Downtime...

Hi Everyone!

It's getting pretty late and I've been sick for the last couple days so I will (hopefully) finish the weekend posts (with the one about my visit to Pompeii) tomorrow!

I hope everything is going well back in the states!

A Day at the Beach in Sorrento

Saturday was our day at the beach and instead of jumping between Amalfi and Positano we decided to spend all day in Positano. Our bus driver dropped us off at the top of the hill and we had to walk all the way down. The view was great, so much so that I wasn't paying attention to where I was walking and slipped and fell totally scraping up my leg!



I was okay but bleeding a bit--and I felt really embarrassed! I found a balance between watching my steps and taking pictures of all the lovely shops we passed.




After the long walk we were rewarded with a black sanded beach! The color is due to volcanic ash and rocks.




I didn't take to many pictures at the beach--we mostly enjoyed the cool water and laying out on the beach. We didn't burn much since the clouds decided to come out shortly after we arrived.

Around 4 P.m. we packed up are things and headed for the ferry back to Sorrento. We were the last ones on but we made it! We were sad that we didn't get to browse the shops in Positano, but glad that we didn't have to wait 3 hours for the next ferry!

After arriving in Sorrento we browsed shops on the way back to our bungalow site. We also had to climb more outrageous stairs! I should've taken a picture of them--but for an idea we climbed up the side of the wall show in the picture below (and even more yet after that).




As we walked further away from the city the road became narrower and the views more breathtaking! Dodging crazy Italian bus drivers is not fun!



In the above photo that is Vesuvius looming in the background.

The rest of the evening was spent showering and snacking--we wanted to save our Euros to be able to afford the tour guide at Pompeii on Sunday!

Capri Sun!

Thursday evening we packed and headed for the Santa Maria Novella Train Station to catch our bus to Sorrento. On the way down we got to see three movies: The Devil Wears Prada, Man on Fire and 12 Monkeys. It was good to see Man on Fire all the way through for the first time, I hadn't realized that I hadn't seen the first hour of the movie!

We arrived in Sorrento 2 hours later than expected because the bus got lost in the twisty-turny roads of Sorrento. I don't blame him--it was crazy trying to get around--but I lost a lot of sleep since I didn't sleep on the bus and didn't realize that we were pulling in at 3:30 am!




We stayed in what were described as "cute bungalows" which means really tiny trailers on a campsite. At first it was off-putting, but it was really peaceful being perched so far away from the heart of the city.

It was also in close (walking) proximity to pick up site for boats, we only had to descend a windy trail down the side of the cliff we were perched on, but the view at the bottom was gorgeous.




The water was the most remarkable because it was the most amazing shade of blue!



We took a boat out to the island of Capri. It was a long and bumpy journey, but so much fun! I sat toward the front of the boat. When we got closer we were given a little boat tour of the island, including of its natural wonders.




When we arrived we took a quick photo op at Marina Piccola and then climbed the craziest amount of stairs ever up to Capri town.


The amount of stairs was sooo crazy that I fell behind the others and lost my group. At first it seemed an easy task to meet up with them as there were no viable turns off of the main path. But then I arrived at a fork in the path and got a little worried.

I chose one of the paths and asked people as I walked by if they had seen a large group of girls go by. When they said yes I felt confident I was on the right path--until I arrived on the main road of Capri town and had no idea where to go. I asked a few people if they had seen my group to no avail... and that was when I panicked. I didn't want to miss any of the group activities or be lost on the island with no idea where to go. So I bawled my eyes out and found an officer directing traffic. He offered to help my find my group.

We drove around a bit and I spotted one of the girls from my tour group. She had fallen behind because she had an asthma attack on the way up. Since she had a workable cell phone she was able to contact the group and know how to catch up with them. I was sooo relieved!

I waited in the square until people I knew showed up. It was not a bad wait, I picked up a melon-flavored granita (slushie) and enjoyed the view over Capri.

We met up again and took a bus up to Anacapri, a small town at the base of Capri's largest peak. Our first stop was at the most famous site for custom-made Capri sandals. I had a pair created by Salvatore Pandolfi... a sweet old man that we really put to work when we arrived! This is him working on my sandals.



After the sandal excursion, my bungalow group decided to hit the chairlift to ascend the peak of Anacapri. It was a little scary getting on, but the ride was really peaceful and pleasant. It took awhile to reach the top!




When we got to the top we wandered around the building at the peak finding the best angles for taking photos. We were literally in the clouds and looking through them at some points.





When we finished up top we headed back down on the chairlift to find something to eat for lunch!



Lunch was a delicious (but expensive) pizza from the cheapest place we could find... it served a lot of touristy food. Note the lemon in my Coca-cola. Capri is well known for its growing of citrus fruits and its lemon products, especially limoncello. I thought it was some kind of dessert, but its actually a drink similar (at least in alcohol content to moonshine--and it burns!

Afterwards we browsed the shops and picked up our sandals and made the long trip back down to Marina Piccola--just in time to catch our boat back to Sorrento.

Before we headed back we received a boat tour of the other side of the island, which also showed us the location of the "Blue Grotto." As part of our trip we were supposed to make a stop there, but mother nature impeded and the swell was too large to be able to enter. You take a small boat inside and it is said that the air inside appears blue because of the refraction of light under the cave. Unfortunately, we were unable to witness this natural wonder--all the more reason to return to Capri someday!






For dinner that night me and my bungalow mates opted to stay close to the campsite and eat at the on site restaurant. It was decent food--but at much better prices than anywhere else in Sorrento! (the seafood plate belongs to a bunkmate, I had the calzone!)


Oh and I saw Mr. Sorne on my pizza box!

Upcoming Events!

Sorry for taking so long to update about my side trip to Rome! All of the information is now up so I am now completely caught up!

I have spent the main part of this week with my head buried in books, as this is such a short semester and there is sooo much to do! I even had a midterm in my Italian class yesterday (and I think I did pretty well). The only other news coming out of the week has been a roommate situation--just a clash of personalities. I just tell myself that I'm not here to "play friends" with or take care of other people--I'm here to enjoy the experience myself. If one girl doesn't get up on her own its not my responsibility to wait on her and make myself late to class as well! Especially if this person has been nothing but nasty to me. If she can't treat me with respect why would she expect me to play friends with her?

It's not as big a situation as it sounds... its just an annoyance. I believe its because she doesn't want anyone to be seen as smarter or more mature than her and since I likely am I get the brunt of it. I just try to avoid her at all costs for my own sanity and keep to myself. There are so many things I would like to say to her--but I know it won't change her nasty personality, I just hope karma gets her back later on!

Rawr.

Anyways, upcoming events! I won't be able to post again until Monday because this weekend is the Sorrento/Amalfi Coast/Capri/Pompeii trip and we won't get back to Florence until late Sunday evening. It will be the longest time I've been away from the city since I've been here--but I here it should be fun and beautiful!

I just hope that it stays sunny for our days at the beach! Ciao!

Indiana Jones and the Odeon Theater

Monday I got up early and collected my clothing from the line. After straightening some things up I went back to the study center and did more research... a theme that would continue for the rest of the day. The topic was very dry... Florentine burial practices and customs from the 1300s to 1520--which will hopefully come in handy for my paper.

Since the majority of the day was spent trying not to fall asleep studying, I will skip to the evening (it was much more exciting!)

I stayed at the study center until it closed, since one of my roommates works in the library. Our original intention was to catch the early showing of the new Indiana Jones movie, but since she had to work me and my other roommate waited for her (and the waiting included gelatto!). Gelatto could not hold us over until 10:30 when the movie started however, so we ate at one of the Trattorias on the Piazza della Republica in the heart of Florence (you can see the almost unreal-appearing arch in the center photo).




I had the linguini alle genovese--basically noodles with garlic, oil and pesto. It was pleasant but very warm... and very noisy. The empty table in the middle picture had been occupied by a very loud (and perhaps very drunk) Australian.


The only English-speaking theater in Florence is the Odeon, and the English movies are only presented on certain days, Monday being one of them. They have Indiana Jones playing for two weeks starting tonight and we were very excited to go and see it after weeks of anticipation.

The Odeon is also remarkable because it is a historic theater, originally a palace built in 1462. It was remodeled into an art-nouveau theater in 1922 and still retains the original decor it had at opening... including an impressive stained glass cupola.





Here's a picture of the two roommates I talk about all of the time. Katie is on the left and Mary Beth on the right. Mary Beth is the one I share a room with... she's a little obsessed with Indiana Jones!


All in all it was a fun evening made better by the great atmosphere of the theater!