The Isle of Capri plus...

Us'ens on Capri, in Augustus Gardens. This proves that we were both really there.
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,June 12- The Isle of Capri plus...

We arrived for breakfast at 8 a.m. and were still there at 9:45. Erla Zwingle had joined us for breakfast and was it was very interesting. She talked about what is involved in being a writer for National Geographic and all that's invloved in getting a story ready for production.

.... all 777 of them

She is a freelance journalist and also writes for other magazines. She has an article appearing in the July 2006 issue of the Smithsonian Magazine regarding the annual festival in Pamplona, Spain which includes the running of the bulls. The countdown clock is running at http://www.sanfermin.com .

The beautiful harbor at Capri. Do you know how to say Capri? (It's CAP (like a baseball cap), REE. CAP-REE. Not like you just said before you read this. We didn't see any Capri pants, except on the tourists.
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The sea was still quite choppy this morning and the captain said we could not anchor off of Capri so he decided to anchor off Sorrento ( on the mainland opposite Capri). After some discussion and conversation with the tour guides waiting for the National Geographic tour group, it was decided that our group would still go to Capri but we would need to take the ferry from Sorrento to Capri.

When we arrived in Capri, there were about fifteen open air taxis waiting for our group along with three tour guides. As we all scrambled for a taxi, Gary & I kept missing out... We finally got one and it was just us and our driver who turned out to be a wonderful tour guide. Some of our shipmates teased us later that we looked like the king and queen going for a ride... (I didn't say anything about being the B.A.B.E.S.'s queen :-).

Our ship awaits off of Sorrento, with Mt. Vesuvius in the background. They say it's due any day now.. we're leaving.
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We drove through the town of Capri up and over to the town of Anacapri. The one and only road between them is quite narrow and has only been there since 1905. Before that the only way to Anacapri was up the stairs which have been used for hundreds of years. There are 777 steps!!! Apparently the number seven had a special meaning to the Greeks who built them -- amazing!

When we came back down to the town of Capri, our guides took us to the Augustus Gardens with their beautiful views of the other side of Capri. On the walk back from the gardens, we walked past the famous perfumery, Carthusia. I bought some lemon cologne and some small lemon soaps (they're crazy for lemons here!). The lemon soap will keep my suitcase smelling fresh also... :-)

As we didn't need to meet up until 4:30, we stopped for a glass of wine in Capri's piazzetta (little square). Many from our tour group were also there, doing the same thing, and relaxing & visiting.

At 4:30 we met our group at the funicular and took it down to the harbor to take the ferry back to Sorrento and catch our tender back to the ship.

When we arrived, a group was watching the World Cup on a large screen on the deck (the game that the USA lost :-( Picture this: hanging out watching the World Cup on the deck as our beautiful ship with unfurled sails is sailing past Sorento and the Isle of Capri. I still can't believe I'm here at times -- so very beautiful & very cool!

We visited with a couple we hadn't met before as we watched the game. He had a Kansas t-shirt on. Turns out he is originally from Kansas and went to KU as did his parents.

Tomorrow we are going through the Strait of Messina to Sicily and we will go up to Mt. Etna.