Venice/ Week in Rome with Sarah and Jaimie 4/18

After mass on Sunday, Sarah, Jaimie, and I headed to Venice.  This was my first time being there as well so I was very excited.  We started on our road trip again and saw some beautiful landscape.  After driving for awhile, we stopped in Ferraro, which is a town in Emilia-Romagna, for lunch.  Because it was Easter, not much was open so we had a couple mini-pizzas for lunch.  

We got into Venice around 6pm but then we needed to find a parking garage.  Luckily, our hotel recommended one.  As we were pulling in, I was on the phone with one of my friends that we were supposed to meet up with.  The garage worker, was giving Sarah directions as to where to park, and she got all mad at me because she couldn't understand what he was saying and I was on the phone.  I quickly hung up the phone, only to realize that the man was speaking to her in English!!  Jaimie and I were laughing for a good while because Sarah couldn't understand English. 

We bought a pass for 24hrs to ride the water taxis and made our way to our hotel.  We met up with my friend Christine, who was staying with us as well.  After getting settled in, we went out for dinner and a walk around.  We had a nice pizza dinner and to our surprise, Venice was pretty empty so we took a nice walk around.  I can't believe how beautiful Venice is.  Having water all around is amazing and everything seems so calm and relaxing.  We walked around for quite a while and then decided to get on a water taxi to take us back to our place.  There are not many cars on Venice because it is very hard to get around with one there.  There are so many islands around and everything is connected by little foot-bridges.  It took us a little longer to get back than we hoped, but at least we were on the water.  The rocking of the boat put me to sleep like a baby, and Jaimie took some embarrassing pictures of me...What a nice sister.  

The next morning we got up early and walked around.  Besides walking around and riding the taxies, there is not much else to do, but it was great for Sarah and Jaimie to see that slow-paced lifestyle.  We visited St. Mark's church, and Sarah and I climbed the bell tower where we could see all around the cities.  It was a great experience.  Venice is known for its glass,( which I didn't know) so we went shopping for some.  We visited the island of Murano, where most of the glass is made.  We weren't able to see any of the glass making, but the showrooms were very cool.  We all made a few purchases and then got lunch.  We bought panini by the Grand Canal, and enjoyed ourselves for a little bit.

We only had the one full day in Venice, because I started up school again on Tuesday, but it was fun while it lasted.  We got ready for our 6 hour drive back to Rome.

I had a full week of activities for Sarah and Jaimie.  We returned the car Tuesday morning and then headed to the Colosseum.  I went in with Sarah and Jaimie, gave them a history lesson, and then went to class.  While I was at class they explored the Roman Forum and Palatine hill.  After class we met back up and went to the Capitoline museum.  I had never been before either so it was a great time.  We spent a couple hours looking at many old Roman sculptures and paintings from the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries.  

Wednesday we got up early and went to St. Angelo's castle.  This used to be used for Popes as a protective castle.  It had a great view of the city and we explored for a while.  Once again they stayed while I went to class.  The castle is round, odd i know, but it was very interesting.  It was very plain and kind of ugly from the outside, and then somewhat intricate on the inside.  There is a restaurant and cafe inside which was very cool.  

Thursday I brought them to the Vatican.  I knew that it was going to be crowded the whole week so we waited until Thursday.  I went to the basilica with them and then I had class once again, so they went to the catacombs and the Vatican Museum while I was in class.  After class we got some pizza and then wet to climb to the top of the Basilica.  The Cupola was over 500 steps to the top.  They make you take a elevator part of the way and then climb the remaining 300.  It was kinda creepy because the staircase is slanted because the dome is right there.  It was very crowded at the top but we got some good pictures.  

Friday was shopping day.  The main goal was to find Jaimie a prom dress....and we did!  Not many people can say they got their dress from Italy, so she did good.  We did a lot of shopping and looking around before going to our last dinner.  I took them to our favorite club the night that they were leaving.  We had a great time and decided to stay up until they had to leave my house at 4am.  They left and got safely to the airport.

I was so glad to have my sisters visit.  I was so proud and excited to show them "my" city and have them experience part of Italy with me.  I leave in 3 weeks and I am excited to see everyone from home.

Leaning Tower of Pisa, Easter in Florence!! 4/10

Friday morning after getting lost and fighting with the car guy about our GPS system, we heading off for Pisa.  Within 20 min of leaving, Jaimie was asleep in the back seat!  Sarah and I made a couple good CDs before we left so we were having a blast in the car.  The drive to Pisa was about 4 1/2 hours because we decided to take the coast.  I love driving in Italy, and especially in Tuscany.  There are just so many great things to see and besides, who can resist a road trip?  With about and hour left to go, we stopped along the beach in a little town called San Vincenzo for lunch.  Since their tourists haven't come yet, many things were closed down.  We found a really great place that was literally right on the beach, but it was closed at lunch time.  We walked around for a little while and found a cute place were we had three great pastas and cappuccinos.  After we got back into the car and headed to Pisa.  Amanda was meeting us there from Florence with her roommate Erin since they had never been there before either.  

I have to admit, I thought the tower would be bigger.  It was pretty amazing to see though.  The history behind it is that it was originally supposed to be the bell tower for Pisa's Cathedral.  They started building it and when they got to the third level, it started to sink on one side.  They tried to fix it but it just didn't work so their theory was to make the floor on the sinking side thicker so that it would be level.  This only made it worse since the extra weight made it sink more.  They still continued to build it and we have the Leaning Tower of Pisa.  Great story I know,  I should be a historian.  In 2000 they restored the angle of the lean to where it was 300 years ago because it was continuing to sink.  They say that it is secure now and that it won't sink any further but I guess only time will tell.  

Since the only thing really to do in Pisa was take pictures of holding the tower up, we did that and then went for a drink at a restaurant.  Jaimie discovered her new love.....Orange Fanta.  They make pop different here and the Fanta tastes a lot more like orange juice than like pop.  The entire rest of her trip in Italy she was trying to find Fanta at every store and trying to figure out how she could get some home in her suitcase without it exploding.  

We then headed to Florence to stay with Amanda.  Saturday we got up early and walked around.  It was very crowded so we weren't able to get in to see the David but we saw the replica in the town square.  We did a lot of shopping in the leather markets and scarf stands.  It was a very relaxing day, which was good because it would be our only relaxing day while they were here.  That night we went up to Michelangelo's piazza and watched the sunset except it was cloudy.  We still got to see Florence from up above which was very cool.  

Sunday was Easter so we made a big breakfast and then attempted to go to mass at the Duomo.  Florence had put on an annual fireworks show with white oxen leading the cart of fireworks and they had a ton of bands playing as well.  It was super crowded and a little frustrating because we were too short to see anything (well I was too short).  Mass was supposed to start at 11 but they never opened the main doors and it took us until 11:30 just to move from where we were.  We finally figured out that they were letting people in on the sides and went that way but by the time we got into the Duomo, there were no seats.  We stood for a little while but they were letting people in just to look at the Duomo and it took away from the feeling of being at mass ( and besides, it was all in Italian so I was the only one understanding anything) so we went to get Sarah and Jaimie their first taste of gelato.  Once the gelato touched Jaimie's tongue, she couldn't get enough of it.  (No hard feelings Jaimie, the same happened for me, hence why I need a treadmill for my birthday...cough cough Mom)  We went back to Amanda's place and packed up because we were headed to Venice for the rest of Sunday and Monday!  

I was a little sad leaving because that was my 3rd and last time in Florence (this year anyways).  I loved lots of things about Florence, like how much slower the pace of life was than Rome, and how "Italian" it was.  I'm glad that I was able to show it to Sarah and Jaimie.

Sarah and Jaimie arrive! 4/7

The day after Sam left, Sarah arrived from South Africa!  I have been quite the entertainer lately but I love visitors because then I can show off my city to them.  Since I had class at the time Sarah was getting in, I gave her directions on how to get to my house.  As usual, things didn't quite go as planned with the transportation but she is a smart girl and she figured out how to get to me.  I was so excited to see my big sister!  She had lots of stories from South Africa so my roommates and I made some dinner and listened to a lot of them.  Jaimie didn't get in until Thursday so Sarah slept in the next morning to catch up on sleep and then I showed her around Trastevere, which is where my school is at.  We grabbed a book at found a great cafe to have a cappuccino and snacks at.  That night I took her to Campo dei Fiori, which is a big square that is lined with bars and restaurants.  She was a little bit in culture shock there because in South Africa there are many more rules about when you can go out and who you must go out with, for safety reasons.  For the first time in Italy, I got food poisoning that night.  Sarah was used to that kind of thing in South Africa and I was really upset because it is not like that here and she got a bad first impression of Italian food.  

The next morning we went to pick up Jaimie (our little sis) from the airport.  We got there smoothly and waited around for her for a while.  Sarah had described to her the airport and told here where to meet us, only there was one problem, Sarah didn't actually exit the airport before getting on the train and she told Jaimie to meet us at a place we weren't allowed to go.  Good thing Jaimie doesn't listen very well because she walked right out.  My mom was really worried about Jaimie coming to visit.  The night Jaimie took off my mom sent me a message saying " You call me the SECOND you see her face.  This is a big step for her....and me too."  So naturally I had to make fun of my mother so I called when we got Jaimie, which was 4am Michigan time, and asked her if Jaimie was getting in today because we had been waiting for a couple hours and we hadn't seen her.  (If you know my mother you will be laughing right about now.)  She started getting really worried saying that Jaimie should have been in by now, and trying to remember the flight number.  I couldn't let her get too upset so I told her that I was just joking and that we had Jaimie safe and sound.  She said some very kind words to me and then I told her we would call when it was later in Michigan.  

I had class right after we got Jaimerz and she was exhausted so Sarah and Jaimie took a nap while I went to class and then met me at my school afterwards.  Friday, the next day, we were leaving for a little weekend adventure so I wanted to get some site seeing in before we left.  I took them right away to see the Pantheon.  They were both amazed at how huge it was and I actually got to go inside for the first time.  Tourist season had started and Sunday was Easter so Rome was getting a little packed.  I soon found myself frustrated with tourists and then brought myself back to reality because I was basically a long-stay tourist myself.  We walked to Piazza Navona from there and saw all of the merchants with their paintings, toys and such.  We had all afternoon so we did a lot of walking on side streets to avoid the people, and see some new things.  We made our way to the Trevi Fountain and then the Spanish Steps.  We sat on the steps for a while and relaxed.  Afterwards I wanted to take them to a typical Italian dinner so we went back to Piazza Navona for a great meal.  Surprisingly neither of them wanted gelato and it was still Lent(so I was out of luck), so we headed back to my apartment to get some sleep because the next morning we were picking up our car and heading to Pisa!

Ps..

Mom- Don't get too mad at this...we thought all your instructions for Jaimie, and all the food you sent her with was great.  Thanks a ton for the Easter baskets!  I love my new shirt.

Dad- I'm sure you were laughing just as hard as we were when mom was doing all of this.

Uncle Ed- I hope you finally figured out how to work this.  My mom told me you were having difficulties.  Love you all and I hope you are doing well.

Kathy- Thanks again for everything you have done for me while I'm away.  Hopefully reading this gives you a little break from the chaos.  

Sam comes to visit/Palm Sunday at the Vatican/EARTHQUAKES!! 4/3

The weekend after spring break, Sam came to visit with his friend Danny from Prague.  They came on Friday morning and I knew there was a lot to show them, so we started right away on the site seeing.  I brought them to the Vatican first and showed them the Basilica.  Since Easter was the next weekend, it was starting to get busy.  After seeing the Basilica and the Catacombs, we went to the Vatican Museum.  I had never been either, so I was excited to see the Sistine Chapel.  The Museum is HUGE.  I couldn't believe how much stuff was in there.  They have a really cool Egyptian exhibit and many things from ancient Rome.  The ceilings were all decorated lavishly and the walls were full of paintings and frescos.  They put the Sistine Chapel at the end so that you have to go through the whole thing before seeing it.  I must admit, I thought it was going to look a lot different.  I thought it was a brightly lit long hallway but it is a dark rectangular room.  It was still very amazing to see though.  Michelangelo must have had a stiff neck for years after painting it!  

I kept the boys moving and we made our way over to the Spanish Steps and Trevi Fountain.  We walked over to the Pantheon but mass was going on so we couldn't see the inside.  After a full day of sites, we headed back to rest up for the next day.  

Saturday morning I showed them the Colosseum and Palatine hill.  We spent quite a few hours in there because there is so much to see.  I brought them to see my school and to my favorite pizza place for lunch.  After lunch, we were all pretty tired so we headed back to take a nap.  I decided to cook for the boys after they were done napping and I think we had enough food to feed 10 so they were stuffed. 

Sunday was the big day.  My roommate Lindsay has connections at the Vatican so she got us tickets to go to Palm Sunday at the Vatican and Pope Bennedetto was saying mass!  Sam and I went and bought some Rosaries so that we could have them blessed and we got some olive branches because they use those instead of palms here.  The mass was 2 hours long but we loved it because it was so beautiful out and we were at the Vatican!  The entire mass was in Italian so poor Sam didn't have a clue what was going on.  I also was lost at times because they were using many words that weren't in my vocabulary.  

After mass we rushed back to the apartment and got ready to go to the Roma soccer game!  I had never been to a game before and I knew  I wouldn't feel immersed in the culture enough if I didn't attend at least one game.  We of course were extremely late for the game, but it turns out that we had the wrong time for the game and we were right on time.  The game was extremely fun and entertaining.  We came back and made a great dinner.  Sam and Danny had to leave my house around 4:30 am so they went to bed early.  I stayed up until about 2:30am studying for an exam and then went to bed.  At 3:30am the earthquake happened.  It woke us up from our sleep and lasted around 30 seconds.  We weren't sure what was going on because none of us had been in an earthquake before.  Most people in my apartment building were running out on the streets, but we weren't sure what to do so we just went to bed because we had to be up in a half hour for Sam to leave.  

The next few days were one earthquake after another.  The next few were a little scarier because I actually knew what was happening.  Sarah got here on Tuesday and she has felt two so far.  I feel so terrible for all those people in L'Aquila who have lost their homes and their lives.  Our school collected a ton of canned goods and blankets for the homeless there.  We should all keep them in our prayers.

Pescara/Perugia 3/27

Pescara is right on the Adriatic coast and it was much warmer there.  We planned on laying on the beach, but it wasn’t quite that warm so we walked up and down the beach.  We couldn’t seem to find any of the churches that were the main attractions, but we thought that the beaches would do lol.  My roommate Yasemin has a house near Pescara and we are going there in a couple weeks so we decided to head to our next, and last destination, Perugia.  We had a beautiful drive up the coast and the drive was very quick. The town of Perugia, is right at the top of a hill, and the whole town has outdoor escalators connecting the walking paths.  Something I didn’t know about Perugia is that its Cathedral has the Virgin Mary’s wedding ring housed in a safe.  The safe has 15 locks and is only opened twice a year.  July 30^th and the second week in December.  Perugians stole the ring from a nearby town and now they have it guarded heavily.  July 30^th is the date that the ring was stolen and December is the believed wedding date of Mary and Joseph.  Another thing is that the town is a “College Town”.  There are over 30,000 students there, but the town is really small compared to Rome.  I really liked Perugia because it is a small town and their main streets aren’t allowed to be driven on by cars so everyone walks around in the evening.  It was a very peaceful evening and we had our own “passeggiatta” or evening walk, around the town.  We stopped off at a couple points to take pictures because the view from the edge of town is amazing.  We saw the end of the sunset and were able to see the city lights below.  Our hotel offered a special with a local restaurant where we could get wine, pasta, meat, vegetables, and bread, all for 15 euro so we took up the offer and had a great “last” meal.  Somehow we scheduled the return of the car to be at 10am on Saturday morning, so we had to get up at 6am in order to get it back to Florence in time!  This was the first time that we didn’t have our cappuccino in the morning and I was a little worried about how it was going to work out.  It turns out we aren’t as addicted as we thought and we waited until we returned the car to have our necessary coffee.  I am spending tonight in Florence with Amanda and I will head back to Rome on Sunday. 

 

Needless to say, we didn’t have your typical college “spring break”, but I would not trade it for the world.  We managed to see more of Italy than most Italians have seen.  I wish I could have spent more time in each city, but we hit the main attractions in each city.  I loved having a car and being able to go where we wanted, when we wanted, so much, that I rented a car for when Jaimie and Sarah come and we are going to explore Tuscany over Easter weekend.

Sorrento/Campochiaro/Boiano/San Salvo 3/26

Today was the most “filling” day we have had yet.  We slept in a little while today for our first time, which is good because we have been doing a lot of traveling and not getting much sleep.  We walked around Sorrento for an hour or so and had a coffee.  The coastline here is beautiful but it is all up on a cliff so we didn’t get a chance to stick our feet in.  We were anxious to get going so we hopped in the car and headed off for Champochiaro, which is a very small town where my family, the Rano’s, are from.  I had contacted a few of the family members, but they ONLY spoke Italian so I wasn’t sure how the day was going to go.  We arrived at Campochiaro, which is a small, small, town of 600 on the side of a large hill.  We drove up into the town hoping to find someone who knew where I could find the cemetery and anyone who was left in the town who was a Rano.  I found the office of public records and it said it was only open from 10am-12pm.  It was around 2pm so it was closed, but the door was cracked open so I went in.  There was a women inside doing some paperwork in this tiny little room.  I explained to her that my family was from Campochiaro and that I was hoping to look up some old records, but she said that they were closed.  I told her that we were from the US and that we were only there from the afternoon.  She asked what the last name was, and then laughed when I told her because there are too many Rano’s there to look up anything.  She said that because they have no software, it would take a long time to try and compile.  If I have a weekend left before I leave, I think I will try and go look at the records.  We then drove down and asked another women who was getting out of her car, to tell us where the cemetery was at, and she ended up driving in front of us to show us where it was.  We walked around and took pictures of all the Rano gravesites.  Mind you, there were a lot, but it is still a tiny town, so there weren’t too many.  After looking around for a while, we headed to Boiano where my contacts were.  My cousin Melisa had gotten me in contact with people in Italy who were related to us by marriage and also were related to us.  Amanda and I had planned to meet Filomena Pittarelli in one of the towns 3 piazzas.  After she found us, she brought us back to her house and asked if we were hungry.  We didn’t want to be rude so we said we would eat something.  Her husband was having a conversation with me because poor Amanda doesn’t speak Italian.  I don’t know a ton, so I was just asking a lot of questions so that he would do most of the talking.  He had to go to work so Amanda and I were invited into the kitchen as Filomena was finishing cooking.  We sat down at the table and she served us pasta with meatballs, bread, and wine.  We were very surprised by this because we said we were only a little bit hungry.  She had already eaten lunch but she sat with us and I tried to explain to her how we were, but weren’t related and how I knew her family members.  After the pasta, she brought out cottoletto (which is thin slices of steak breaded) with cauliflower and tomatoes!  We looked at each other like, how are we going to eat this!  So we ate the cottoletto and she started making more while we were eating so that she could make panini for us to take with us!  We were sooo full at this point but after that she put a bowl of fruit on the table and told us to eat some.  This whole respect issues was starting to make my stomach uncomfortable.  Amanda and I split at orange and thought we would call it good.  Nope, we had to have an apple each because they are really good at this time of year.  After the fruit, she made us each an espresso, and gave us chocolates to have with it.  I thought that I was going to explode!  During this whole time, Filomena was telling us that we had to come back on Sunday because her children were coming for dinner and they could speak English.  We explained that we were traveling and had to be back on Sunday.  She also said that she was sorry that she couldn’t get any of the Rano’s to come that day since it was during the middle of the day and I called on such short notice.  Her daughter called while we were having “lunch” and asked to talk to us. Rossella spoke broken English so I talked to her for a little while.  She lives in San Salvo, which is a beach town on the Adriatic sea.  That night, Amanda and I had booked a B&B in Pescara, which is a beach town just half-hour north of San Salvo.  Rossella had felt bad that she wasn’t at our lunch, so naturally, she invited us to dinner with her.  Amanda and I looked at each other with disgusted faces because we had just STUFFED ourselves, and Rossella wanted us to have dinner in 2 hours!  Her boyfriend, whom we later figured out was her husband, was in Campochiaro visiting his parents.  He was driving back to San Salvo that evening, so he came over and we followed him home.  When we got to their apartment (which was 200 meters from the ocean!) she showed us around, and then we drove into town to walk along the boardwalk.  They spoke little English and I speak little Italian so the conversations were limited.  They brought us to dinner at a very cute restaurant. Amanda and I decided to split a pizza because we were SOOO full, but Rossella ordered 4 different appetizers for us!  I still hadn’t digested from lunch, but we once again, forced the food down.  We had a great and “filling” day with my family/not family.  They both offered for us to come back and stay with them and I told them that they needed to visit me in the States.  We hadn’t planned on staying all-day in this area, but it was definitely worth it.  At 9pm we took off to Pescara, but called it a night early.  

Pompei, Mt. Vesuvius, Naples 3/25

Once again, thanks to Roseann we decided to take the train into Pompeii and Naples instead of trying to drive.  We took an early train and arrived at Pompeii around 10am.  Amanda had never been to any ancient ruins before so I was excited to talk to her about them.  In one of my classes, we have been learning about the style of the houses and what each room is called.  The pamphlet said that if you were to do Pompeii correctly, it would take 5-6 hours!  We didn’t know what we were looking at half the time, so it only took us around 2.5 hours.  A lot of the exhibits were closed so we weren’t able to see some of the main things.  I’m not sure what year the volcano exploded, but the city was founded in the 7^th century BC.  When Mt. Vesuvius erupted, all the ash came down on the city and because it was so hot it hit the people and preserved them in place.  They have some of the people on display and it’s a little disturbing because they all have their mouths open from when they were screaming from the pain.  The city was covered in ash, and it is the most well-preserved cities of the ancient world.  If the ash had never covered the city, they would have never seen all of the artwork or have the buildings still in place.  They had an amphitheater that held 20,000 people and was used for gladiator battles.  They also had a small theater, large courtyards, and very large houses for the wealthy.  Because we didn’t get a map, we missed two of the main things, the bath houses, and the house with  a lot of preserved people in it.  We were there for a while, but it was a city, so we need a little credit because we covered a lot of ground in 2.5 hours.  Also, on the way out, we managed to get lost somehow and that’s what took up most of our 2.5 hours.  If we wouldn’t have gotten lost though, we wouldn’t have seen so much, so it was a good thing.  After seeing all the bodies and preserved city, we decided to go see what caused all of it to be preserved….Mt. Vesuvius! 

 

We hopped on the train onto the next stop…Ercolano.  This is the town where the volcano is located.  For $10 Euro, there was a bus service that brought us to the top ( or so we thought).  The bus held 7 and we fit 9!  I didn’t have a seatbelt and I was only halfway on the seat and I was right next to the sliding door, that wasn’t shut all the way!  Amanda was trying to hang onto me because the road on the way up was really windy and bumpy.  So with no seatbelt, and nothing to brace myself on, we began our journey to the top of Mt. Vesuvius.  They stopped a couple times along the way so that we could take pictures and after about a half hour, we reached a parking lot.  We got out and then they informed us that we only had a half-hour hike left!  Amanda and I had not dressed for hiking, but we were there so of course we did it.  Once again we stopped many times along the way to “take pictures”  Once we got to the top, the view was BELLISSIMA!  It overlooked the Bay of Naples and we could see both the small town of Sorrento, and the chaotic city of Naples.  It was a little chilly up top with the wind, but the view was so beautiful that we didn’t care.  We looked into the top of the still active volcano, but all that is left is a closed crater. The last eruption was in 1944 and it destroyed 2 towns.  For some reason, people have built their homes, restaurants, and hotels on the side of the volcano.   I guess they don’t think the insurance coverage is too expensive.  Amanda had thought that we were going to see lava when we looked down into it LOL!!  I informed her that we probably wouldn’t be allowed to look into it if that was the case.  We did see all the steaming rock though and that was cool.  We were following some tour guides around and eves-dropping on their conversations.  They were saying that before the last eruption, you could see the open volcano with lava inside.  We were intrigued for a while but then we got too cold so we headed down the mountain and into Napoli for some exploring.  When we first got into Napoli we went and saw its Duomo.  It was very pretty and it had the biggest confessional that I have ever seen!  We were joking about how Naples needed a big confessional because of all the crime committed there.  We walked around the city for a while and tried going down by the water but it was all industrial where we were so we opted out of watching the sunset.  Naples is the birthplace of pizza as we know it today!  A local cook wanted to make something special for the new Italian Queen (Queen Margherita) who was visiting Naples at the time.  The cook took flat bread and placed a sauce on top with mozzarella cheese and basil.  He used these toppings because they were the colors of the Italian flag…and viola PIZZA!!  Naples is said to have the best pizza, so we of course got a bottle of wine and a classic Margherita Pizza to split.  The pizza was really good, but I think that most other Italian cities have caught on to the recipe because it tasted like the pizza I have in Rome.  We couldn’t find much else to do in Napoli and since we weren’t staying there for the night any more, we took the train back to Sorrento.  

Vietri/Amalfi/Minori/Sorrento The Amalfi Coast!! 3/24

Today was our most exciting day so far.  I had gotten in touch with a family friend of the Rea’s who lives around Salerno, and Amanda and I met up with her and her friends for lunch.  Matera was warm when we left but by the time we got to Vietri to meet up with Roseann, it was cold and rainy so we once again stood out as Americans because we were optimistic and had dressed for warm weather.  We had coffee with Roseann and her friends and then they walked with us around Vietri.  Roseann’s friends have shops in Vietri so we visited them and bought a few ceramics because that’s what the area is known for.  Her one friend Cinzia, rented an apartment out in the town and the renters left that day so we went with them to see how they left the place.  The apartment overlooked the water and had balconies on both sides.  Cinzia offered for us to stay there for a couple nights but we had already made reservations at other hotels.  Amanda and I were so surprised at how much more hospitable people in the south were.  We had an amazing fresh seafood lunch where the chef just prepared what they thought we would like.  Roseann had convinced us not to stay in Naples for the night because for one, we were driving a Mercedes and Napoli is the crime capital in Italy, two, there is not much to see in Napoli, and three, Sorrento is much prettier.  So we called and cancelled the reservation for one night and made reservations to stay in Sorrento one night.  After lunch we headed to the Amalfi Coast to begin our beautiful drive.  The first town we came to was called Minori and one of the pastry shops there has its own show on an Italian cooking show.  Roseann told us we had to stop for one of their lemon pastries because the Amalfi is known for its lemons and the shop was known for its pastries. All along the drive were lemon trees up and down the mountains.  It was really cool to see.  Most of the lemons were the size of melons!  They were huge.  The next town we stopped at was Amalfi itself.  We actually parked and got out to explore the town.  Every store was selling some type of ceramic or forms of lemons like limoncello, gelato, pastries etc.  We went and checked out the church there and continued.  Amanda was driving the whole time so that I could take pictures, but it was a good thing she was driving because she gets carsick easily.  I have never gotten carsick before and I was feeling a little queezy.  The roads barely fit two cars and they are SOOO windy.  When you aren’t controlling the way you move and while trying to take pictures, your stomach gets a little upset.  I didn’t get sick but I had to open the window a few times for fresh air.    We were about half-hour from our hotel in Sorrento, when we noticed a road block.  They were working on the only tunnel that connects the towns together.  The only way to get through is a bus that comes every 3 hours.  We had to back track and go up the mountains instead of around.  It took us 2.5 hours instead of just half hour, to get to our place.  We are so thankful for the navigation system because we would not have known how to get to Sorrento from there.  Entering Sorrento was a task in and of itself because they were getting ready for their summer tourists and they had construction as well.  We were in stopped traffic for a while and then we inched the rest of the way.  At one point, our navigation system told us to turn left into a tunnel.  We thought it was closed but a chartered bus headed into it so we followed.  As we were driving through, Amanda said “It’s weird that no one is in her right now and that everything is so dusty.”  I thought that they just didn’t have the tunnel fans on.  Well…..when we got to the end, we noticed the bus was stopped because there was a gate in front of it.  Turns out, the tunnel was closed!!!  A man in a truck let the bus through and gave us the look of death.  He closed the gate behind us and glared at us until we were out of sight!

Reggio Calabria/ Matera 3/23

This morning we took the 20 minute ferry over to Reggio Calabria where we picked up our rental car.  We weren’t sure what to expect when picking up the car because they never told us what type we were to have.  The man pulled up our car and it was a Mercedes-Benz!  Of course it is not a really big one or anything and it is a lower class one, but it is sill a Benz lol.  We hopped in the car and headed off…..in the wrong direction of course!  We turned around quickly and decided that using the navigation system would be a good choice.  It has really come in handy so far.  We drove for about 2 hours up the west coast of the “toe” and stopped for lunch in a small town.  We found a local market where we stocked up on bread, fruit, and water so that we could have lunch in the car most days and eat out for dinner.  We didn’t stop again for an hour or so until we found the east coast!  We actually pulled over to the side of the road this time to go down by the water.  I could not believe how blue the water was!  The place we stopped at was very rocky but it was still nice to see the water and feel the breeze.  Matera was around 2 hours longer so we headed off again.  When we got to Matera, the owner of our bed and breakfast wasn’t at the place, so we parked the car and walked into town.  The city was more modern than any I have seen so far.  We were a little confused because we went to Matera to see the Sassi which are old caveman houses carved into the rock.  We asked a man where they were at and he brought us all the way there.  The Sassi are built into the cliff that is over a large valley.  On the side of the valley that Matera is on, the caves are more like actual houses but they are still made of stone and people actually live in them.  On the other side of the valley, the caves are just holes in the cliff.  The film The Passion of the Christ with Mel Gibson was filmed in the town of the Sassi.  We did lots of exploring through the Sassi and looked at many churches.  The city was interesting because it was complete opposites with a Paleolithic city on one end of town and a modern city on the other end of town.  The driving we did today is the most we will do in one day but we haven’t been in a car in a long time, or driven in a long time, so it was fine.  Not to mention, we were driving along the coast so there was no complaining.