Italy Again,(I think the only places in the world i know exist are Italy and Florida)

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Amy and I arrived in Florence after the longest trip ever. We took Amtrak to Chicago, then a flight from Chicago to Naples with a layover in Madrid, followed by a train ride from Naples to Florence. All together we traveled for 29 hours straight. EXHAUSTING!! The first night we saw some sights, had dinner, and got lost on the way back to the hostel. Nothing too crazy though. The next day we walked all over the city. My keen sense of direction landed us about a half hour walk outside of the city center. After a couple of hours of guesses on how to get back, we finally asked for directions. The man we talked to laughed at us and said that we weren't even on the map of the city that we had. Oh well, he sent us in the right direction, and we eventually saw all of the great sights of Florence. The best was Piazzale Michelangelo. The views were absolutely amazing. It was a long walk up, but completely worth it! The next day we left for Rome. Half way there, the conductor informed us that we were stopping because there is a train stike. Fun, Fun, Fun!!! Stuck in Chuisi(wherever that is) with no way to get to Rome. Luckily, after a short stay at the train station with a bunch of irate Italians, we found out that there was another train that would be going to Rome shortly. So much for a strike. It was just a few trains that quit running(I don't know what that really accomplished). After arriving in Rome, there was a lot more excitement. We had to pull our luggage through the cobblestone streets to our hostel(which was in a great location for an amazing price-we found out why). They told us that they had overbooked and that we would have to move to another location nearby. They didn't have a place to give us yet, so we left our things there. This kind of thing is pretty common in Rome, so I wasn't worried and we took off to see the Colosseum and Forum. We returned to the hostel around 4p.m. to find out that they were moving us to a hostel near the train station. This was a long walk, and it is were most of the hostels are located, as it is quite a distance from the city center. I asked the price for this other hostel and they told us it would be the same, and they would not pay for a cab to take us there. Being quite angry, we took off to find another place to stay. We went to my friend Koko's internet cafe, and he gave us a few suggestions. Eventually we found a hotel for almost double the price of the hostel, but it was in a good location and there were no other options. The room was ok, but when we showered, we flooded the room. Too bad we didn't realize this until after all of our bags were soaked, and Amy stepped out of bed into a pool of water- somewhat entertaining now, but not at all then! That night we finished up the main sights of Rome: spanish steps, trevi fountain, pantheon, piazza navona. By the end we were so exhaused we could hardly move. The next morning, we toured the Vatican. Then we left for Naples. Amy completely hated Naples and couldn't imagine why I said it was my favorite place in Italy. Honestly, it really is pretty awful. It wasn't at all how I so endearingly remembered it. I guess it was more of the friends and fun that made Naples so great. Other than that, it really is pretty disgusting. Our last day in Italy we took the Circumvesuviana to Sorrento, walked through the Hotel Excelsior's courtyard(sooooooooo amazingly beautiful!!!!!!!), and climbed down the cliff to get to the port. Then it was a hydrofoil to Capri for a short trip up on Monte Solaro. There are absolutely amazing views up there! There was no swimming in the blue grotto though😞. It was absolutely FREEZING that day. And so, the whirlwind tour of Italy ended and we were off to Spain.

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