We Made It To Praiano

     A short two hour flight from Paris and we landed in Naples Italy.  Our luggage, however, was still in Paris!  Which is ridiculous for many reasons.  But most of all, we saw our luggage on the carousel in Paris, and a guy was taking it off to be put on the plane to Naples.  The airline ticket lady assured us that we had not actually seen our luggage on the carousel: you mean the three bags that look identical and have our names and addresses on the tags in our handwriting?  Those bags that we didn't see?  Then as we walked away, the guy walked past and told me again that they were going to the plane bound for Naples.  Jack wagons!  (If you don't know this reference, find the Geico commercial where R. Lee Ermy is playing a psychiatrist).  We tracked down our bags, they'd arrive on a plane the next day at noon.

     We crashed at a hotel for the night (part of the original plan), where the bartender apologized that the pizza was a frozen reheat.  I thought it was funny.  We didn't trust the airport to make the two hour drive and find our apartment in a timely manner (and having no change of clothes) so we waited back at the airport to claim our bags.  The delay cost us six or seven hours of time in Praiano.  Jack wagons!

     The car rental place pulled a total bait and switch "we have a car....."  Wait.  What happened to the car I reserved and have already paid for?  "Oh.  You want that car?  Its a manual.  This one is automatic and has GPS."  Turns out, automatic shifting and GPS were totally worth it!  Poor Tony drove two hours through hairpin turns and narrow two lane streets where the bus barreling down the opposite side came around a corner looking like it was going to smash us and passed within inches of us.  I was a nervous wreck and had to read a book to prevent the imminent freak out.

     Our apartment is amazing!  For around 150 euro a night we have a two bed, two bath apartment with ocean views from both balconies and our bedrooms.  Unfortunately, the pictures never donut justice.  I couldn't sleep after the adrenaline if Bar results, so I spent and hour waitin for the sun to come up over the mountain at Capo Conco. Wouldn't it figure that it clouded up just as the sun was about to appear?

     We finally arrived in Praiano mid afternoon on Wednesday, where the guy with our keys managed to find us. Super sweet guy, Tony (an Italian guy from Canada) made us several reservations and made tons of recommendations for the best places in the area. Like our own personal Trip Advisor!

     The market nearby is called Tutti per Tutto, which means everything for everybody. Meat, veggies, cleaning supplies, munchies, and a serious wine cellar!  Canadian Tony sent us to meet Pasquale the market owner's son and wine maker, who gave us a couple of impromptu tastings when he was there. So amazing!  Even my Tony liked the wine (I've been trying to turn him for years)!  We made ourselves a nice simple dinner and started to get the lay of the town. 

So many stairs!  To get out of our place we have to up climb 93 stairs; and to get to the bottom of the mountain to the beach is down 300 with some serious inclined straightaways.  I don't mind the the down so much, but the up is horrible!  Tony disagrees with me, he likes the up part better.

     It's got to get easier, right?