Bongiorno from Salerno. The weathers mixed and plans well......just didn't happen. Didn't really have a plan C until it was too late. But I'll indulge the original plan which was to hire a scooter from Salerno and steer it around the tint and twisty streets of the Amalfi Coast and Sorrento before catching a train to a designated shit hole of Ladispoli. I googled Salerno scooter hire, well nothing. The only place in Italy that doesn't hire scooters. They had some in the nearby town so i thought I'd hit the streets see if there is a scooter hire place there without a website in Salerno if not, just walk to the next town. It look manageable on maps so i tried. After and hour of walking and a dead end/sheer cliff faces you can't walk to the next town. I did get to see the shipping harbour and all of the containers! Yay! As i was walking I was pilfering unsecured wireless internet searching again, checking maps again. Nothing. While i was walking i did have it hail on me. It was the weakest hail I'd ever seen, not car denting cricket ball sized stuff we get back home! I didn't even realize it until they were bouncing off the ground, oh hail.
Salerno is quite a pretty place, but is just really a port and a train station to connect to the Amalfi Coast. And if i had a brain in gear i could have taken the bus to Amalfi and either walked around or got a scooter there. But i only realized they had buses to Amalfi at about 2pm, my train to the shit hole was at 5:45. I asked the information lady how long does it take to get to Amalfi? One hour, hmm ok got a ticket and a timetable and the bus would be here in 5mins. Hmm bus actually takes 1hr 15mins, leaving me 15mins to see Amalfi, and get on the 4pm bus back, rush to the hotel get my bag out of storage and back to the train station. So i went back she gave me my money and i just sat down and started to people watch, to play this you need people. As opposed to last night there is not a lot of people out in Salerno during the day. So i decided I better have pizza!
I took a train to a little town called Ladispoli, it's just north of Rome and a great kick off point for the next days travels to Pisa, La Spezia and Levanto on the Cinque Terre. It took about half an hour to get to the hotel from the train station, and let's just say that it was the only place i haven't felt safe. I was getting dingy looks from a lot of people, though i don't think its a touristy type town, so they've probably never seen someone carrying their life on their backs! Over 30kg, but the legs still manages. I saw a "lady" well female, spit on the sidewalk. Im not a fan of spitting in public let alone on the sidewalk, guys or girls. Sometimes your sick and have to get rid of it, but do it discreetly. Got to the hotel, wifi and phone service, check. Walk inside the room, nothing. Stand in the doorway, wifi, walk 2m out, phone service. Ahh bugger it! I wanted to book Paris accom and train travel to Bath and accom Bath for the first night before i see Gina! I hadn't eaten since the pizza in Salerno and according to the hotel in Ladispoli (shithole) the restaurant closes at 10:30pm, good i have half hour. I go and see my little dude at reception, nope they closed at 10pm. I could have said the sign says 10:30, but I'm too tired, just make sure to eat as soon as i can, which ended up being 24 hours after my last meal. Stomach made heaps of noises, but nothing was open and had no time until my train from Pisa > La Spezia was cancelled. The best thing about Ladispoli was the wake up call. Just before my phone alarm went off, BANG! BANG! I know that sound! I lay back with a big smile, no it's not a fat-a-gram running to my door........thunderstorm! My second in Europe and if it woke me up earlier i could have got some shots. It was a very powerful, and a lot of ground strikes, and they just pulsed and pulsed, beautiful! Noise was fantastic! I managed to to get three more storms though out the day. The last one in Levanto i managed to find a little cover and shot away. It kinda died in the ass when i got set up but in the 90mins i was there i got a couple of good ones. I taunt the storm when I'm shooting them, "c'mon, c'mooooon, now......now!" "nothing like gold coast storms" even asked Thor out for some help, and bang! Cheers Thor!
My train from to Pisa was about half hour late so i only had an hour to get in get some shots and get back on the train.Pisa isn't much but the grounds that surrounds it is very nice one. They must have relaid the grass after the summer tourists, so it looked in great condition. But keep of the grass. What, just cause I'm black you're telling me off keep off the grass! I also did think the leaning tower was going to be a bit bigger. But it was there and so were everyone doing the exact same pose, trying to look like they are trying to hold it up, i tried to demonstrate the severity of the lean by getting it lined up with street poles and the Duomo they have there.
La Spezia, now to the Cinque Terre, i thought I'll get a quick hike in the arvo before sunset. Ok multiple things went against me. The cancelled train in Pisa made me 35mins later, the majority of the hiking trails are closed due to the amount of rain they have had recently making the trails very slippery (yeah bit devastated about that one) and an on coming storm, but that one was ok in my books (get the camera ready). As the train is winding through the towns i looked out to the ocean, something strange was going on that i hadn't seen before, I'd seen it in videos but never witnessed it in person. Water spouts, or water based tornadoes. And a day after writing about the love of natural weather and it's extremes! The only problem i had was that there was so many tunnels so i couldn't be sure of what i was seeing. I got the Levanto, i could see only one left, couldn't get a photo, so i stood with my backpacks on, standing on a bench fully zoomed in on my little canon. I filmed about 15 secs of it, very cool. Unfortunately after i checked in and when i got to the beach that big black cloud that caused those water spouts had disappeared. As i surveyed the area for the new storm coming over the hills i saw two old people sitting in a chair, his arm over her keeping them close, they were here to see the sunset, and it was one of the most beautiful sunsets. I wonder how many times they had done that. It was a really sweet moment that one day I hope to have with my lucky lady, whoever she is. I couldn't help but try and get them in my shots or incorporate them without disturbing them. It was such a warm moment and a gorgeous sunset just as a storm front was coming it. I'm not a hugely emotional man but that moment really hit me. I felt lonely, but i could feel the love from these two old people. It put a lump in my throat and eyes even welled up. These moments in life are the greatest, you never take them for granted. Sometimes people forget about the small stuff that makes you feel all warm and fuzzy. It was a really sweet moment and i was glad i was there to see and experience it as a third person. It started to rain just after the sun dipped under the horizon like a perfect cue, ok, suns gone, start rain. It got pretty heavy and storm was in full swing, but the lightning wasn't impressive or breaking the clouds, so i went in search for some shops to get some aqua and apples for tomorrows little hike! Pink lady score (my fav apples)! By that time the storm had kicked up a notch and it was time to grab everything and find a sheltered spot and start shooting. I loved it, being cold, there with my camera and my favorite tv channel, storm tv! Every 30mins i was going to pack up, then boom! Ok i'll keep going. It always like that with storms, i have been out for 3 hours before! So today was good, four storm, i shot one, saw Pisa, ate pizza for dinner and witnessed a beautiful moment with the perfect setting! Walking tomorrow, sleep on the French Italian border, Monaco Thursday and Paris Thursday night.
Not long left now.
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