Sadly, the last day of the tour. Today I passed on the optional excursion to Ischia and instead spent some time roaming around Sorrento. Nancy and I walked down to Marina Piccola and then down Via San Cesaro, my favorite shopping alley. It was there that she was kidnapped. By a mime. "Look, it's a mime!" He had been so still, I hadn't even noticed him. I got my camera out to take a picture of him and as I was fussing with putting my camera away, she went over and put a coin in his cup. He motioned for her [View Full Entry]

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Today was the best day of the trip... we set off in the morning on a 3 1/2 hour hike on Sentiero degli Dei (Path of the Gods). Luckily, it was much cooler today than on previous days or it could have been a seriously uncomfortable 3 1/2 hours! Antonio had been telling us all week that everyone always says this is their favorite part of the trip, and I can see why. The views were simply amazing! The hike was not hard, but it was on the very edge of a cliff and I can see why they insist on [View Full Entry]

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Today we went to the Isle of Capri (apparently pronounced KAH-pree, not kah-PREE...) The ferry ride on the way over was pretty bad... the ferry was packed and completely enclosed with no air, and it was so hot. I was feeling pretty sick by the time we arrived, and the fumes from all the buses and boats at the marina did not help. Capri was literally over-run with people, you couldn't even walk down the street without running into someone. It's the playground of the rich and famous, with all of the Gucci, Prada, <insert something else Paris Hilton wears here> [View Full Entry]

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Today we did the famed drive along the Amalfi Coast. I had been planning on sitting on the right side of the bus to get the best views, but by the time I got down there, everyone had already boarded. Luckily, Chris offered for me to sit next to her by the window since she's tall and can see over me. The coast is amazing... at one point we saw a swimming pool carved right out of the side of a cliff. There's a cute miniature version of the town of Praiano set into the cliff by the highway. We saw [View Full Entry]

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This morning we took the bus to Termini and then walked to a village called Massa Lubrense. The path was overgrown in some places, very lush with vegetation. We saw several different different kinds of herbs growing in the wild. Along the way, we met the cutest little puppy (black, of course) that was perfectly happy to have his belly rubbed by all 26 people. I was sure I could fit him in my suitcase, but the others wouldn't let me take him :-) We ended our walk at Marina della Lobra and had lunch at Angelo's Bar. His wife made [View Full Entry]

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This morning, we climbed to the top of Mt. Vesuvius, and looked into the crater that was created in 79 AD, when the volcano blew its top and buried the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum in hot ash and mud. Afterwards, we had a short wine tasting of Lacrima Christi wine made with grapes grown in Vesuvius's volcanic soil. I got a delicious bottle of white wine to take home with me. We stopped at Ristorante Kona on the way back down the volcano and had lunch on the patio with great views of the landscape. I had the ravioli with [View Full Entry]

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Today we did a walk through Naples with a local guide. We saw the Galleria Umberto I, built in the late 1800s as part of an urban renewal project. The marble floor contains mosaics of each of the zodiac signs, it's a very impressive building. We walked over to the Palazzo Reale (Royal Palace), construction began on this in 1600 and it was finished in 1843. It was so beautiful on the inside, everything was gilded and marbled, and it had the most amazingly intricate tapestries. Then we went on to the the Museo Archiologico Nazionale (National Archeological Museum) to see [View Full Entry]

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I flew from Colorado Springs to Denver to Munich to Naples on United, Lufthansa, and Air Dolomiti. I had checked in online the day before through United's website, but they only gave me boarding passes and checked my luggage through Munich. I didn't know they could check it all the way to Naples, but apparently if you check in at the ticket counter they can. Note to self. I had to collect my luggage in Munich and then go to the ticket counter and get a boarding pass and re-check it. Customs going both ways is very anti-climactic. Everyone talks about [View Full Entry]

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