Leaving Sorrento
Sorrento to Frankurt: We had a late
morning at our lovely hotel, watching the ship traffic in the harbor below
our balcony. The haze over distant Napoli was quite distinct today - the
trash was burning. Yeah!
Another day, another cruise ship: the view from 620 this morning.
Vesuvius is visible, but it is Naples smoking today.
Ferries heading off to Naples and Capri
DT says goodbye to Sorrento
We checked out at noon. DT left me in the lobby with the
luggage while he went to get the rental car. I sat down with a fat magazine,
prepared for a one-hour wait (after our experience in Venice). I was
surprised when he returned 15 minutes later with our teeny little car. It
was just large enough for two people and their luggage. I programmed the GPS
and we were on our way to Leonardo da Vinci airport, just outside of Rome.
We hated leaving perfect Sorrento, but we will always have our memories (and
a ton of photos) of this fun vacation with Martin and Shirley. And don't
forget the signature song of the town, "Return to Sorrento".
The drive to Naples is a bit stressful - narrow roads, crazy drivers and
scooters dodging between the lanes. But as we neared Naples, we hopped on
the toll-road and it became a 3-lane super highway. DT kept the teeny car
hovering around 70 mph and it sometimes felt like we were standing still -
cars passed us going over 100 mph! We were even passed by three diminutive
SMART cars!
We stopped only once - at a huge rest area/restaurant/coffee
shop/toilet/duty-free shop and gas station combo. It was quite nice and
clean. Vendors were hustling in the parking area to wash your wind screen or
sell you socks. I never think to purchase socks in a rest area, do you?
Our miniature rental car
The GPS lead us directly to the Rome Airport, but we could
not find signs for the car rental return. We drove through the departure
drop-off and then asked the GPS. "Jill" led us directly to the Europcar
office - in the public parking garage. This was a bit confusing to us - to
return your rental car you have to enter the parking structure and take a
ticket as you enter. Oh, those fun-loving Italians!
The drop-off took less than one minute, and soon we were in the terminal and
checked-into our flight to Frankfurt. Going through security was a breeze -
no lines - and we were not required to remove our shoes, bottles of water
were fine and he never even asked if I had a laptop. Sweet. We entered the
Lufthansa executive lounge and freshened up, caught up on the world via CNN
and had a salad.
Our flight to Frankfurt was uneventful and we are spending the night in a
hotel at the airport - to catch an early flight tomorrow to Portland. This
room is the most expensive of the trip and we have our first twin beds of
the trip. Actually, in Europe every room has twin beds... but they are
usually pushed together. In Frankfurt, they were separated.
How romantic. But, seriously - who cares? This hotel has high speed internet
- the first since leaving home 22 days ago. We are on the executive floor,
so went to the club room and foraged for (free) food.
Pedometer: An unbelievable 9,837 (4.18 miles). Most of those steps were in
airports. Gelato of the Day: No more gelato for me!