Pompeii, Capri, and Naples

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Buongiorno,

Sorry it has taken me a couple of days to write my blog on Pompeii, Capri, and Napoli, but I was so tired from the weekend I needed to rest! On Friday morning a double decker bus picked all 71 of us up at 7:00 a.m. and we drove straight to Pompeii. Well.. actually we did stop at a rest stop. Now these rest stops do not have bathrooms like we are used to, they have toilettes that have no seat and no toilette paper (I luckily brought some Kleenex in my purse). So pretty much the bathroom was my worst nightmare come true, but I did go pee and wet napped my entire body clean after. Finally we arrived in Pompeii, volcano Mount Vesuvius still lingers in the background, now dormant, but not extinct. Pompeii reminded me a lot of Ostia Antica, except that you could definitely sense a feeling of hurried abandonment within the city. The bodies that I saw were very interesting, one of them seems to be either covering their mouth/nose from the ashes or to be praying. My favorite part of Pompeii was the Villa of Mysteries. It had this beautiful fresco in one of the rooms that told a story of life and growing older through the seasons. It is amazing that this fresco has survived all of this time and the eruption of Vesuvius. We all had lunch in Pompeii (extremely over priced, and not that tasty.. I highly recommend bringing a bag lunch and eating near the Villa of Mysteries if you ever go). After lunch we walked around some more and went to the Pompeii Coliseum (here I took a video, which you can see on my web shots). Though the weather could not have been more perfect (for the entire weekend actually) we were all extremely ready to leave Pompeii and get on our boat to Capri.
We got back onto our bus in Pompeii and drove to the port of Napoli to hop on our bus. Here I had a beer (it's strange to order liquor still) before getting on the boat. Once on the boat we all sat in our seats (there were some Italian men that just could not have been hetero because they were so SO so perfect in their appearance). Then other people wanted some beers, and I felt like what the heck I will go for another I went down to the bar and people gave me their money. I asked the bartender for 3, he said 4 for 12.. I said yeah that's a great deal.. so I handed him a 20 and then he took my money gave me 4 beers and said no never mind no deal. So of course I was pissed and demanded my 8 Euros back, but he kept acting like he did not understand English (when he spoke perfect English when stealing my money).. Caitlin kept telling me to calm down, so I heeded her advice and got Francesco (one of the directors of the program) and he went and told the bartender and I finally got my 8 euros back... needless to say I was a little upset, but oh well I was on my way to Capri and wow the view was incredible. Capri is this wonderful little island from which you can see the beginning of the Amalfi Coast. Once we arrived on Capri we had 3 busses waiting for us.. TINY BUSSES. We all packed in and it drove us up to our hotel in Ana Capri. The driving was nuts and practically on the edge of the cliffs. Once we got to our hotel we explored the area of Ana Capri (much more personal than Capri, and a lot less touristy). It had a beautiful little shopping and eating area and a club to go dancing, called the Underground. That night we had dinner in the hotel and then went out for after dinner drinks (please remind me never to order lemon cello again, because it is gross and tastes like lemon rubbing alcohol). I was not feeling so well so I went back to the hotel and went to bed early... while a lot of people went dancing. Saturday rolled around and we woke up at 8:00 to have breakfast and then left at 9:00 to go down to Capri. Once in Capri we walked up through the town all the way up to the Villa of Jovis, owned by Emperor Tiberius. What a hike (if I don't have calf muscles by the end of my study abroad experience I am doomed to a life of calf envy) and what views from the top. Here I took lots and lots of photos and a few videos (which are posted on my web shots as well). After touring this Villa we walked down and over to these two rock arches (I forget their name), but I did manage to take a few photos and some videos. After this we hiked back up and down to Capri where we had lunch and people watched. Caitlin and I then decided we wanted to go to the Grotta Azzurra (the blue grotto). We boarded this little rickety train thing down to the port of Capri and boarded a little boat, Olga, to take us to the grotto. Once we arrived to the grotto we waited for these little rowboats to come get us (there were 5 of us... 3 other girls from the program joined us). All 5 of us hopped into this little row boat with this guy, Daniello as the rower and once we got to the RIDICULOUSLY tiny opening of the grotto he said okay "lay down and spread your legs!" Of course we did as we were told... stifled a little laugh and continued on, if we had not we would have hit our heads and probably been knocked unconscious. The grotto was amazing, all of the rower men were singing and the water was glowing a sapphire blue! This was so incredible, beautiful, and magical. . . It reminded me of a very Harry Potter wizarding world phenomenon. I took a video of the blue grotto and I hope you all watch it, though it does not portray the true beauty of the grotto. This grotto should be the #1 place to see in the book, 1000 Places to See Before You Die. After exiting the grotto we got back on the boat, Olga, and went back to the port of Capri. Here, I bought a stuffed seal and boarded a ridiculously packed bus to Ana Capri. When I say ridiculously packed I mean it, there was no room to move.. we thought we were filled to the brim, but then we stopped and 3 more people had the nerve to pack in... For the rest of the ride up to Ana Capri I had an older woman’s breast rubbing my cheek and shoulder at times (So much fun!). Then Caitlin and I showered and went out shopping in Ana Capri, I searched for gifts for people but I did not come across anything.. well I did buy myself two things (a pair of turquoise studs and a really cute hand made purse ). Then Caitlin and I bought some Apple after dinner liquor and hurried back to get ready for dinner. We ate dinner at the hotel again and then I hung out with some kids in their rooms... after this I went to the Underground to go dancing with everyone. Let's just say those Italian men do not introduce themselves before dancing with you, instead they go up behind you grab your ass and act like they are in love with you. This, though flattering, made me very uncomfortable and I would say "basta, basta.. Grazie" (which means stop, stop.. please) and then continue dancing with my friends. All in all it was a great night.. I got a good workout dancing and had some fun getting to know the kids in my program in the process. That night I went to bed around 3:00 a.m..
Sunday morning I woke up for breakfast at 8:00 and then boarded those tiny busses to take us back down to the port of Capri to board our boat to take us to Napoli. In Napoli we went to Naples Archeological Museum and saw some amazing statues and other items from Pompeii that had been taken here to be protected. After a long walk through the museum we were given a lunch break... Caitlin, Monica, Hailey, Alex and I went to the supposed best place in Naples to get pizza. I ordered the 4 formaggi (cheese) pizza and let me tell you the only better pizza is my Mother's After Thanksgiving Day Pizza, besides my Mom's pizza this pizza was the best. We then ran back to the bus (we were running late) and drove back to Roma... I wish we could have stayed in Capri longer.. there is a JW Marriott there and I would love to go back one day and really do it right! 😊 Well that was my weekend, this weekend I am going to Barcelona with some friends. Please check my web shots to see all of the photos from my trip. Love and miss you all...

-Olivia


http://community.webshots.com/user/oliggio

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Comments

[anonymous]

You Lucky Little Shit
Liv, I am so happy for you, what an amazing journey you are on. Thank you for sharing your adventures with such richness and wit. I love and miss you, and look forward to reading about all of your wonderful experiences to come. Love, your incredibly amazing sister