Tom and Linda's 2011 Europe Trip

We hosted a concert for Karyn Oliver just before we left home. Here we are with Karyn and my sister Barbara who was staying with us on a 3-month break from her job teaching ESL at Seattle South Commnity College.

Karyn drove us to the airport and stayed for a few days after we left. Barbara stayed on to house sit and keep Sam company.

Tuesday, 27 September:
AA Flight 110, Chicago -> Rome

We had a crowded flight from Dallas to Chicago on a small plane with very small luggage bins. It was a challenge to get our packs in, and Tom's ended up about 10 rows behind our seats. Even with that he had to pull some things out of it. I'd gotten mine in with a lot of shoving.

Then we had only 50 minutes between flights at O'Hare and were close to last off because of retrieving bags against traffic. But we got to the connecting gate a few minutes before boarding started. While they were pre-boarding they called us up to the desk.

I'd checked us in at about 2am this mornings and we had boarding passes printed at home. But the man at the desk moved us from a center and an aisle at the back of the plane to to aisle seats with an empty seat between, about 10 rows up. Yeah!

So we're much more comfy for this long leg of the journey. We've had dinner, I've finished knitting the green fedora shell and had enthusiastic interest from a flight attendant and a fellow passenger. Gave them Grande Tete business cards and started the black pleated.

Now they've turned off the overhead lights, I'm drinking a Bailey's (courtesy of the hat-lover) and I'm about to trade this out for music headphones and Sudoku to help me sleep. I'm pretty tired - it just might work!

It's a long flight across the Atlantic.

Wednesday, 28 September, 9pm: Rome -> Sorrento, Italy

Whew! What a day!

We arrived at Leonardo da Vinci Airport at about 9AM local time. Our hotel was reserved in Sorrento and we had quite a journey to get there. It began with a train in from the airport to Roma Termini train station.

But we got on the wrong train. There were only two, and we picked the local instead of the Leonardo Express. Maybe we should have known by the graffiti. We certainly had interesting fellow travelers, and they tried to help us.

Problem was, the train went to the wrong station and the only way to get to the right one from there was by metro (subway). And the only way to buy a metro ticket was with a machine that only took cash. And we didn't have any Euros yet. And the station we were at was under construction and had no working bancomat.

We finally found a teller in the under-construction station who would sell us a 1-euro metro ticket on a credit card. He also rescheduled our Roma-Napoli reservation to one we could make.

So we joined the crownds at the metro station in Rome. Finally got to Roma Termini, nd made it to our train with a little time to spare.

Finally on our way to Napoli.

Our reserved seats were in the last car away from the station, so we had a bit of a hike to get there, but had time to pick up a snack and a drink in the station before departure. Time to sit back and watch the countryside roll by.

The next leg of our trip was a boat across the Bayof Naples to Sorrento. Trying to find a bus to take us from Napoli Centrale to Porto Beverello, the passenger port was something of a challenge.

And again, buying a bus ticket with no cash was a problem. Clearly, we should have tried harder to find a bancomat in the airport!

Turns out Porto Beverello is behind this castle. We were nervous about the bus - it's hard to tell where you are in a strange city and there were no clues on the bus. We got off too early and had to walk several pack-laden blocks.

Around the ancient stone corner and across a steel bridge is a modern cruise port, with the smaller passenger boats over to the right.

Finally found the right place. Many of the ticket windows were closed, but we found a company that would take us to Sorrento, and bought tickets on the last ferry out for the day. Had a while to wait, but there are interesting things to see.

Lots of boats of various sizes come and go. Will that one be ours?

We almost got on the wrong ferry (it was confusing and we were jet-lagged) but an astute ticket-taker redirected us. Whew!

Finally on the right boat, and we could relax a bit! The ferry was fairly crowded in the downstairs cabin, but we made our way up to the rear deck, partly for the sake of the pictures. A fellow passenger took our photo. I think we were almost all tourists.

It was a very nice 35-minute ride across the bay from Naploi to Sorrento, the weather was perfect and the scenery quite grand.

Naples (Napoli) is a large, busy, industrial city with a large and busy port. We didn't spend long enough there to find the attractive parts. There are certainly some museums I would have enjoyed, but this certainly wasn't the time.

Leaving busy, noisy, industrial Napoli behind.

We had chosen to travel from Napoli to Sorrento by boat for the views of the shore. These two cities sit at the ends of neighboring peninsulas into the Tyrhennian Sea that define the Bay of Naples.

Around the shore we pass by are the ancient cities of Herculaneum and Pompeii, and their modern counterparts.

Here is Mount Vesuvius as seen from the Bay.

It was a bit foggy, but we could just see the white houses climbing the hillsides.

Sorrento, sitting atop its cliff in the distance.

Approaching Sorrento from the sea is quite a view. I think the road zig-zagging its way up the cliff face is very old.

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