The Beautiful Campania Region...

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Naples, Mt. Vesuvius, Pompei, Sorrento, Capri, Positano, Amalfi........An amazing weekend!!

So we began this weekend excursion leaving Friday morning and went on a four hour bus ride to Pompei. Of course we made a stop halfway... 😊 We drove by Naples and Mount Vesuvius. Both were neat to drive by, although I have to admit I'm glad we didn't spend much time in Naples. We got to Pompei around noon, had lunch, and then had a 3 hour guided tour. I didn't realize Pompei was so big! They are also still continuing excavation, so the city is actually growing. We saw their main piazzas, a bakery, a bar, some houses, a bath house place, and of course a brothel. The brothel was the thing that actually seemed to be the best preserved ironically. Haha. It is interesting though our guide informed us that sex was cheaper than bread, and it was perfectly normal for husbands to go to the brothel 3 times a day. Hmm what else was interesting... a few people in our group got lost there, that was interesting... haha well maybe not for them.

Then after Pompei we had some yummy lemon granita which was my first time having that...it was amazing of course. We then had a bus ride to Sorrento. That was beautiful as well. We stayed in a nice 4 star hotel, but it was not 4 stars by american standards. There was a pool at the top of the hotel though, which was really cool. We had a nice sunset from that!! Then we had another good dinner at the hotel restaraunt. Yum yum. Then we went out and walked around Sorrento, it is such a cute town and I definitely like it! We stopped in an American bar... we met some Italian boys from Naples which was a very interesting experience because they only spoke Napoletan dialect, and were just learning Italian, so we were kinda on the same level. This made me feel good about myself. But it was also interesting because this is what we were learning about in class. We also watched one of the soccer matches. Sorrento is also cool because its up high on a cliff, but you can walk down these little paths to the water, so we did that at night and that was fun.

The next day we hopped on a ferry and were off to Capri. Apparently some girls did not enjoy the ferry ride too much.... I love boats though. When we got to Capri, which was very crowded, we went to Anacapri and got on the Seggiovia Monte Solaro, which is a chair lift that goes up to the top of Capri. It was a GORGEOUS ride up there, with absolutely beatiful views. When we got up to the top we took some more pictures and enjoyed the view for a bit. Then went back down, bus to the town of Capri, walked through that. It was cute. They randomly had all these plastic cows painted all over the place...it was funny. Then Jenn and I took a boat tour around the island. We weren't able to go to the Blue Grotto because there was too much wind and the water was choppy, but the rest of the island is gorgeous. Then for the rest of the time we laid out on the beach and went swimming. Most beaches in Italy have pebbles and not sand! Kinda annoying, but refreshing at the same time because you don't have to deal with the sand!

Then took another ferry back and got dinner in Sorrento and went to bed early in a hostel since we were staying an extra night than the rest of the group. I woke up early to catch the bus to Amalfi town. I went by myself because everyone wanted to lay on the beach in Sorrento, but I had so much fun by myself! The bus ride was GORGEOUS with awesome sea and cliff views of the amalfi coast, and driving through Positano was cool as well. Then in amalfi I wandered around for a bit, and then just decided to walk through the town and got kinda lost but then I found this hiking trail which is what I was going for. Went on this gorgeous hike from amalfi to a cliff town called Pontone that had some amazing views. I also found a river and went swimming in it and its waterfalls a few times. It was freezing but so refreshing! This hike was hilarious though because I had forgotten to check my bags at the hostel in Sorrento and had to carry them with me all over my hike...they weren't too heavy though and I didn't care because I was so happy and it was so beautiful. I also mastered the self-timer on my camera...Then found lots of yummy lemon flavored stuff and headed back to Sorrento to catch the train to Rome.

Then the following week I got a tour of the Colosseum and Roman Forum...both seemed very cool, but not my favorites of my trip I'd have to say. It was funny though because I ran into this one guy that lived on my floor freshman year at Cal. It was actually his birthday so that night we went out with him and his friends. Then on wednesday we went to the Vatican. Saw the Vatican Museum and Sistine Chapel. All very cool, but again not my favorite things. I think it might have more meaning if I had studied them before. But then me and Caylie and Deanna went and got blessed by the pope! He was having a public blessing and we got tickets ahead of time to go to this. It was cool and it was done in St. Peter's square. It was sooo hot though! Very fun. Then we went to a sketchy restaurant and I ate moldy vegetables.........ewww But it was okay. Okay just finished my final and am off to Greece tomorrow, but time to pack up and clean a bit. I will leave a new message soon about Sicily and Greece! PAX.

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