastas, salads, main course, and dessert! And best of all...a warm, knowledgeable sommelier who filled (and refilled!) our glasses with organic wines made on the farm! Heaven!
I'll be back with more on Italy later this week!
