Amalfi Coast

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  Atrani, Italy
Saturday, September 23, 2006

SO we've finally made it to the south. The Amali Coast. It took a bit of hassle, but it's relaxing now that we are finally here.

We arrived from Venice into Rome around 2:30pm yesterday. Got to our hotel easy enough, only to find that they had not received our reservation yet again. Seriously, once was enough. So they had a room for us in another apartment on the other side of the train station to where we were supposed to stay. Well, yes it was on the other side of the station, but pretty much not on ANY map of Rome that we were able to see. It took about an hour almost to drive there, which the hotel owner generiously offered to do. He took us up to the room, showed us around, walked us over to the tram stop that we would be able to take into the city, showed us how to use it and then left us to it. By the timewe got out of the hotel and back into town it was almost 6:30

Amalfi Cathedral

. We did the metro hopping and saw the Coloseum as it got dark, the over to the Spanish Steps where we walked to the very top so that we could see St. Peter's Basilica on the other side of the river. Upon seeing this, mom decided that she really wanted to see St. Peters, so we took one more stop. It was quite a sight St. Peter's Square at night. There were hardly any people around either so we got to see it all lit up and peaceful. It was nice to see some of the sights by night, because I don't usually get the opportunities.

To make a long story short, we got stuck at St. Peter's because the buses stopped, got back to the center of the city to our tram for 11pm totally frustrated by the fact that the hotel had screwed up and it was such a task to get to where we were staying, but we made the best of it and got to see some sights. Luckily I had been to Rome before and hoping that mom didn't get too much of a bad taste in her mouth for the city because it really does deserve the hype. It is really an amazing city. You just can't see Rome in a day.

Now we are in Atrani, a small village around the bend from Amafi town. I almost died on the bus ride here from Salerno. It was nuts. Blind curves and winding roads sitting hundreds of feet above the sea and cliffs out your window. Very nerve racking. I hink I had closed my eyes by the end of it and thanked God when we finally hopped off the bus. The hostel is really cool and right in the middle of the village. Such a contrast this place. I am sitting in the Piazza right now watching the local children kicking a soccer ball around and playing games, a group of old men sitting at a corner cafe playing cards and animatedly arguing about it with each other. The bells are now ringing at the nearby 10th century church, all the while here I sit outdoors at a cafe watching this all while I type this from a laptop with wireless internet and listening to the pop music from the cafe behine me. This piazza is so unbelievably old, yet the Italians walk around in their designer shades and clothes, and everyone has a mobile phone. Everyone. Even the old grannies. It's a cute little place. Still trying to get a better sense of it. Off to wander and relax today so I should be off. Will talk to you in a few days again. We are drinking lots of wine for everyone, don't worry. Definitely taking advantage of the fact that you can drink anywhere in public. Just grab your bottle and go.

Ciao for now!!

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Amalfi Town	Amalfi Window	Amalfi2	Amalfi3
Atrani	Atrani3	Back to Atrani	Crazy Roman Streets
Gorgeous Atrani	Inside Cathedral	Lost?	Problemo!
Problemo?	Rome's Coloseum	Scooters	Towards Amalfi
Vatican City

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