Our trip to the Amalfi coastline

Brad and I had the wonderful privilege of enjoying the breathtaking Amalfi coastline. Thank you

mum mum for watching the kids!

We left our house around 4:15 am on Friday to catch our 6 AM flight and we made it with about 90

seconds to spare.

We arrived in Naples around 10 AM local time and they had shuttle buses to carry us to the

terminal to get our luggage. And another stamp in the passport. Luggage took a bit but we walked

out to find our driver Stefanie waiting for us. She was our driver and guide for the day and I am

soooooooo thankful we did not try to drive ourselves because the roads were so narrow and in her

words, the traffic laws are " just suggestions" in Italy! She was very knowledgable and a superb

driver as well.

We immediately left the airport and drove past Mt Vesuvius and Pompeii. I definitely want to come

back to explore that area with the kids, you can even climb to the top and see the steam coming

out of the top. We drove up into the mountains and took in the beautiful views. Stefanie told us all

about the numerous types of agriculture in the area: grapes, olives, lemons, pine nuts.

Here are some facts we learned about the crops:

Olives: green olives are 20% oil, 80% water where black olives are 100% water. Extra Virgin olive

oil is made from olives that have only been pressed once. The olive trees had green net

underneath to collect the olives that have fallen off the trees.

Lemons: the lemons are kept covered by black nets to ensure they could be kept warm enough.

They use all parts of the lemons, the leaves are used to wrap fish, the fruit or ours and the peel for

the famous limoncello.

Pine nuts: these come from the pine cones of the umbrella pine tree and they must be roasted,

taken from the cone and cleaned.

Chestnut trees: the trunks were everywhere and are used to make poles and many other things

It was amazing to see all the grape trees and olive trees all nestled into the sides of the mountain.
Cypress Trees: These trees are tall and skinny are used around cemeteries; they are pointed up to heaven.

Grapes

The trees in the sides of the mountains!

Me and Stefanie, she was amazing!!

Donkeys are mostly used to transport the crops.

We drove through the town of Firore, which is one of several towns in Italy where artists have

painted on the outside walls of the homes. As we approached Amalfi, we learned the history of

why it's called the Amalfi coastline: of all the villages, the Amalfi was the wealthiest because one of

their inhabitants invented the compass. It was once comprised of numerous monasteries and

convents but most of them are now hotels and restaurants. The Santa Rosa monastery is a hotel

that costs £2700 per night!!!!

We stopped in Amalfi and walked through the little town and got a sandwich and then stopped at

the Pansa bakery which has been around since 1830.

We ate the sfogliatelle, a pastry filled with

sweet ricotta cheese which was so very yummy, as well as a delicious cappuccinos. It was perfect!

We enjoyed people watching and listening to the small band that started playing a few minutes

before we were finished. It was comprised of a bass, clarinet, guitar, and tambourine. They were

singing "Volare" (fly). We strolled down to the beach and took in the views of Amalfi.

Next we were off to Ravello, a much smaller village that is home to the Ruffalo villa and gardens.

Back to van and off to our B&B in Nocelle up the mountain from Positano. We drove through a

couple of other small towns, one called Praiano where an artist has made numerous houses on the

side of road. There is also a very beautiful church there.

There were many towers along the coastline, most of them in various states of crumbling down.  Stefanie explained that these towers are defense towers that were used to see enemies approaching.  Also in many of the buildings, there were holes in the sides, which were used to place scaffolding so the buildings could be built taller.

We checked into Villa La Quercia, and we were greeted by Carmella, the host. We rested for a bit

and the had a drink before heading to get our ride to the restaurant La Tagliata,

which was very

highly recommended by Stefanie. We met another couple from Canada who were going to the

same place. It's a family restaurant so the driver was also our waiter! It was quite an experience,

as promised!! So much food as we were promised!!!  The first course was bruschetta, followed by antipasto of buffalo mozzarella, salami, pepperoni, and feta cheese.  Then they brought out three more plates of beans, roasted vegetables, and a few casseroles.  Next course was 4 different kinds of fresh pasta: ravioli, gnocchi, penne and Mama's specialty, which was similar to lasagna.  Next course: an entire plate of MEAT.....7 different types: sausage, chicken, lamb, ribs, beef.  At this point, we were so stuffed, but we had to try it all.  As we were eating, we also drank 2 bottles of wine and 2 bottles of still water.  The last course was dessert of course, which we were able to manage about 2 bites!  There was a large party sitting in the middle of the restaurant, and we had guessed it was a wedding, and we were correct...in the middle of dinner, the bride and groom stood up and gave toasts.  The bride's name was Lauren!  After dinner was over, the singing and entertainment began!  The even provided instruments to the diners and Mama came out to greet everyone.  And the entire dinner for both of us including transportation and about 8 courses was 70 Euros!!!!!  That is such a deal!!!  It was AWESOME!!!

Saturday, we slept in a bit but breakfast was served until 9 AM, so we couldn't sleep too late.  We were considering walking up the Path of the Gods, but it looked a bit like rain so we decided to walk down to the village of Positano instead.  The Path of the Gods is pathway through the hills of Positano, which ends with some beautiful views.  We will have to do that hike next time!

 The walk down to Positano was awesome, we walked down 1400 steps (as told to us by the owner of the B&B), it was amazing because they were just carved into the side of the mountain, and were afforded some beautiful views of the sea, the village and all the amazing agriculture.  After we got down to the road, we walked a bit on the narrow, narrow, narrow roads.  It wasn't as scary as I imagined it was going to be, but none the less, it was a bit odd walking along the road.

We stopped for a coffee just outside of Positano and enjoyed the view.  It had looked like rain, but as soon as we got to the village, the sun came out and it turned into a perfect day!

Positano is known for fashion and shopping, so we did some shopping!  We had pizza and a very delicious caprese salad for lunch, right on the beach.

Sunset whilst eating dinner

See the moon in the background

After that, we went a sat on the beach for a while. It was a rocky beach, but there were several people swimming in the water and even sunbathing!  It was quite warm!!  We had some super yummy gelato and then did some more shopping and then found a perfect little bar overlooking the beach, showing the Rugby World Cup.  We were surrounded by Wales fans, so we felt like were in London!

We had an early dinner so we could take the bus back to the B&B in time to get ready for the Michigan-Michigan State game which was starting at 9 PM local time.  We set up in the lobby since that was the only place with Wifi.  Brad was sort of annoyed because the Canadian couple came in and the guy started watching the Blue Jays game and the wifi couldn't really handle both games.  It was a great game until the last 10 seconds.....

Dates with Mommmy

Over the past few months, I have taken each child separately on a "date" to do something that they would really enjoy.  I saw an ad for a Thomas the Train show with the Royal Orchestra, and I thought it would be a something Drew would Love, and Lauren really wanted to go see "Hetty Feather," which is a play based on a book by her new favorite author, Jacqueline Wilson.  It took a bit to figure out where to go with Alison, but we finally settled on Clip N Climb, a climbing wall place in Chelsea.

Drew was first, and it was during the day on a Wednesday, so thankfully my friend Yvona was able to come over and stay with the girls!!  Drew was SOOO excited!

We took the Tube to Sloane Square, and walked a short ways to Cadogan Hall.  It was a pretty small place and we had seats close to the front so we had a good view!  The orchestra came out and tuned up their instruments, they dimmed the lights and the show came on.  They showed "Thomas and the Lost Treasure of Sodor" on the movie screen and the orchestra played the music throughout.  It was an hour long, so just right for Drew.  He is still talking about it!  And we have borrowed the book from the library a couple of times.  He was so enthusiastic, he didn't want to take the bus home, so he held my hand the whole way home.   Such a good outing with my sweet boy!

Lauren and I had our date the last Friday before school started, so Brad came home a little early and Lauren and I had dinner at KFC in Piccadilly Circus.  When we got off the train and walked up the steps to Picadilly Circus, Lauren was like "Wow, this is like New York!!"  She was fascinated by all the people and the lights and the hubbub of it all!  The KFC was VERY busy and right next to M&M World.  We were discussing how cool it would be to live in the flats above M&M World because you could just wake up and go right down and get some M&Ms.  I told if we lived there, we would all be sleeping in the same bedroom because its REALLY expensive to live right there in the middle of everything.

As we walked to the theatre, we passed a few street performers and lots more people.  The show was FANTASTIC!!!  The set was amazing, and the entire cast was about 8 actors.  Lauren was enthralled throughout the entire show!  I want to read the book now that I have seen the show; and there are four books in the series.  Lauren has read the book and she said they left out a lot of the book in the show, but I told her the book is almost always better than the movie or play!

After the show, we went to M&M world, which was HUGE and pretty busy considering it was 10:30 at night!!  It was three floors and there was pretty much every piece of merchandise you could imagine with an M&M logo on it.   We had a good time just looking around and seeing the different personalities they have given to each color of M&M.  It's a good place to take Lauren since Drew and  Alison can't go there because of the nuts.

As we were walking home, Lauren said "I like talking to you because you are very interesting."  That's a complement coming from her.  We had a great night, and it's so fun to hear her perspective on things.  I hope it's the first of many shows we are able to see together in London!





Alison and I went for our date in early October to this place called Clip N Climb in Chelsea.  I wasn't really sure what to expect, but she loves to climb and has amazing upper body strength from all her monkey bar climbing that I figured it would be perfect!  We arrived and were given our harnesses and then we had to wait for a few minutes until it was our turn.  Once it was our turn, they gave us the three rules:
1. Don't climb unless you are clipped in
2. when the mat in front of one of the climbing walls is down, don't stand on it to ensure you don't get hit
3. Don't pull on the rope.

It was quite a cool operation!  There were about 25-30 different apparatus to climb on, and each had a mat in front where the clips were, and to get clipped in, a member of staff had to help you.  And once you were finished, they had to un-clip your harness and clip the mat back in.  When you reached the top, or didn't want to climb any further, you just let go and the pulley let you down slowly.  Alison LOVED it, and I was able to climb a few myself!  She knew which one she wanted to do first, as soon as we got the go ahead, she ran right over to it.  My arms are going to be sore tomorrow no doubt.  I was proud of her persistence on a few of them because a couple of them, she couldn't get it on the first try, but she kept trying until she got to the top!  We had an hour of climbing, which I thought was going to be too much but it was just enough.

After all the climbing, we worked up an appetite so we went to Pizza Express for dinner.  Alison proclaimed that the dough balls were her new favorite food!  Although, she said she didn't like the pizza crust even though I have a feeling it was the same thing as the dough balls, just different presentation.  It was a great afternoon out with my little climber!

It's so nice to get to spend special time with each one of my kids because I can really focus on them, and I hope it's a special to them as well!