Author Archives: Dave Oney

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About Dave Oney

Dave Oney was born mid last century in Middlebury, Vermont. He received his BS in Chemistry and worked as a polymer chemist in Massachusetts and New Jersey. He became a microscopist (someone who studies little bitty things using a microscope) and photomicrographer (someone who photographs little bitty things) before settling into a 35-year career in technical sales of scientific imaging equipment (the science of digitally recording itty bitty things, sending the image to a computer for analysis.) He designed and created a number of products contributing to this field. He is (was) proficient in several computer languages and is currently working on mastering English. After making a few more paradigm shift career changes Dave and his wife, Fran, retired and moved closer to their children and granddaughters and now live in the foothills of the Sierra Nevadas.

The Amalfi Coast

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All aboard for Positano

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Sorrento marks its origins to the 8th century BCE. Surrentum in Latin, or Surriento in Napolitan as it was sometimes known, passed through many hands in its history. It was widely known for its fish, trade, wine and lemons (limoncello.) It has been a center of tourism since the 19th century and is renown for its small ceramics, lace and marquetry (woodworking,) examples of which are found throughout our hotel suite.

I had my typical early morning start with coffee and a roll, except today it’s espresso and toast. As both were processing I took a closer look at the “buffet” spread in our room. There was a fruit basket and espresso set arranged next to a large selection of packaged treats, tarts, chips and breads, few of which we see in the states. Having been used to croissants and other pastries, toast and jam was a welcome respite. (Just wait until next week in Paris!) My only concern was picking a preserve flavor. I solved it by having them all.

Morning has broken… ( or will break soon)

I made a time-lapse video of the sky brightening in the east, sadly, the storm blanketed the sunrise… maybe tomorrow.

Time lapse of the sun rising
(behind the dense clouds I am sure it was beautiful!)

Our local intra city shuttle bus picked us up very near our hotel and deposited us at the rail / bus station. We purchased two daily passes for the bus which would take us just about anywhere on the Amalfi coast. We arrived in Positano about 1h 15m after a twisty, turny, hope you don’t get car sicky ride. On one side were sheer cliffs rising hundreds of feet straight up. On the other were sheer cliffs dropping hundreds of feet down to the sea.

And being built vertically on the side of these cliffs these people love stairs.

The problem is, you know what happens when you walk down the stairs? That’s right! You will have to walk back up at some future time.

And these people must be Italian as they love little alleyways. In their defense Sorrento is very old and narrow alleys were quite in fashion back in the day.

The restaurant where we planned to have lunch is closed for the season. Darn! Missed it by THAT much, but the area where it’s located is (or during season would be) beautiful.

We found our way back to the inter city bus, boarded and headed back on our twisty, turny ride to Sorrento and our hotel. As we climbed to our suite the sky opened with a big thunderstorm. Maybe we can wait it our until dinner, if not there is a nice little cafe next to the hotel. Nothing fancy but fun people to talk to and it is dry.