Positano Day1

(Originally written 25 May 2013)

Every once in a while back home, you may find yourself in some little Italian restaurant and see a poster on the wall of some amazing scene along the Amalfi Coast.  You may think, “Holy cow that is beautiful! That place looks simply amazing!”  You may even think, “Before I die, THAT is a place I MUST go to.”  And so you add it to your “Bucket List”.

Some of our first images of the coast.

We arrived today in Positano on the first leg of a 2+ week vacation to Southern Italy.  My impression of this place: take your highest expectations of the Amalfi Coast from looking at that amazing poster on the wall – and it’s way better than that.  The posters just don’t do it justice.

Everyone's so excited upon first arrival!

As I sit here writing this, I am looking at our bedroom window, across the terraced rooftops of the town below, and across the turquoise blue sea.  There is a cacophony of birds singing away, their sing-songy tunes interspersed with the noble chimes of the town’s church bells.  I am enjoying a moment of absolute luxury, especially for a parent - the luxury of laying down for a few minutes, closing your eyes, and just resting.  Really resting.  And as I lay there resting in peace, the images in my mind's eye are of the most vibrant colors of flowers, tropical flowers, and of the biggest, brightest lemons you have ever seen; purple wisteria canopies, roses of the deepest reds, orchids, flowering vines of every variety, and orange trees.  There is of course the deep blue sea and a beautiful blue sky dotted with puffy white clouds.  The images are all similar to what you might see in that travel poster, but it all comes to wonderful life when the breezes blow the waves of the sea and the leaves on the olive trees.  It’s the difference between seeing a Star Wars poster, then seeing it on a 40ft movie screen with Dolby sound and full CG animation.  You can’t be prepared for the real thing.

Tres chic, if you ask me.

There also must be something different about the air here.  It’s wonderful.  It feels cleansing.  Maybe it has nothing to do with the quality of the air as much as just being in this wonderful place, on a long, relaxed vacation with my family.  The little muscles around my eyes and cheeks feel like their being drained of stress.  Little muscles in my neck and shoulders.  It's a light breeze with crisp, cool air that gets in my sinuses, swirls around, and flushes stress and negativity out of those deep places inside where it gets trapped sometimes.

Our biggest concern right now is whether we should venture out and eat fresh fish for a nice dinner or if we will just chill at home tonight with fresh ingredients we bought at the market and a bottle of Brunello wine.

Josh proved to have a great knack for taking pictures.

This is good.  This is really, really good.
 
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