An entry in the TFS Travel Journal
Wow, what a wild and wacky weather day! We puttered around in the room all morning, doing excercises, stretching, reading, calling the ceramic place in Tuscany, Italy.
We decided to go back to Netta’s place in Ravello for lunch today and eat in Amalfi tomorrow, the better to get on the road to Naples timely enough. Around 12:30 it started raining again, as it had been on and off since early morning, so we waited until it passed to drive up the mountain.
It didn’t pass. Rather, it became progressively more and more intense and violent, eventually becoming a pounding, wind-driven hail storm. We were so mesmorized that we walked all around the hotel to survey the scene. Out the front, the Amalfi Coast road had become a gushing river, first of hail-filled rainwater, then deep brown carrying bottles and other detritous. From the back (covered) veranda we could see the storm, with all its black clouds and lightning, out over the expanse of the sea. Then, way down at the pool/sea level, we saw dirt and mud erupting loudly from the mountainside into the water, where it created brown pools in the blue-green water like huge oil slicks.
Finally, the rain subsided, and the temperature dropped at least 20 degrees. We drove off to Ravello, Italy without incident. We had been eagerly anticipating our return visit, and we were not disappointed! We started with the same mixed vegetable appetizer and a plate of tomatoes with basil. We then had the unforgettable 7-pasta sampler. For entrees we had lamb chops, and mussels in a tomato broth. We drank the Chianti Classico Riserva we’d bought on our day in Tuscany with Dario, as we considered this meal part of our (4th) anniversary celebration. Unfortunately, we’ve run out of superlatives for Netta and her pastas. The entrees were quite good, but not quite as good as the fish from our last visit. This time we finished up with a sumptuously dense chocolate pie (tasting subtley of mint, like the one it used to take my mother over a hour to make), a dual-flavored canoli, and, of course, a limoncello. We then stopped to peruse a nearby shop, and came out with a set of those funky little limoncello glasses in a variety of colors.
We drove back to the town of Amalfi, and walked around as we’d been more or less planning to do for 5 days. Quite small, but nice and not nearly as blandly commercial as Positano, Italy. We checked out the shops, passed on some local artwork, and shivered as the chilly rain began again. Milton stopped in for his semi-weekly shave (one of the best!) and we hurried damply back to the car.
Back at the hotel, we unloaded the things we’d thrown in the trunk, as tomorrow we give up the car for the first time in 25 days and fly to Venice, Italy. Hung out in the room, repacked, read more (Wendy catching up on magazines and newspapers, Milton loving “Dreaming In Cuban”), gave some wine and olive oil to the hotel staff during the nightly computer session (not worth travelling with), and Milton wrote out the lovely anniversary cards Wendy had thoughtfully selected and brought with her for him to give her.