Today we Departed the Amalfi Coast, and I’ll share two final thoughts on that leg of the trip:

One: On our last night we took the ferry to Positano to have dinner at a mountainside family restaurant, La Tagliata, which overlooked the town and sea far below. The dining experience was extraordinary as plate after plate of delicious food was set before us until we were so stuffed not even a thin mint could fit in our stomachs. In addition to growing their own food (including their own meat) they also bottle their own wine – which was delicious. Everything, including the bottomless glasses of wine, was but 50 euros per person! And yes, that included homemade limoncello for dessert.

That said, prior to taking a taxi up to the restaurant we hoofed around the town of Positano for a bit. We found it to be ridiculously crowded, and especially difficult to access. All of these towns are built into cliffs, but Positano seemed to require the greatest amount of mountain climbing for the smallest amount of good shops and restaurants. Also, it was a 40 Euro taxi ride from Positano to the restaurant, and then a 120 Euro taxi ride from the restaurant back to our hotel in Amalfi. Tack on the cost of the ferry tickets and we ended up spending twice as much on our transportation as we did on that magnificent dinner!

Still worth it, but GEEEEZ!

Two: About 10 years ago, scientists recovered a fair amount of human waste from the sewers under Herculaneum. It was from the time of the eruption, and many things were learned about the residents by looking at the composition of their waste. One thing they discovered is that someone had eaten a giraffe!

As you might know, giraffes are not native to Italy so it had to be expensive to bring them in. Personally, having one as a pet sounds cool, but having one with a side of fava beans is a different story!

We are now on the third leg of our journey, a 24-hour tornado of tourism across Rome. This included guided tours of the Vatican, St. Peters and the Colosseum …

… plus, our own “Night Walk Through Rome” – snacking and drinking our way through the Campo di Fiori, the Piazza Navona, the Pantheon and the Trevi Fountain.

The Piazza Navona always has a couple street performers working the crowds. Musicians, magicians, human statues, mimes; you name it. While people-watching at an outdoor restaurant, we watched with interest as this dude set up shop near our table. See if you can guess his talent …

I was expecting just about anything from him: magic tricks, beer guzzling, polka dancing, striptease.

What I didn’t expect was him to push play on his CD player, prompting the elegant tones of Italian opera music to flow from his speaker, and for him to then sing opera with the vibrance and tone of Pavarotti. But he did, and my tip reflected his brilliance.

Rome was awesome, but given we’re probably the 453 millionth people to have seen and done this circuit of tourist sites, I’ll write no more.

It’s now on to our cruise ship a for a 14-day cruising adventure! Ciao.