Ahhhh Sorrento

It's easy to say that at this point we are overwhelmed with each new turn. Just when we think we've seen the best thing we'll ever see, wham, the next new adventure proves to be as good, or better, than the last. Sorrento brings us to an entirely new adventure in that we are now tapdancing along the edge of the Meditteranean ocean and then into the Bay of Naples. (Sorrento and Naples are neighbors and are situated along the bay.) We wound up and down a hillside that was steep but overlooked the beautiful turquoise bay on our right. Our hotel "Il Faro" is across from the pier and thus down the hill from our bus stop in Sorrento. The hotel has sent a van to collect our luggage, which frees us to shop for a few hours on  the hilltop before dinner. We divide up into our family groups and take off. Sorrento is indeed good shopping and seems to have a bit of everything we've found individually in each city so far. Murano Glass, Florentine Leather, Cameo's, lots of lemon inspired products, etc. The girls had been saving their money to spend for here so they both had enough to buy a really nice leather purse, scarves, earrings and Mackenzie found a "clearance" bin leather jewelry box. I have enjoyed one of the two purses that I bought in 2007, on almost a daily basis so I managed to find one that is the same color and about the same size as the one I have already. Patrick kept admiring a leather carry on bag in each store so while he was in a neighboring store with the girls, I picked one up for him for fathers day, which would be tomorrow, and managed to hide it amongst the many other bags of loot we were carrying around.

The girls and I enjoyed a gelato at undoubtedly the best gelato stop so far. With Lemon's being such a big part of the landscape here, I couldn't resist ordering mine in the lemone and it was just like eating a fresh lemon. The girls of course, had something gooey with chocolate. Patrick has discovered "Granita's" which is best described as a small glass with fresh whipping cream, then hawaiin shave ice infused with espresso, then topped with more heavy whipping cream. He had his first two in Florence and was determined to find another one here. Mission accomplished.

We met most of our group in the central square and then had an interesting time traversing the cliffside 100 steps/stairs down to the shore area and made our way to our hotel. This is a very sweet, mom and pop hotel that one might expect to stay at a seaside resort in Europe. Carol said when she was waiting to go up to her room she noticed the owner pulled out a hankerchief and polish the button to the elevator. So while this isn't at all a posh, new, American hotel at all, this is a charming, well loved family run boutique hotel.

Tonight we will enjoy a one of a kind experience, paid for by EF tours to make up for the bum hotel experience in Florence. We were taxi'd back up the hill to a local theater to enjoy an evening of traditional Neopolitan dancing and singing. While it was all in Italian, it was charming, entertaining, fascinating, etc. The place was once a hotbed of upper crust but now it was half full of either tourists like us or Italian's on vacation. Everyone was served champagne or whatever drinks they wanted during the hour and a half long show. At the end, the audience was invited to dance about on the stage with each other or the performers. While the evening had us up very late and we had yet another early start to our day, it was worth the exhaustion to see this very charming show. Thanks EF!

Back to our rooms, that are spacious and clean, for a good nights sleep.

Buona Notte Sorrento!