The magic school bus

I don’t know if you knew this, but drivers in Europe are INSANE. And what I mean by that is, they drive like crazy people. However, I think they would still maintain their composure during the apocalypse. Driving during the apocalypse even. So, we were on our merry way to Minori from Rome and I decided to take a nap against the window. After a while I woke up and opened my eyes to brick wall. It was kind of disorienting, since the brick wall should not have been that close to my face, as there was a glass window between the brick wall and my face. However, after rousing myself and investigating further, I discovered that the bus had become more or less lodged in the middle of a tunnel. With about three inches of space on either side of the bus. So, our (unnaturally calm) bus driver started backing slowly but surely out of the said tunnel. Everyone in the bus, by the way, is pretty much silent. Besides the occasional intake of breath or aghast muttering. This was a big bus! And a small tunnel! Pretty soon we got some space between us and the wall on one side, so the vespas lost no time and squeezed by going about 25 miles per hour. Then we came to find out we were blocking a giant line of cars on either end of the tunnel. Somehow, this tunnel was supposed to be a two-way street. Crazy Europeans. Anyway, after about ten minutes, we started backing down a long and windy road, back to the main road. Safe and sound. And the driver still got us there way before Peter had planned! Must also speed like a maniac, too. But it’s not over yet. After a while more of driving, we came to the hills of Minori. GORGEOUS, by the way. Honestly, nothing can compare, and words can’t do it justice. Have a few pictures.

So, these streets are small. Very small! And twisty! Before every turn our driver had to honk (it sounded like the honk from a car in a Disney cartoon) to let the cars on the other side or the bend know we were coming. Often we had to stop and move out of the way to let cars go by, and vice versa. Once we met another big bus at a bend. That was a scary few minutes. Also, there is a small little gate thing on the side of the road, with about five inches of ground on the other side of it, then...thousand foot drop to the ocean. And on the other side of the small road—rock wall. Seriously nerve wracking. Here’s a view from my window on the bus.

But we finally got there, and what we found was nothing short of paradise. I honestly could not stop smiling. I wish I had taken more pictures, but I was just too distracted by everything. You know how there’s that endless debate about which is better, ocean or mountain? Well, just come to the Amalfi Coast and you don’t have to decide! Oh, sorry, SEA. Ok, I don’t know if seas are any different from oceans in regards to the amount of salt in them, but shoot! There is so much salt in the Mediterranean Sea! We could pretty much just sit there in the water, not moving at all, and we were in no danger of sinking, drowning, or dying! We spent one blissful day solely devoted to the beach. We swam until we got cold, laid out on the sun until we were dry, sketched (how very arty of me) until we were hot, then back into the sea to do it all over again. Throw in a few trips to the stores in the alleys right off the beach, some gelato, a few authentic Italian purchases, and viola! Paradiso!

Also, I picked out that very top window to live in when I live here later. Wanna come? You can have the delightful green shuttered window underneath.