Rome - Tuesday - To Coastal Amalfi

Tuesday, we got to know Sue and Ernie a bit better, as well as another mother-daughter team from Philadelphia (daughter from Lansdowne, mother now up in Maine) of all places. After hugs and goodbyes and settling up the bill with Anne and David, they took su to Zagarolo station, where we missed our first train, but made the second, and were soon back at Termini Station where we bought our tickets to Salerno on the Amalfi Coast. We had an hour or two to kill, so we went in search of a new electrical adapter since the one we've been using successfully for the last week or so seems to have kicked the bucket. Finally, we found alittle tobacco shop that sold them, and bought a "fancier" model that will work all over Europe. We had some coffees at our little "Illy" shop, and I had a sandwich, we browsed books in English at the bookstore, and then ran to the train. The train ride was very pleasant and comfortable, and once deposited at the train station in Salerno, we had to figure out what bus to take to get to Amalfi, where we had reserved a room for the next 3 nights. With some help from a few friendly guys in the station, we bought our tickets, found our stop, and then headed across the street for a snack while we waited for the next bus to arrive. Late, we boarded the bus, and were off to Amalfi. We learned about having to validate our bus tickets, by writing our origin and destination cities on them, and were reminding of the importance of doing this when the ticket validation agent fined the girl seated in front of us 35EUR or so for not having hers correctly validated. The ride to Amalfi was absolutely staggering. It was a full-size bus, and the road was a cliff-hanging twisty-turny hairpin-curvy little two-lane stretch populated with other buses, scooters, trucks, cars, and pedestrians. With only a little concrete wallk about 3 feet hight for protection from the rocky edge, we could look straight down the edge of the jagged cliffs into the waters below. The views were from the bus were some of the most amazing I've seen. The water a deep green-blue, with mountains that explode out from underneath. After about a breath-taking ride of about an hour and half, we arrived to the gorgeous seaside town of Amalfi. And, our hotel, "La Bussola" was right there, just a few hundred feet away, right on the water. I honestly was quite leary of how our accomodations were going to turn out because of how ridiculously cheap the room was (60 EUR/night) in comparison to how the pictures looked online. Well, it is much more than we could have expected. I guess because it is in the midst of some painting, and renovations, and because it is still off season, the price was lowered. But our view is amazing, and the whole place appears immaculate. What a find!!! And, when we got off the bus, and guy from Austrailia told us about a little pub, Willie's Place, just up the hill, that served bitters, ales, stoudts, lagers, etc., with free Internet, cheap long-distance International calls and all the sports on satellite TV...guess where we were going?!?!?! After checking in, taking some video, and unpacking, we headed out for a walk, and lounged out on the beach, and the pier, taking lots of pictures, and then hiked up the side of a cliff up to Willies. Inside, we met David, a friendly, but difficult to understand English chap, who set us up with a Tetley's better and a StrongBow cider. Eventually, the rest of his crowd, Steve and Willy, showed up, and another mother-daughter duo from the States (Alabama and Chicago) to indulge in a few pints. Willy was quite a trip, and actually quite helpful with restaurant recommendations and instructions about getting to the supermarket. After a few, we said our goodbyes and promised to return. It was dark, and so we carefully navigated our way back to the hotel, and called it a night.