Show and Tell Tuesday: Best Day Ever

Today is a link up and the subject is Best Day Ever.

I have so many wonderful days in my memory bank. One in particular sticks out. No, not the cliche days. Of course I cherish the day I married my husband and I adore the days I gave birth to my beautiful girls. The day that I remember as being uniquely wonderful was the day we explored the island of Capri.

We had been married only a few months. Life was exceptionally grand! We were crazy in love, living in England, making enough money to fund our travel obsessions. We went on adventures every single weekend that we weren't working and had big vacations planned every couple of months. This particular vacation was to Rome. We spend several days exploring the ancient city. I remember the exact moment we walked up and saw the Colosseum. I literally cried. It was as if the joy was water and it was overflowing from my body. I remember having goose bumps all over my skin and hot tears streamed from my eyes. How lucky was I!

We spend the next few days visiting things like the Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, and Piazza Navona. We walked in tiny alleys, ate pasta by the pound, drank wine from a carafe and all the yummy water we could ever want from the thousands of water fountains spread throughout the city. I also got my first massage and a killer sunburn, but the 4 days spent in this ancient city filled my soul with so much contentment its hard to type into words.

We had planned to take a day trip to Pompeii, but in all honesty we had had our fill of ancient ruins. We wanted a day of romance and beauty. We took the train to Naples with full intentions of eating pizza in its birthplace, but a few wrong turns here and a bus ride in the wrong direction there and we had had about enough of dirty Napes. Instead we hopped on the fairy and made our way to the island of Capri.

We had no idea what to expect. We had no idea what Capri even offered. All we knew was that it was an island and we had heard it was a beautiful place that celebrities visit. Thankfully the crew members handed out brochures. We looked through them all and came across one that said we could rent a boat for 30 Euro. We were a bit skeptical, but though what a glorious thought. We hopped off the boat and walked briskly, afraid they would sell out. We secured our boat and sure enough only had to fork over 30 Euro. About $45 at the time. We could have the boat all day and they even gave us snorkel gear.

The island is just over 4 square miles, so getting all the way around was breeze. We took our time and took in the beauty. The water was so blue. It was like someone had poured out a bottle of pure blue dye and colored the water. The island was rugged. Tall and grand and mysterious. Houses peaked from behind trees at all elevations and I wondered who had visited there. We took turns driving the boat and laying out soaking in the warm Mediterranean Sun. We dreamt together about our future life, our future children. We remembered our adventures we had already had and we talked about life. Not a single interruption other than to say, "check that out" or "look how beautiful it is over there". It was truly what a relaxing vacation day should be.

After we had been in the water about an hour or so, we came across a group of boats and small row boats. People appeared to be going in to a cave. We waved down a few people, anchored and hopped in a small rowboat with 1 other couple and the captain. He sang some song in Italian at the top of his lungs and although it made me feel like a total tourist, I was more than happy to be a visitor in this gentleman's boat. We all had to lay down as we approached the rock. He grabbed hold of a chain that seemed to be attached to thin air and he pulled us into a cave with the rhythm of the ocean. Singing all the time. To say I was a bit scared would be true. I am laying flat down in a tiny boat with 3 strangers and I have just entered into a dark cave. We rocked around for a few moments, completely disorienting me. I could feel my husband's legs, I was breathing in cool sea water, and I could hear several other boatmen singing the same Italian song. My eyes were opened as wide as could be but I could see absolutely nothing. After those few moments passed we were told it was safe to sit up. As we did I was greeted with a breathtaking sight. Glowing blue water. The sun was hitting the cave at just the right angle to make all the water inside glow. I still can't believe that I saw it. For some reason I'm unable to find my photos from this day, other than one. Check out this short little video I found on YouTube. They are even singing. :)

After our trip into the Blue Grotto we continued around the island. I hope that I can one day update this post with more picture, because I know I have a ton, but right now, because I am in the middle of a huge move, I am unable to access them. Here is one photo that I was able to snatch off of Facebook.