Bayley-Ellard High School
Bell' Italia -- Italy trip 1998
Day 8 -- Naples/Capri/Rome
In the morning we wake up in Rome again. Which is a pretty cool place to find yourself waking up in. We get up at 6:20 and in the sprit of Rome and the Vatican, I personally experience three miracles. The first is that my notebook computer miraculously starts working properly again. This is very exciting. The second is that there is hot water in the shower. Lots of it. The third miracle is a card trick one of the kids shows me, but I'm still very impressed. There's no way that 8 of clubs could have gotten to the top of the deck. I consider building a cathedral on the site of the hotel to commemorate these, but I don't have 250 years to spare. We're still Americans after all. Do you expect us to do as the Romans just because we're in Rome?
On the bus the kids are dead asleep again. But during a potty break I get to share the latest batch of email with them. Harleigh's is, as you would expect, sweet, friendly and inclusive. Lisa Johnson's is, as you might expect, friendly, but ... different. Many of the teachers have sent along greetings from home and again there are personal wishes from relatives and friends.
Less than three hours later we are in Naples. Ignazio anticipates the questions about all the laundry hanging from windows in the apartment buildings' balconies. "Try it. You will not go back to your clothes dryer." We dismount our bus at the port, and look at the active harbor and the giant Norman Castle the looks down on it. Our traveling companions from Kansas depart for Pompeii, but we wait for our "jet boat" to Capri. It is warm and sunny for the first time since Verona. We are amazed. A couple of people daringly wore shorts and they are cold on the top deck of the high speed boat. But later in the day they will get to enjoy the warming sun better than those of us who are convinced that it's still Winter. A 40 minute ride on the Mediterranean Sea later, we arrive in gorgeous Capri. We are immediately rushed to a motorized launch. We had been warned that it was probably too choppy to see the Blue Grotto, but in fact they are allowing it. As long as we hurry. Before we can hesitate we are all aboard an open boat that looks like a lifeboat from a cruise liner. We bounce up and down on the choppy water. It's a pretty fun ride. Our tourguide who is quite used to this, basks in the sun on the back of the boat. Somehow he doesn't slide off. I think he likes his job.
We then arrive at a congregation of little boats alongside the base of a cliff. Without forward momentum the launch heaves up and down. Oddly no one seems to mind or turn green. The jet boat ride was probably good preparation. A few rowboats come alongside and much to our surprise they want us to transfer from our boat to these little rowboats. You have to try to imagine what happens when a little boat next a tiny boat does when they aren't moving and the water is. The boats move up and down independently. And we're supposed to transfer from one to the other! I suppose the pressure to rush has been useful here again. Everyone starts changing boats. I poise my camera for the inevitable person overboard. The water doesn't look too cold or too deep, but I imagine it will be very uncomfortable afterwards. Much to my amazement everyone makes it okay. We have to sit on the floor of the little rowboats, 3 in each, and they bob much more than the launch did. It gets surreal as we approach a launch that has a few men in suits. They're taking tickets. We give our tickets to the men, and then approach a tiny hole in the base of the cliff. Our boat captain tells us to duck, and he grabs a heavy metal chain attached to the ceiling of the opening. It's clear the water level is pretty high and as we are bobbing up and down the top of the boat will barely make it in.
We all duck he pulls and shoom! we shoot into the cave at high speed. A couple of people are touched by the flapping chain, but no one is injured. Inside it's dark, still, quiet and damp. The water glows iridescent blue. This is the Blue Grotto. We are chided to take pictures, but frankly I just want to take it all in. It's quite shocking to go from a bright bustling boat transfer to this dark cave of unearthly and breathtakingly beautiful glowing blue water. Everyone takes turns saying "wow". Yet we are pressured to take pictures, and I see why. We are making a small circuit around the edge of the cave and will be exiting soon. We only have about 2 minutes inside and then we are shot back out to the real world. Once again I am prepared to take a picture of someone being rescued from the Med, but once again the boatmen's grips are firm and everyone is shortly back in the launch.
Once back in the harbor we take a tiny little bus up a severely winding little road up the mountain. We have to back up in the face of opposing traffic. Not that there is much traffic, but if anyone wants to come down when you're going up, someone's got to give. The city at the top has a gorgeous view of the sun bleached white buildings that spot the side of the mountain (they look a lot like the buildings from those Parliament ads) until the reach the blue and green waters.
Cliffs with deep green moss ring all of it. There are tall rocks jutting out of the water. The view is amazing. And the weather is amazing. There's not a single cloud to be seen. We were warned about the prices here, but perhaps due to the favorable exchange rate (18000 lire to the US$) they're just fine. The town itself reminds me of the Italy of 50's movie stars more than anything. It all seems very upscale Dolche Vita 50's fashion. The stores are exclusive and the food at the little luncheonettes (called bars in Italy) is amazing. I am amused at one exclusive shop that lists its locations as Rome, Capri, Paris, London, Beverly Hills, New York, and Short Hills. Capri specializes in those ceramic tile house numbers that you see on nice homes, and we buy some as gifts. We go to the Gardens, which has another terrific view. The switch back walkway to the sea that is another attraction, is unfortunately closed. Still there is plenty to see. We wander the little streets and even the tiny labyrinths that are the in the residential area. How does someone get furniture in here? Kids are beginning to debate which place to buy. The pace here is slow and resort-like. We are all relaxing. And getting sunburned. We collect at the clock tower, and a number of factors prove that we are approaching the end of our trip. Most people's money reserves are beginning to dip below 10000 lire, film is running low, and thinking about that, we realize that any group picture we take could be our last. Weird little fantasies of staying or coming back next year appear as a form of denial. We board our bus to the jet boat to the bus to Rome and listen to stories of Pompeii from our other companions. Before we know it we're back in Rome. A group goes out to dance, and other stay in to sleep in preparation for the long flight back home. We're warned that daylight savings time comes a week early here. So we have to set our clocks ahead an hour tonight. This on top of the expected jet lag. Then a week from now we will celebrate daylight savings time again. How odd.
End of day 8.
To email us in Italy send email to mewintle@aol.com
and be sure to include the word "Italy" somewhere in the tile. I will forward your message to the appropriate person or the whole group as appropriate.