Capri!

We started our European adventure with a weekend in Capri, a small island off the coast of Naples. I can't put into words how beautiful this island is. Our hotel was in the perfect location, right next to the Marina. Vanna, I mean Mikey, why don't you show the nice people what I'm talking about:

Thank you.

Here's another shot of the island & view:

Within about 6 hours of being on the island we were already regulars at a cafe located right on the marina - incredible for beers, people watching and olives! Our waiter, Roberto, was the man and took good care of us (probably b/c we were tipping at 20% when most Europeans don't tip at all...).

On our first night we took a cable car up to the square - an area surrounded by narrow streets of high-end retail shops, restaurants, cafes & bars. At night there was live music, dancing and lots of drinking. I LOVE the square - we owned that bitch!

After an incredible dinner we sat and had a couple more bottles of wine, a few cuban cigars and lots of laughs. We then got a table at the best club in Capri (without knowing it at the time). After lots more drinks and some dancing we decided it was 4:30am and time to go, we had been getting after it straight from the airport about a day and a half earlier.

However, upon leaving the club we came across a packed outdoor cafe and decided to grab another table. A few more Peronis and some croissants later we finally took a cab home. ZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Waking up for day 2 we knew that our goal was to rent a boat and circle the island while checking out some of the caves & grottos, and most importantly jumping off of cliffs! We found Gennarino, an awesome 80 year old that was from one of the oldest families on Capri, to take us out on his boat. The water level was too high to go into the Blue Grotto so we couldn't go there - that was probably the only disappointment of the whole trip - but we did get to visit some other caves and see incredible views of the island from the sea.

That left just one thing to do before returning to the marina - CLIFF JUMPING!!!
I'm awaiting the video which I'll post under a different heading once I get it from our cameraman (Mike).
Sorry, I stand corrected, Jay had a second thing that he also had to get out of his system before we headed back to shore:

Once we collected our things and got off the boat we went to see our good friend Roberto for a few more beers (and by a few I obviously mean dozens).
After showers and a little down time we headed out for the night. Since the first night was so epic we decided to do it all over again, just with a different restaurant for dinner. This restaurant had an incredible view and the meal was absolutely amazing (and crazy expensive) with the best dish being our lobster spaghetti.

Following dinner we headed back to the square and got our same pimp table, enjoyed drinks, cigars and conversation then headed back to the club with some friends that we made during the day.

While at the club we met another American - Ashley Olsen. We chatted to her for a minute but she was unhappy and shocked that I didn't know who she was. Oh well.

We left the club at around 5am and went to our after hours cafe, where the same waiter gave us the same table and brought out the exact same order from the night before - Peronis & croissants.
After an hour or two I was told that it was time to go home. I didn't feel like leaving yet and expressed my disdain:

We took a cab home as the sun was coming up over the marina. What a beautiful sight...

We had a couple of hours on Sunday before we had to leave for the train station, but we were pretty wiped (and soar from the cliff jumping) so we just laid around and then took the ferry back to the main land to get our train to Rome. I couldn't have asked for a more perfect way to start our trip. Capri is one of the most incredible places that I've ever been and I'll never forget it.