Italy and beyond!

Five days in Italy for my birthday?  Amazing!  Mike definitely wins "best husband" award for taking us to the Amalfi coast for the weekend!  We stayed in Sorrento, which was a perfect place with wonderful little streets full of shops selling leather, inlaid wood (all of the furniture in our hotel room was inlaid wood), and anything lemon--candy, candles, soaps and they are famous for their lemoncello, a lemon flavored liquor.  In the center of the city there is a lemon orchard.  And there are tons of lemon orchards in the surrounding countryside.  We saw lemons as big as canteloupes!

We also visited Capri, Ravello, Amalfi, and Positano.  Capri island--a small island about a 20 minute boat ride away.  Gorgeous, clean, and full of designer shops.  Ravello is a charming city high up on the mountainside known for being a city of music and ceramiche'-handmade ceramics.  We ordered hot chocolate in the square (because we were freezing to death), which was like drinking liquid chocolate.   Divine!   Our driver, who was born in and lived in Amalfi, told us he had to wait TWO years to be married in the cathedral.

My personal favorite was Positano, a gorgeous little city with colorfully painted homes and cathedrals that literally climb up the mountainside.  There was a wedding at the main cathedral in the center of the city as well.

paradise!

Positano is a gorgeous little city that has colorfully painted homes and buildings that literally climb up the mountainside.  It's unbelievable how people were able to build these cities and streets into an extremely steep slope.  There was a pretty good beach there where we watched a group of tanned men (and two adorable little boys) set up a dock by pushing pieces of the dock across two wooden boards, which had to be moved over and over again to get everything down to the ocean.  It was mind boggling how long it took, how many men, and how "old school".  They could've done it in a few minutes with the proper machinery!  There were people setting up for an Italian wedding at the local cathedral.  As we admired the paintings and tombs, a little man was putting together flower arrangements around the church.  Positano was in the movie "Under the Tuscan Sun", and for good reason.  It is paradise!  And one of my favorites.

parmigiano reggiano...divine

Amalfi was the last little city we visited.  The city consists of one square and one main street, with a zillion little alleyways that twist up and around in mazes, hidden behind the stores and restaurants of the main street.  The cathedral is really pretty--there was a wedding here too.  There are steep steps that lead to the main doors of the cathedral---and  flower petals were sprinkled all the way up the steps.   Our driver, who was born in and lived in Amalfi, told us he had to wait TWO years to be married in the cathedral.  Even though it is tiny, Amalfi is my other favorite of the area.  We found the best gelato here!  And the gentelmen serving up the cones were super generous, which made it taste even better!  

We had our fill of gelato and pizza over the weekend--just to make sure we didn't have any regrets!!  After weeks of practicing his driving on the crazy and very crowded streets of London, Mike was amazing on the tiny little jagged streets that literally followed the coast line. We felt like our tires were hanging off the edge of the road as we wove up and down the little streets of the Amalfi coast.  The entire weekend was brilliant!  We had a blast! 

rows and rows of pasta

the hotel key...huge and awesome