I came back! And so did Lou. After a stressful day, we're now safely tucked in to the Grand Hotel Capodimonte in Sorrento.
Our day got off to a decent start. Antonietta told us she would drive us to Anacapri to get the bus to Marina Grande. Our plan was to attempt to book an island boat tour. If they weren't running again (winds were pretty high up at Al Mulino), we would get on an earlier ferry back to Sorrento.
The boat tour was a no-go so we dashed to dock 8 and boarded a (larger) hydrofoil heading towards Sorrento. We sat up top in the back corner. (I saw one of "my brother's" ships, the Wind Surf, in the distance.) we pulled out a few minutes later. Rocky seas! White caps, big waves. One so big that up where we were sitting we got wet! Not a little sea spray. Seriously wet!
"Oh, no! We forgot to buy the limoncello shot glasses that we wanted," I cried out. Lou assured me we could get shot glasses in Sorrento. So what if they said Sorrento instead of Capri.
There were two ships in port when our ferry arrived in Sorrento. P&O's Adonia and Azamara's Quest. I expected massive crowds, but I guess all the cruise passengers shuttled over to Capri. The port area was fairly empty and we quickly found our way back to the garage and our car. We even got to our hotel pretty easily.
We had a message from Elisabeth, our pizza tour travel agent, and Lou asked directions to the nearest laundromat. I was going to contact Elisabethand we were going to head out to the laundromat together. It's supposed to rain - heavily - tomorrow in Naples. I hoped she wasn't calling to cancel. It is a walking pizza tour after all. Our driver wants to pick us up early in case of weather. Whew. That's fine.
As we start to gather the dirty laundry, Lou's expression was that of a person who had just lost his best friend. He'd left his insulin in the minibar fridge at the hotel in Anacapri. After several frantic calls to Antonietta, it was confirmed that she had the insulin and she graciously agreed (well beyond what was expected) to meet Lou at Marina Grande in Capri. I headed off to the laundromat and he waited for a taxi to take him back to the port in Sorrento where he caught the next ferry to Capri.
I love the authentic moments of our trip. Figuring out the toll roads, going to the supermarket... and doing laundry. I hadn't planned on going to the laundromat without my translator but in the end, it worked out fine. I muddled through the how-tos of the process with an Australian couple who'd gotten there minutes before I arrived. They watched my laundry as I went to the convenience store on the left to buy something that would leave me with €4 in coin. Tomato flavored potato chips were purchase #1. The Aussie husband and I sat outside talking while our clothes washed, rinsed and spun. In order to get €4 more in coin for the dryer, I went to the convenience store on the right to purchase something else. I've been on the lookout for a pistachio Magnum bar, but there were none to be found. It probably would have cost more than one euro which would meant I wouldn't have had change for the dryer. I purchased a bottle of effervescent water. Aussie husband and I sat outside talking some more as the clothes dried. Then, an Italian woman arrived - and she needed our help figuring out how the machines worked. Our help! Imagine that. As I was folding our clothes, I had to help her with the dryer. A few words of my Italian and her load was on its way to being dry. She seemed so happy when I said, "Arriverderci," on my way out the door.
I'd only been sitting in the hotel room for about 20 minutes when Lou returned from Capri. With the insulin. "You didn't happen to pick up those shot glasses, did you?" He said he'd thought of it but was more anxious to get on the next ferry back, especially as the day trippers were starting their mass exodus off the island.
We are able to walk from this hotel into the historic center so after a bit, we walked to a restaurant I'd found online called Inn Bufaloto. It specializes in buffalo mozzarella and buffalo meet. We ordered the mozzarella tasting as our antipasti. As we ended up with burrata envy, perhaps that wasn't the wisest choice. But it was good. Lou wanted to try the bean soup. It was delicious. But seriously, €10 for a small bowl of bean soup? Lou had a buffalo steak which is nothing like our buffalo/bison meat at home.
Strolling back to the hotel, we did some shot glass window shopping but there were only 3 of the glasses we loved. We'd like 4 for when we invite friends over to taste our homemade limoncello. We'll keep looking.
No rush to get out of here in the morning so we can sleep in a little bit. Gaetano, our driver, should be here between 11:30 and noon. Lou's bet is that the pizza in Napoli is going to be a big letdown to me. We shall see.
Buona notte.
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