Amalfi Coast

This weekend......

(drum roll please)

The Amalfi Coast!!! Which included none other than Sorrento, Capri, and Pompeii!

Sorrento

Thursday April 25

We (Katie, Jenn, Will and I) headed to Naples on Thursday at noon. Because we didn't have Thursday classes this week!!! WOOHOOO!!! Gotta love three day weeks and four day weekends!

Will did have class so he caught a train to Florence after his class and barely made it on the train to Naples. The train was already headed South when I got his text that he had made it. Talk about a tight time schedule. But Will is a pro at his train traveling so I had no doubts he would make it.

Three hours later we were in Naples aka Napoli in Italian. Which I will most likely call it Napoli in the blog, since, obviously, that is what it is called over here. Apparently Napoli is really sketchy and dangerous. All I know is that the SMN train station is Florence is WAY more sketchy than Napoli's haha! awesome.

We had to change train companies to get Sorrento which the all-knowing Katie had totally figured out for us. So we were on our way to Sorrento in no time.

I absolutely LOVED Sorrento. But more on that later...

Our apartment (hostel) we stayed in was awesome. When we got there we found a locked gate and a number to call. So we called the number in which we were told "I be there two minutes!"

A few minutes later two dudes on a vespa pull up to us and say "HI!" and then kind of keep driving up the driveway. We didn't know if we were supposed to follow them or what, but they ended up being the ones with the hostel. They were really nice and our apartment was big and nice. We were able to buy cereal at the supermarket that was right around the corner and ON THE BEACH! We were literally a one minute walk from the ocean! So anyways. We saved money on breakfast with our purchased cereal!

The first night we wandered around Sorrento trying to find a place to eat. Well... we knew where we wanted to eat it just didn't exist. Until we asked for directions and realized that the address on Yelp was wrong.

It was not number 2. It was number 216.

Oh okay. Gotcha.

So the restaurant ended up being a block from our apartment. But we got to see the city. Plus Rick Steves has eaten at that restaurant. So it was worth the search and worth seeing his picture on the wall with the owners when we walked in. Safe to say the food was delicious.

Did I mention the restaurant was waterfront?... This was our view. And we saw dolphins swimming in the bay! It honestly could not get better!

Our view while eating dinner

and as the evening progressed

breathtaking

After dinner we all wanted some gelato. No surprise. So we went to a place that was recommended on Trip Advisor. All we have to say is... No thanks. One of the worst gelato places I've been all semester, and all of us agreed.

But on our way to get gelato we ran into this.

a woman playing the harp as an accompaniment to opera singers

and some booth things with food next to it. There were a lot of people out and about on the street and it was already 9:30! It was really cool!


Friday April 26

We decided to go to Capri!

Capri

We left warm, sunny Sorrento to ferry to Capri. 30 minutes later we landed in cloudy windy Capri. It was "Capri-eezing!" as Will kept saying all afternoon! That kid. Can't take him anywhere!! ;)

We spent about 30 minutes on one of the rocky beaches... and when I say rocks, I mean rocks!! I'm not talking small pebbles here folks, but big cover-the-dirt-in-the-garden type rocks! (instead of sand, obviously)

Capri

Capri. Beach Front.

Also, while we were there a dude with a harpoon walks up with his catch of 10 or so squid. Talk about a day job!

We quickly got cold on the beach and took the funicular up the mountain to the upper part of the city.

We were looking for lunch but decided that the touristy places by the port were cheaper than this top portion of the city.

So we went back down. And had lunch. Then caught the ferry back to Sorrento in the rain.
It was short lived, but hey, Capri was gorgeous!!!

We got back and Will passed out for a nap and Katie, Jenn, and I just chilled for the afternoon. We left the door to the apartment open to experience the spring rain. It was so nice and refreshing!

For dinner we went to a Pizzeria in town. It was really yummy. Got to love the Italian Pizza! And we were all really exhausted and called it an early night. This semester is wearing us all out!


Saturday April 27

POMPEII!!!!!!! IN THE RAIN!!!!

That was the majority of the day. Let me just say. Pompeii is phenomenal! Being a history buff and LOVING Ancient Rome... Pompeii blew my mind. It is an entire city filled with blocks upon blocks of houses and stores and amphitheaters and everything Ancient Rome. And it is ALL preserved!! Thanks Mt. Vesuvius.

Temple

Frescoes

Store that served warm food!

Amphitheater

theater

I must say though. Being and to see Vesuvius looming eerily in the background while walking through the city. In the rain. With big clouds letting him peek through every now and then was a little unsettling. He is a guilty mountain and all day Will and I just kept saying.."we know what you did!" He's a sneaky sneaky volcano.

Note Vesuvius in the background

So anyways. My mind was blown by Pompeii. and Will and I lasted twice as long as Jenn and Katie did in the cold rain. Thanks to our chacos and rain jackets!

We had great fun sloshing through rain puddles

I shared an umbrella with Will and an audio guide all day and it was so phenomenal!

(*side note* If you haven't noticed already, for those of you who frequent my blog, I have a very small vocabulary and reuse words over and over again to describe certain experiences. Last week for Tuscany it was "fabulous" This week for Pompeii it is "phenomenal")

Cold and wet we ate lunch outside of Pompeii and caught the train back to Sorrento to meet up with Katie and Jenn at the apartment. We all stayed in doors the remainder of the day until it was time to go find supper, and it finally stopped raining!!

On our way to find a restaurant for supper we were all stunned by this sunset

no words

We ate at the cheapest place we could find, we ate outdoors and there was NO COVER CHARGE!!! We win! By this time it had stopped raining and it was pleasant temperatures.

After our meal Will and I decided to try this food tasting cultural experience we had stumbled upon our first night. It was two streets full of yummy food and wine samples with cultural infusions, like singers walking the streets with guitars and children playing tambourines. Bands performing in courtyards.

food sample

Or opera singers on a rooftop terrace accompanied by a harp (as seen on Thursday).

Will and I's favorite.... A man handing out samples of homemade lemon sorbet. OH MY GOODNESS!!! We both died. Lemons are the thing to grow in Sorrento. It's what the city and region is known for in Italy and oh my do they grow Lemons!! Everything we tried was really yummy and it was so much fun for us to experience the culture of Southern Italy!


Sunday April 28

Finally. What we came here to do. Lay in the sun and relax.

This weekend was a very relaxing weekend. The early any of us woke up was 9 and the latest any of us went to bed was 11:30! It was amazing. And finally the weather was in our favor to do some sun bathing.

Italians are still bundled up over here in there pants and boots and scarves and parkas. I have no idea how they aren't drenched from head to toe in sweat, but they manage. So getting some sun is difficult and renting a chair on a dock in the bay was totally worth the euros spent! We sun bathed until we had to catch the train back to Napoli. Then onto to Florence and back down to Arezzo for Will.

It was an amazing weekend. And to be completely honest, I have no idea what I will be doing next weekend. Maybe Munich. Maybe another coastal town. The plans haven't been made. I might be chillin' in Florence. Either way. This weekend was full of beautiful sights. Good company. And unpredictable weather.

Tuscany

School is starting to wind down. So, like I said in an earlier post of mine, that means A LOT of papers. It's hard to manage my time here because I have one class every day. But each day is a different class. They only meet once a week. So that means I have all week to get something done for my monday class right? Wrong. Things tend to pile up and Italian usually stresses me out. I have an oral presentation due on Monday in my Italian class. Awesome.

So, even though I am abroad, I still have plenty of school work to keep me busy. The only difference is I travel EVERY weekend. I have not stayed in Florence once for an entire weekend all semester. But, I'm not complaining. If you know me you know I love a grand adventure and this semester has been just that.

Really the only thing I have to show for this semester is what I am doing in my Historical Painting class. And the only reason why I enjoy going to that class is because I get to sit for 5 and a half hours and listen to my book on tape. But, nonetheless here is an update of my Botticelli copy.

Its not finished yet, unfortunately. I had to redo her whole eye and every time my teacher comes to look at it he finds something else I have to change. Which wouldn't be a big deal but the paint we use has to be translucent so it takes upwards of 8 to 10 coats to cover over something and then just the same amount to add it back in.

This Friday I surprised Will. Pretty sure he knew I was coming though. It was nothing compared to what he did in Vienna, but hey, a girl can try right?

It was such a fun day. The highlight was when we went to the park and played soccer with some 14 year old french boys. We didn't speak French and they didn't speak English so our common language to communicate was Italian. It was insane. I scored a goal!!! My soccer playing boyfriend was so proud of me! I think it's the first goal I've ever scored in my life. And the first time to ever really play a game of soccer. I don't think playing indoor soft soccer in 2nd grade counts. Plus my face made contact with the ball more than my feet did. 

So due to us having such fun at the park I missed the train home I originally planned to get on. And then by the time we figured out the next one I should take it was cancelled. So I got home later than I originally planned but it was so worth it! Will had class Friday morning so I didn't get to see him until 1 and leaving on a later train gave me more time with him.

First time I've said bye to him leaving on a train. It isn't very fun but look how cute he is!

Saturday morning I got on a bus to Siena with my API group... Let's just say we are glad it's our last API excursion. Big groups and annoying girls are a lot to handle. But, API does a fabulous job with their trips. We always have great hotels and fabulous tour guides and fun activities.

Siena was beautiful. And the country side driving there was also fabulous. Everything is blooming and my favorite are the fields of bright blazing yellow flowers.

Siena was so fun. Our tour guide was adorable and the city is so interesting! They have 17 different neighborhoods all a different animal. They even have a giraffe neighborhood!! But I didn't get to see it. Every year the town has a horse race and each neighborhood buys a horse and pays a jockey to ride it. The horses are rode bareback and the racetrack is a square in the city! Its track is shaped like a half circle and is the road that runs around the square.

We toured the Dragon neighborhood, Snail, Owl, She-Wolf, Rhino and I can't remember what else. But if you are born in that neighborhood you are always that animal. Even if you move neighboorhoods. And if you marry someone from a different neighborhood and move and have children the children are the animals from the neighborhood they are born in. Our tour guide explained it like this, "If an owl marries a snail they morph into porcupines. It is always a porcupine." What she meant was... I an owl married a snail and they move to the porcupine neighborhood their children will be porcupines.

Siena

Siena Duomo

Oldest hospital every (basically)

Square where the horse races are run

 After our tour of the city and free time we got back on the bus and drove to a spa. We got to bathe in thermal hotsprings. And since it was a beautiful sunny day that meant the outdoor pools were open. I got in the rotten egg smelling pool for about 2 minutes and then just laid in the sun the rest of the time. It was so relaxing.

Tuscany

 That night we stayed in a tiny town called Castiglion Fiorentino. My friend from high school, Amy, who goes to Texas A&M (Whoop!) is studying abroad there! So after supper at our hotel I met up with her and we walked around the town and got to catch up on life. It was such a blessing to get to talk to her and so great to see a friendly familiar face.

We woke up Sunday morning and headed out to Cortona. I will let my pictures speak for themselves. There is no way any words I can say can describe the beauty of Tuscany.

Cortona

After our tour in Cortona we walked around the small city until it was time to leave. Then we headed to a wine tasting. And this is where it was...

A castle on a hill!!! how awesome is that! sadly my phone could not capture the beauty that could be seen from the castle. But it tried. This is a vineyard in Chianti. Which is a type of wine... blah blah blah let's be honest I know zero about wine. But it was so interesting learning about it and seeing how they produce it and hearing the history of this castle and wine.

View from the terrace of the castle. The castle on the next hill were enemies way back in the day. 

Where they hang the grapes to dry out

Wine cellar

Two of the four wines we tried. 

Now, I am no connoisseur of wine, but I tried everything at the wine tasting. Even the food that I wouldn't eat normally. Like the wild boar. The castle also has land that they raise wild boar on. So we had fresh pork. Ya mom and dad. I ate some pig. I can't believe it. I tried anything and everything they set in front of me because.. When will I be in Tuscany again, in Chianti, to taste the wine like this. Plus by the time it was over we had basically been served a whole meal, and being a college student I'm not one to pass up free food!

View from the castle as we left. Rain is coming.

And as if I didn't know this before, I am no city girl. I am a country girl all the way. Being in the city center in Florence is hard on a Texas girl. I think that is why I like going to Arezzo to see Will so much. It's a small town. It has parks and green things that grow out of the ground. It's wonderful. The city center in Florence is anything but that. If you are looking to study abroad in Italy. Study in a small town! That is my advice to you.

My next weekend plans are the Amalfi coast for a wonderful 4 day weekend!