Praiano is a primarily residential neighborhood, and Positano was exhorbitantly expensive, so we decided to head to Sorrento for some shopping in Sunday. The day we spent in Sorrento is one of my favorites, tied with Capri. Not because Sorrento was amazing, but because we had rented scooters and the ride was fabulous!
Alana was probably the smart one, she wouldn't get in the scooter with Josh. I took the bus with her 1) so she wouldn't be alone, and 2) I wanted Tony to have some time to get used to driving before acquiring a passenger.
So here I am, the American tourist with my phone up against the window (minimizes the glare and reflection potential) taking pictures and hoping to get something more than trees and telephone poles.
I got a few good shots in. When we got to Sorrento on the bus, we really had no idea where we were. I tried to call Tony, but that expensive international plan we paid for really didn't seem to want to work for his phone. After a half a dozen calls, and a tons of unanswered texts, they finally stopped driving parked about 30 yards from where we were fueling up on some amazing coconut and chocolate gelato. I've discovered a dangerous love of gelato, in case you can't tell.
We walked around and did some shopping before getting Alana back to the bus stop and jumping on the scooters. After we dropped her off, we had to go back to the gas station. While touring about trying to find us, the boys had stopped for gas for Tony's scooter. The pump didn't take sany cards, Tony didn't have cash, and Josh only had a 50€ note. The bill went into the matching, and 10€ worth of gas was pumped. The receipt printed out says (in Italian) present receipt for change. Present where? There was nobody around. By chance, somebody else came up and I went to use my broken Italian to ask what to do. In my frustration I ended up switching to Spanish. And she spoke Spanish!!!! The receipt needs to be presented to the owner of the pump, who is only around in the morning.
If there's ever a long lost relative who leaves me property, I want a parking lot/garage in San Francisco or a gas pump in Italy. Not that I'm picky or anything. I seriously wonder how much extra that guy makes in the change that people never bother to claim.
The drive back was absolutely beautiful. There really is something to being able to be touched by nature while traveling. Like a hike, but at high speeds. And by high speeds, I mean 50 kph (30 mph) while squeezing passed clogged rush hour traffic, around turns that make a "hairpin" look wide, and being seriously passed up by other people on scooters. Like the woman in a business suit and 5" heels with a briefcase between her calves. She passed us like we were walking. But, still, so much fun!
When we got home and unpacked our treasures, I realized a shirt I had bought still had that magnetic lock on it. No wonder I set off the alarm, but they paid me no mind. We had to go back the next day to have it removed. Darn!!!
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