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Published: March 25th 2013
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This past week was spring break and it was definitely one to remember. I spent the first part of my week in Florence exploring, reading and relaxing. My favorite day consisted of walking across the river and exploring the side streets. I decided I would try to take the residential streets to the highest point I possibly could. I ended up finding this magnificent view of the hills of Tuscany. It was definitely off the beaten path. I cannot effectively describe how overwhelmingly refreshing the experience was for me. I live in the city so there is not a lot of plant life around and needless to say it also smells like city. The spot I found opened into a field, there was no traffic noise-only the sounds of animals and wind, and it smelled fresh like spring. I did not realize how much I needed to get away until I stood stunned taking in the sun and fresh air.
I went to the Amalfi Coast for the second half of my break. I went through a student tour company and it took us around seven hours to get there by bus. We arrived at approximately 3 in the morning
so we went straight to bed. The next morning we had to be on the road at 8 so little sleep was had that night but hey not sleeping is part of the college experience right? The bus took us to the dock where we boarded our vessel for a Capri boat tour. The entire trip was amazing. I have never seen water so brilliantly blue in my life. The tour guide spoke decent English so I was able to understand the majority of what they said. All I kept thinking the entire time she talked about the people who were banished to Capri was that if I had lived in those times I would have gotten myself banished on purpose. The islands were amazing. If you truly wanted someone to suffer you would not banish them to Capri. We had wonderful seafood for lunch- I had calamari and a lemon and shrimp pasta which was fantastic and incredibly fresh. After lunch we went on a chairlift to the top of the island to get a view of the entire island and it was so beautiful it didn’t even seem real. We spent the rest of our time exploring little
shops, trying lemoncello, and sitting in the sun.
The next day we went to Positano for a relaxing beach day. We started the day by taking a boat to a place where we could go cliff jumping. I was terrified so I did not take much time thinking about the jump; I just ran off the cliff and hoped for the best. The jump was completely exhilarating. The freefall was longer than I expected and the water was freezing but the adrenalin from the jump eased the coldness of the water. After we had all jumped we laid out in the sun to attempt to dry ourselves before the boatride back to the main beach. We spent the rest of the day tanning on the beach which was wonderful. It was amazing to have a day to sit and do nothing.
We spent our final day in Pompeii which was absolutely incredible. The city which was destroyed in 79AD was surprisingly advanced. Our guide was amazing and clued us in to what life was really like for the citizens of the city. Many of the houses had indoor toilets or indoor plumbing which I found to be incredible.
The streets all had pieces of white marble which acted as reflectors at night. The streets would often flood so there were raised stones placed at consistent intervals so people could cross without getting their feet wet and wagons could still get through because the wheels would fit in the gaps between the raised stones. The streets were engineered in such a way for optimal water drainage which was impressive. There were also frescos painted on the walls which had perspective which did not show up again for centuries to come. The whole city was simply amazing. For lunch we had pizzas prepared in a stove oven. They were amazing which was not at all surprising. We spent the remainder of our time browsing the street stands in the area as the men promoted their merchandise claiming there were discounts for pretty girls. My personal favorite was one vendor who proclaimed, “special discount for gingers!!” as I passed his booth. I couldn’t have asked for a better way to end spring break.
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Bailey
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Ginger Takeover
HAHHAHAHAHHAA i love the discount for gingers idea. Made me laugh out loud in the middle of the library. Shhhhh im on the third floor. I have so much to tell you when you get back wombie. Much love. B wagon Jr.