Capri (June 8th)

Well, I can't say that sleeping in Cabin 17 was the best night's sleep I've had. Oh well. Ready or not, at 8 a.m, we marched down the side of the mountain of our campsite to a rather large rock. It was here that the boat would be picking us (and 30 other people) up for our tour of the island of Capri (actually pronounced KAH-pri). As we climbed aboard the boat, I noticed a couple that brought their dog on the boat with them. Italy sure is something. Dogs get to do everything and go everywhere; I love it. The eight of us got the best seats in the house...the bow of the boat. With the breeze blowing in my hair and the gorgeous view ahead, I felt like I was aboard the Titanic. Except for the part where the ship sinks and everybody dies. Before we would actually dock on the island of Capri, we made our way around the southern part of the island and to the Blue Grotto cave. The Blue Grotto is famous...well, for being blue. The rocks that form the cave don't touch the bottom of the ocean so the sunlight comes up underneath them and creates a luminous effect when inside the cave.

Our big boat pulled up to the Blue Grotto, where dozens of other boats were waiting for their chance to go inside as well. Little by little, small boats pulled up to the side of our boat and people got in, four at a time. These boats resembled the boat from The Notebook, for those of you that have seen that movie. Aka, all of you. Shelley, Jennifer, and I made our way towards the Blue Grotto with our tour guide. In order to get into the cave, you must lie completely flat until the boat makes its way under the entrance and into the cave. How exciting! Once inside the cave, it's pitch black except for the water. It was by the far the most beautifully blue water I have ever seen in my lifetime. I wish I could've stayed longer...unfortunately, the Blue Grotto has become somewhat (very much so) a tourist trap and for 12.50 euro, customers tour the cave for less than two minutes. My boat was pretty bummed when we exited the cave so quickly, but it was one of those times when you had to bite the bullet and do it. Once in a lifetime.

After the Blue Grotto, we made our way to Marina Piccola (small marina) and docked the boat. We would have almost six hours to explore the island of Capri by ourselves before rendezvousing with everyone at 4:00 p.m. Now, six hours is a lot of time to try to condense into a few paragraphs, so bear with me.

The eight of us split up into two groups: 1) Jenn, Jennifer, Shelley, and I 2) Melissa, Joanna, Kaleb, and Katie. Now I can't tell you all about their time on Capri, but I'm sure it was wonderful. My time on Capri began with a bus ride up the mountain. Having been in Sorrento the previous day, I figured bus rides here would be similar. Not the case. The roads in Capri are twice as windy and three times as narrow. Buses fly around corners and come within inches of walls and other buses traveling up and down the island. All I know is that my mother and my aunt Kathy would not have done well with the transportation. Our bus took us to the far side of the island, called Anacapri. Once off the bus, I was immediately ten times happier and excited to begin our day. The main thing we wanted to do in Anacapri was ride a chair lift up the mountain. Thanks to Jenn, we knew exactly where to go and exactly how much it would cost. For 10 euro, we purchased a round trip ticket up the mountain on a chairlift. Money well spent. This chairlift was well over 15 minutes each way, and the view was breathtaking as I'm sure you would assume. Even from way on top of the mountain, the water looked just as perfectly blue. Once we made our way up the mountain, we spent a solid hour or so walking around up top, taking in the views, and of course...socializing with other people. Many of the people in Capri were tourists, so most spoke English. As per usual, the Schmidt extrovert gene in me came out and I made a few friends. Passing by what looked like a podium, Jennifer and I felt the need to Tebow, and did so with a few praises from the "crowd". After making our way back down the mountainside, we climbed aboard yet another bus and took it back to the town of Capri.

The town of Capri very much resembled Sorrento in the way that the streets were all lined with little shops, many of them carrying Limoncello. While perusing the shops, we discovered that Capri is VERY expensive and resolved to not purchase anything. Well, almost. Shelley bought a couple of charms for her charm bracelet and that was it. Oh, and I bought the most delicious lemon slushie I have ever drank in my life. But that was it. We spent the remainder of our time in Capri hanging out on the beach, after meeting up with the rest of our group. Contrary to the beaches in Florida, Capri's beach is lined with rocks...and the water is ice cold. Nonetheless, we waded into the water, climbed aboard a giant rock, held hands, jumped off it, and screamed like girls do as we plummeted into the freezing water below us.

At 4:00 p.m., on the dot, we boarded the boat back to Sorrento. By the time we made it back to Sorrento, we had made our way around the entire island of Capri. It was by far my favorite place we have visited to date. Exhausted from our trip, we grabbed a quick bite of pizza for dinner before calling it a night. Jennifer brought her video camera along for the trip and created a brief video of our trip, which can be seen on my Facebook profile page. Enjoy! :)