Italy Trip - Capri Day 3

After our stay in Sorrento, we got up bright and early to make our way to Capri, the location of our wedding.   The challenge we had was to somehow make it to the port (pictured above) from our hotel.  The town of the Sorrento is high up on a cliff while the port is down below.  We weren't quite sure how to use the bus system (yet) so we decided we would take all our stuff and hike down the hill.  It would be the first of many trials we had with our luggage.  To make matters worse, I woke up with an upset stomach.  It was a precursor of bad things to happen later as this would end up the worse day of the trip.



We actually made it down to the port fairly easily.  We were a little bit worried about getting sea sick on the boat but that did not happen.  I could only wish that getting sea sick would have been the worse of our problems.  We arrived at the Capri port about 45 minutes after we left Sorrento and attempted to figure out how we were going to get to our hotel which was on the other side of the island.  The hotel had a shuttle service from the port but we ran into what would continue to be a problem for us, making phone calls.  Don't ask me why, but for whatever reason my wife and I could not figure out how to make a phone call in Italy.  I am not exaggerating.  The phone was a serious problem for us.  We tried to make a pay phone call to the hotel but this was too big of a challenge.  We asked someone for help and rather than help us make the pay phone call she just called the hotel for us from her own phone.

We ran into a couple also trying to make it to the hotel but had been waiting for 30 minutes for the shuttle.  They finally got fed up and decided to take a taxi.  Not even one minute later, the shuttle driver showed up to take us to the airport.  We actually pulled into the hotel at the exact same time as the other couple.  Now for a disclaimer.  What I am about to write is not a complete picture of the hotel we stayed at,  he Hotel Weber Ambassador.  A bunch of things conspired to make this a bad day, not all of which was the hotel's doing.

We were staying at Capri for three nights.  We had decided fairly late that we wanted to stay on the island the Thursday before the wedding so we could plan and set up some stuff.   We were shown to our "garden view" room which should have been characterized more appropriately as a furnished closet.  It was small, even by European standards but like I said earlier, my wife and I are not particularly picky when it comes to room size.  I opened up the curtains to let some light in.  I was met with a wall. If I looked straight up, there was an opening.  It looks like my "garden view" was if I looked straight up.  I was starting to get a little bit worried.

Tired, and a bit cold, I decided to take a shower.  The shower definitely didn't help the situation as it had no water pressure and no hot water.  The day was getting better and better.  I then noticed that the bathroom door did not shut.  the door was warped in such a way that it was impossible to close the door completely.  What else could go wrong?  At least I could relax a little bit and watch some TV.  OK, maybe not.  The TV had nothing but snow.  Why on earth do you put a TV in the room that doesn't work?  Just for decoration?

We went into town to get a bite to eat but I had no appetite.  In fact, I was feeling quite nauseous.  So we headed back to the hotel.  By this time, I as feeling quite cold and realized that I had the chills.  I tried to bundle up in the bed at the hotel but as those who have had a bad case of the chills knows, there is nothing you can do.  We still had several things to take care of for the wedding like picking a restaurant and getting her a bouquet.  I was in no condition to go as I could barely get out of bed at this point so my wife went on her own.  Before going I asked her to be careful as we would be separated with no real way of getting in contact with each other.

I passed out almost immediately.  About an hour into my rest, I heard a click and the room went dark.  At this point I honestly though I checked into the Death Hotel or something because nothing seemed to be working.  I was not sure if it was just my room or the hotel but when I started to hear noise in the hallway I figured out it must be at least hotel wide.  I could barely move so I was in no shape to go inquire about what was going on but I also could not just lie there not knowing.  I waited for the lights to come back on but they were not.  So about ten minutes later I decided to get up and figure out what was going on.  When I walked out of the room, it was clear the problem was at least hotel wide.  I followed some low flickering lights down the stairs and walked past the reception to step out on the terrace.  It was quite apparent that this was not a hotel problem.  The whole island was dark.

At this point, I'm pretty worried.  Nobody knew when power would be restored and I have no way of getting hold of my wife.  Compounding the problem is that I'm sick and the only way into town is to walk up some very dark, very steep streets.  So I sit and wait, and wait, and wait.  About an hour goes by and I decide I have to go do something to go find her even if it means dragging myself up the streets.  Just when I'm about to go, she thankfully walks into the door.

We sit in the lobby for the next hour or so.  The lights would eventually go on about an hour and a half later but at this point my big worry is what else is going to go wrong before my wedding?