SCOOOOOOTERS!!!

I don’t know if I can describe one of the best days of my life with words.  Honestly.  I mean, I’ve had some pretty wonderful days that cannot be surpassed – the birth of my nephew, for example.  But today was definitely in the top 10. 

Our intention when we got up this morning was to rent scooters and scoot to Amalfi, which is about 8 or 9 miles away.  I need to preface this with another story.

Last time I was here with my friends, Deanna and Maria, we rented scooters.  Typically, when they rent to an individual, you can rent a 50cc scooter which is fairly low powered.  It’s a good idea to go this route if you’ve never ridden before.  However, on that day, they were out of the 50cc scooters and gave each of us 125cc scooters, which have a bit more power.

I’ll spare you all the details, but I crashed that day.  Twice.  I ran into a garage door and got my leg caught in a sconce, and then I ran into a cliff wall on the freeway.  I had huge bruises from my hip to my toes. 

So today, when they told us that again they were out of the 50cc scooters, I got a little freaked. But we did it.  Why stop now?

They brought us to the garage, showed us the scooters (they did have one 50cc left which Hannah got since she hadn’t ridden on the coast here before), gave us a little primer on how to operate them, and helped us on our way by riding with us about a half kilometer.  After that, we were on our own.

What to say next…

Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!! 

OMG, we had SO much fun!  At first we were timid, staying slow-ish, getting the feel of the bikes, the curves in the road, and the traffic.  We were pretty much that way until we got to Amalfi. 

Amalfi is a beautiful little town a bit smaller than Positano but probably more popular.  It has more of a port than our town does, though and gets a bit more traffic. 

We parked our scooters (in a parcheggio) and found food to go (a calzone-type of thing but the pastry part was soft and doughey like a donut).  Then we made our way to the beach.  One must have priorities.  We rented more chairs on the beach and laid in the sun for about an hour and a half, then changed back into our street clothes.

Next we did a little shopping in Amalfi, stopping at beautiful little stores.  Hannah bought a new green bag which looks very cute.  Oh, and we had gelato!  Crème di limone.  Soooooo good.

We also took a tour of the Amalfi Cathedral which is dedicated to the apostle, St. Andrew (the first called to follow by Jesus).  It is said that the saint’s head and some other bones are kept in a reliquary here.  This is often the case with many old Catholic cities that have a patron saint.  It gives them a sense that their city is blessed and holy.

Then it was back to the bikes!!  Last time I rode, we were so shaken by my crashes that we didn’t do much besides go to Amalfi and back.  This time, we headed farther from Positano, zooming along the windey highway, dodging other cars and scooters, stopping occasionally to see one magnificent view after another.  We were high from the wind and the sun and the beauty of it all.  All that smiling we did risked major bugs-in-teeth but we were living on the edge, baby! 

We drove through Atrani, Ravello, Minori, Maiori all the way to Capo d’Orso.  We actually made it so far that we could see the city of Salerno!  At that point we took more beautiful photos, then decided to head back before it started to get dark.

On the way back we stopped in Praiano and ate pizza and Fanta while we watched the sun go down on the Mediterranean.

Can you possibly beat that?  Honestly?  I don’t think so. 

Oh – and neither of us crashed.  Not once.  Not even close!  Unless you count the time when Hannah tried to pass a car in a tunnel and almost hit a van head-on.  But hardly close!

We have to go continue being blissed out. 

Love you all!