Misc photos ride back to Positano

 

     No dinner is complete until the trip to the kitchen. Fresh pasta laid out. Antonio on the right was our driver and waiter. Kind of Uber/dinner combo. Every kitchen has one of these! Waiting for the bus

Positano day2

We got up, had two cappuccinos, and ran down 692 steps to catch the ferry to Isle of Capri. No dice. Water too rough. This is good news since I have the barfing gene. My Dad missed 21 straight meals on the troop ship in WWII. On return home, he started barfing 15 miles inland from the harbor in anticipation. And he was a war toughened vet by then.

So....off to Pompeii. We stopped at tourist bureau for the down low. Bus leaves in 10 min from Sponda at 9:30. We race halfway back up the mountain and arrive at bus stop. Talk to Australian couple who are headed home. We talk for an hour. Where is bus. We get on and head to Amalfi/Pompeii.

  We got on the bus from hell. Look at all the squiggly lines from Positano to Amalfi. 20 miles took about two hours. Then look at squiggly lines going north from Amalfi. Spectacular coastal and mountain sights. 15€ each for round trip ride of about 5 hours. Only 4 of us on the return. There is no logic in Italy. It just is. Steep drop offs. Got nothing on Pacific Coast Highway in Big Sur. Driver got ovation several times getting through sticky spots. Scooters coming the other way in our lane gave me a headache. No room for error! Always time for makeup😎 Small boy at Pompeii. Workers were excavating almost 2000 years later and observed bones through a small hole. They poured plaster of Paris into hole and then could excavate the form. Man with a burro. (Burro not present) must of happened fast enough so they could not escape, but not so fast they didn't realize what was happening. Lisa's finest hour.  Can't show you next photo. There was a commotion and I had to go to "check in" and bail out the poor girl.

Positano

 As you walk up and down the zillion steps from your hotel to the town and beach areas, you catch little view slots like this one. Lisa with her fav white mandevilla.    Cap'n Bob taking Lisa for a spin on the Amalfi Coastline off Positano.

Positano- lots of steps, pizza, wine. Going out tonight to La Tagliata. When you make a Rez you tell them where you live and they pick you up and drop you off. Car rentals not practical in this town and buses unpredictable. Isle of Capri tomorrow if weather holds. Maybe a cooking class.

Extra day in Paree, then Italy

 Lisa wanted this for some reason. Le BallSack restaurant. For Marla! Arc De Triomphe....Champs De Elysse  Cartier. We bought a few baubles. A bottle of Lisa's fav, Sancerre. At Fouquet's. After spending the extra day in Paris due to late plane from PHL and missed connection we finally get to Naples. Driver for winding roads to Positano. The drivers got into a conversation that was typically Italian and I felt as if I understood Al Chinese better in that moment than if we has been friends for twenty years.  For Walt! Wood fired pizza oven on wheels. Like a backyard BBQ. Kids are the same around the world. Let's hang and look at our phones together.    

Normandy

Today is May 8, 2016. By coincidence my Normandy tour took place on the 71st anniversary of V-E Day!

 The tour started at the German Cemetary. Very subtle and understated.  John M Steele was the American paratrooper who landed on the church tower in Sainte-Mere-Eglise, the first village liberated by the Americans on D-Day. Made famous in the movie "The Longest Day". He played dead for hours before his comrades could save him. Nothing hi-tech here. Carrier pigeon lying on it's cage carrier. Utah was one of several beach heads made on D-Day.

 

  Higgins boat. 36 men on each one. They were carried about 90 mi across the channel on a bigger boat and then launched several miles out. They hit the beach at daybreak on a day that was chosen when the moon, tides, and weather were optimal- June 6, 1944.  Pointe-du-Hoc was an elevated promontory midway between Omaha and Utah beaches. This heavily fortified spot had many bunkers and artillery guns that could shell each beach. 280 commandos took this 

position just prior to the beach invasion.

 View from inside one of the bunkers.  In the days leading up to the invasion, heavy shelling from sea and air softened the German positions with varying degrees of success. This is a bomb crater. Background shows a German artillery Gun position. Our tour guide Adrian with the expanse of Omaha Beach behind him. Many things went wrong on this beach-Veteran German soldiers defending, pre raid bombing inaccurate, strong current washing attacking boats off target. Heavy casualties. Hence the name "Bloody Omaha" when the ocean ran red. The American Cemetary, located on a beautiful bluff above Omaha beach. Some of those buried here may have been killed on this very spot.  Sobering and solemn tour on a gorgeous day on the north coast of France. Proud and happy to be an American. Both my parents were in the war. An Uncle I never met was lost in France.