I woke up the first morning of our cruise with a hangover.  I drank way too much prosecco in the piano bar.  A Diet Coke from the minibar seemed to help chase away my headache as I headed up to the top of the yacht (TOY Bar) for some coffee and fresh pastries.  I had brought my new Nikon P330 camera with me, hoping to get some beautiful shots of the landscape as we headed toward Capri.  Unfortunately, I wore out my camera’s battery and neglected to bring my charger with me.  I ran back down to the room to get my backup camera, a Canon PowerShot that I purchased before our trip to Scotland last fall.  I had to use the Canon all day in Capri while my new camera was hooked up to my husband’s laptop, recharging.

My third set of SeaDream jammies…  

The waters around Capri are an absolutely enchanting deep blue.  If the weather had been a little warmer, I know I would have loved to have gone swimming in them.  SeaDream had offered an excursion to The Blue Grotto, a place where people can take boats into a cave and see even bluer water.  The swells were a little too rough the morning of our arrival, though, so the excursion was cancelled.  A local tender service provided transportation for SeaDream passengers to the cute little port area.

Beautiful water!

Cute little port town…

I was kind of preoccupied about finding another battery for my new camera.  A little shop near the port didn’t have any of the batteries I needed and the proprietor recommended going into the town to see if any of the photo shops had them.  For some reason, it didn’t occur to us to take the funicular up the hill to get to Anacapri.  We saw a sign with an arrow pointing to the center of the city and started climbing what turned out to be a seemingly endless path upwards.  To make matters worse, I was coming down with a cold.

This little shrine was on the way up the steep path…

We made the steep climb and I remember feeling hopeful when we got to the first road.  A friendly Italian couple who didn’t speak English to us laughed and pointed to the next segment of the path as I pantomimed exhaustion.  In all, it was about a thirty minute climb, which for my out of shape body was quite challenging.  On the other hand, I was pretty proud of myself once we reached the top.

Many steps…

There were lots of crowds in Capri and lots of very high end shops, though none of the photo shops had any camera batteries for me.  I was amused when we were passed by a couple of people driving “Twizys”, the same weird two seater vehicle our hotel offered in Rome.  The streets in Capri were so narrow that I could see how they would be popular there.

So many pretty views!

The town of Anacapri is adorable and Bill and I enjoyed the sunny and relatively cool weather for awhile as we strolled around the village.  At noon, Capri became a bit of a madhouse and we sought refuge in a little restaurant called Ristorante Isidoro when a charmingly zealous waiter beckoned us inside.  We climbed up three more flights of stairs to sit on a terrace, where we were completely alone for about twenty minutes.

The view from the restaurant’s terrace…

Another waiter, who seemed to claim the terrace as his own and bore a striking resemblance to British comedian Matt Lucas (of Little Britain),  served us a delightful lunch.  I had the catch of the day, which was very fresh white fish and homemade tape pasta.  Bill had langoustines.  We sipped white wine and watched the harried masses below as more patrons joined us.  It was a great way to refuel, even though that particular lunch was very expensive.  

Lunch!

After lunch, we walked back down the steep path and the muscles on the front of my thighs got a workout.  By the time we got to the bottom of the hill, I was really feeling fatigued as the cold virus progressed.

On the way back down…

We went back to the ship and I took a nap.  By dinnertime, I was firmly entrenched in a cold and kind of out of sorts.  That didn’t stop me from making Pierre laugh when he served me panna cotta.  The dessert was molded into a small mound and had a garnish that suggested a woman’s breast.  As he set the plate in front of me, I blurted out “That looks like a boob!”  Pierre had to take a moment to compose himself.

The yacht had also stopped at Positano for a couple of hours that evening and guests who wanted to go ashore had the opportunity.  I was too tired to consider it.  I’ve heard Positano is a beautiful place.  I hope we can visit sometime.

I skipped the piano bar because my nose was running and I was exhausted.  Looking back, I think Capri was one of my favorite stops on our cruise.  I would have really loved it if I hadn’t been getting sick… but on the bright side, at least by then, Aunt Flow had packed up and left.

Saw this little guy on the rock on the way back to the ship…