Town of Sorrento

Being retired provided the perfect opportunity for me to go with Flint to a conference in Sorrento. What made it even more fun was that another spouse went, too. Unlike our spouses who flew, we took the 'night' train; however, our mistake was that we didn't upgrade to a 'sleeper' car. It has been years since I had taken a night train, and when we checked at the Catania station about the couchettes, the man said, "Only four people, all women, couchettes." We should have known that the Italian train system doesn't keep up with the gender of their customers! LC and I found ourselves sitting up all night with four men in a car that was as hot as a sauna! They were polite, and I'm sure the three across from us had insisted on washing our car windshield on occasion when we have been stopped in Catania traffic.

With our husbands 'conferencing' all day, we hit the ground running with M, a wife we met at breakfast. I'm not a shopper, but I did pretty good each day. LC is a 5-start shopper. Antonioe shuttled us back and forth to town. We managed the streets of Sorrento nicely in pouring rain, unseasonable cold, hail, and located some excellent places to eat. Franco's for pizza; we took our husbands to Sir Joe for Festa della Donna; and Chanticler. Plus Flint, a colleague, and I found a place one evening with the most delicious dessert ever in the land of lemons.

One day we caught another bus to Positano, probably the most charming town on the Amalfi coast. Rock slides caused the road to Amalfi to be closed. We waited for our return bus in gale force winds! The news reported that the Mediterranean had over 100 kph winds that day. Two scheduled buses did NOT come, but finally one did just before the rain intensified and we blew away!

The Navy Supply Corps ball on our final evening provided the opportunity to dress up and visit. I appreciate all the Navy traditions I have encountered, and one of the most touching was the table for one, toasting with the water glass to those at war, missing, etc.

The train ride home during the day wasn't quite the adventure of our night train, but we shared the compartment with some delightful young people...a young man studying to be an actor; a young lady who works in a chocolate factory, and a young Japanese girl on her way to visit Taormina for the second time.

What a wonderful week!