My Memoirs - Citizen of the World

links are among the most attractive and popular on all of Italy’s
coast line. Sorrento, a good jumping-off point for Capri, is the first
of the charming towns along the coast. Its pretty streets, beaches,
bars, have been drawing visitors for hundreds of years. My wife
and I took a boat trip to the famous Blue Grotto that some
historians say was Emperor Tiberius’ private swimming pool, a
spectacular sea cave filled with refracted turquoise light. Positano,
the first town of any size, is a pyramid of colorful houses tumbling
down the cliffs to a beach where sun worshippers share space with
fishing boats. High above the coast east of Amalfi stands Ravello
that offers the finest views of the coast. We saw the beautiful
Amalfi Cathedral with its distinctive colorful bell tower. What a
panorama that God created!
Another city that is very interesting is Milan, a very noisy,
dynamic city. We visited the glass-domed Galleria Vittorio
Emanuele II, with all its art galleries, shops and the cafes, where
we saw countless models walking and showing off the most recent
fashions, typical of Milan, while sitting at one of the cafes.
Unfortunately, when we looked at the menu we realized that it was
very expensive, so we shared one chicken salad sandwich, which
with two beers cost 39 Euros, about $54.00 US dollars. From the
cafe, we walked to the Piazza della Scala, the site of Milan’s
famous Opera House, La Scalla, and then continued to walk to Via
Manzoni, one of Milan’s fashionable streets that runs toward the
high class (and very expensive) shopping where you cannot find a
man’s shirt for less than 300 Euros, (about $420.00 US). Another
highlight of our visit to Milan was a trip to the flamboyant façade
of the huge Cathedral that dominates the city’s busiest square and
then to the Church of Santa Maria Della Grazie to see Leonardo
da Vinci’s masterpiece, The Last Supper.
To close this section on Italy, I’d like to share an interesting story
that happened to my wife and me during our visit to Genoa. We
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