Life doesn’t always work out how you plan….
Well, as I mentioned in my last post…we were off to Sorrento to celebrate Glenn’s 55th birthday…I had booked and paid for a lovely hotel up the top of the mountain, witha magnificent view of Mt Vesuvius and dinner at their restaurant. when we finally arrived at the end of our train journey - it took us 7 hours and 2 trains to get there - it was dark, wet and windy so I suggested that we catch a taxi to the hotel… we found a guy who spoke a bit of English and way we went… I watched the meter anxiously as we climbed and climbed slowly up the winding road… we finally got there and the thing said we owed 40 euro.!!!! wowsers… but the “best ” was yet to come… the hotel seemed quite dark and the driver laughed and said that maybe it was closed for the winter… and guess what, IT WAS. We finally found a note on the door that said we had been transferred to another hotel back down in town..so we had no alternative but to catch the taxi back down the hill, so we paid 80 euro to travel up and down. The new hotel was quite lovely but I was feeling rather upset by this time, as I had planned such a special time for Glenn and it seemed to be unravelling. We had also been told that there was a transport strike the next day, so our plans to visit Pompeii and Herculeum were also ruined, as we only had that one day to do it.
When the new hotel people took us to our room, with no view and with twin beds, that is when I let a few tears slide down my cheeks. The guy noticed and asked what was wrong… he left and then returned and said our room had been changed… yeah … a room with a view !!! much happier tourists now. It was now quite late and Glenn wasn’t feeling great - he had a runny nose and sore throat and I was also worried about that, what with his low white cell count. We decided to blow the cost and have dinner in the hotel and not worry about trying to find another cheaper place. Suddenly there was a knock at the door and in walked a lass with a bottle of champagne, some nibbles and glasses. Happy Birthday she says !!! more tears… but this time with gratitude for their kindness.
Dinner was lovely and we relaxed and enjoyed ourselves as the only clients in the restaurant…. off to bed with both of us now feeling physically unwell…sore throat, coughs and splutters…. by the next morning we were both feeling like very sick puppies !!! and decided to simply stay in bed and sleep and rest up. Surpringly, Glenn recovered far faster than I - I am still not 100 % and it is weeks later. I think mine developed into Bronchitis, as usual when I get a cold. We had all our meals in the hotel - which cost us a bit - but we didn’t really care by that time.
On the day we left Sorrento, the sun finally came out and we got to see some views. We caught a taxi to the station and got the train to Pompeii - figuring we’d walk around for just a short while, dragging those bags. As we left the station, a guy offered to mind our bags whilst we did the ruins. I was a bit suss but he obviously does it regularly as he had tickets etc. so we were then free to wander for a few hours through the old city before collecting the bags and catching the train back to Rome and finding our B & B. We didn’t like the trains in Italy - totlaly covered in graffiti, dirty, nosiy and they cahrged us for trips, even though we had our Eurail pass. In fact, by the time, we paid all the reservation fees, we figure it would have been cheaper to just pay for what we used… we will do that next time.
So, Rome……
