Med. Trip -June1

Travel day. Yuck! It was slightly overcast and drizzled for a little while, but then turned nice. After breakfast I was treated to a show by a pod of about five or more dolphins. Of course, I had my long camera lens in the suit case which was already picked up by the porters we ordered for transporting them up the hill to our bus stop. We had to walk up to meet them. After walking the dreaded 184 steps to the road, we started our accent. The road goes up in gentle switchbacks. I discovered an internal route, a road which would cut out the long loops. It was a staircase. And around the corner was another staircase, and another, and another. We climbed hundreds of stairs before we were finally spewed out on the highway, just past our bus stop. My choice may have saved some distance and time, but did not win me any credits. We stupidly followed the manager's advice and got to the bus stop 40 minutes early, supposedly because the bus arrivals can be unpredictable due to traffic jams. Perhaps the bus early. Is it even possible for a bus to be 30 minutes early? If so, it is really the previous bus that is really late. Waiting for the bus we were amazed at the scooters that zoomed along with dogs standing on them, and parking everywhere. The narrow three foot wide shoulder, clearly marked as a walking path, was covered in parked scooters. When the bus came, right on schedule, it was very full. Of course we were traveling with four large suitcases. We had to open the luggage compartment ourselves and load in the bags. The curb side was full so I had to go in the middle of the highway to open the other side. The bus driver never got up or even offered any advice or assistance. We got on and had to stand all the way while the bus lurched around corners and jerked to the fast and slow pace of traffic. Italians rarely just talk. They always seem to yell at others and it is difficult to know if he conversation is friendly or not. The driver was even yelling on his cell phone. Driving and using a cell phone, even on narrow, tight-curved and busy highways does not seem to be a problem. Neither is flying through stop signs with a bus full of people. Taking the train from Sorrento to Napoli was uneventful but at the station, waiting for the departures board to tell us which track the Rome train was on, we were suddenly approached by a fellow with a blue jacket on. He asked if we were going to Rome, and then took Jo's suit case and told us to follow him. He showed us a logo on his coat which supposedly showed that he was an official worker. Before I knew it, he took my suit case out of my hand and walked a ways, with me telling him I did mot need assistance. Another man came, clearly his buddy, and too my suit case. At that point I stepped in and protested, says I did not want them touching our bags. Jo too took her bag. The second fellow quickly disappeared when I said I did not care what his jacket supposedly indicated. The first guy still stayed with us to show us where the Rome train was, and then took our bags onto one of the cars. There was not enough room in the overhead, so he packed all our bags together on a pair of seats at the back. I would have been afraid to do that but he said it was ok. I decided I should give him something for find storage for us, and gave him two euros. He said no, it was 10 euros. After a bit I gave him 10 euros. Then he said no, that was only for the two bags, and he wanted another for my sister and BIL's bags. I refused, and he asked BIL for 10 euros. Ee said no, he was not getting any more. We argued a little, but could see we were not budging, and left very quickly. I am sure it was a scam but that's the way it goes. After some blind searching we did find our apartment by asking a fellow on the street near where we thought we had to be, and he right away said, "Are you Gerry Meyer?" He was the neighbour we were instructed to get the key from. Our building was a very old heritage building. In the stairwell, they were uncovering a fresco of virgin Mary, painted some time in the 1600's. Our apartment was accessed by hauling our luggage up three floors of stairs. We thought we were done with that after we left Positano!

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