Italy/Greece : Day 6 - Sorrento -> Assisi

Welcome to Pompei! Our day started at 6am, and our first stop of the day is Pompei. Fabrizio changed our itinerary so that we would be there first thing in the morning before it got hot and crowded.

We had a GREAT guide through the ruins! He told us stories and really had us imagine what life would be like in this city.

And it was a city, bigger than 100 football fields and buried under 60 meters of ash.

Actually 10% of Pompei is still buried... Who know what else they will find!

They have some buildings fully intact:


Now this was really interesting... they put all the pottery, statuary and other stuff they find in this gated area. It seems that the highlight for most people were the dead people. It was hard to get close to the fence.

Here is a great view of Mt. Vesuvius. The volcano is still active and people are living on the side of it... what are they thinking?!

By the time we were leaving Pompei, the tour buses from the cruise ships were just arriving... perfect timing again, Fabrizio!

Today is a travel day (5 hours on the bus), which is fine because as we drive back North we are driving into rain.

We did make a stop at the Cassino War Cemetery. I have to admit when we recited what we did this day, we always forget the War Cemetery. It wasn't memorable, even Fabrizio couldn't remember where it was, and the driver got lost.

It was only sprinkling lightly when we got to Assisi. It is a medieval town built on a hill. It is famous for the St. Francis Basilica.



We got a tour of the Basilica. We weren't prepared, so those of us in shorts had to buy a cover-up in the foyer for 50 cents. There must not have been photos allowed, because I don't have any photos of the inside. There are three churches in the Basilica, all built on top of each other. St. Francis is entombed in the bottom. We each left candles there.

Getting back to our tour guide, Marco. He was great! He was very enthusiastic and knowledgeable about St. Francis and the art there. It was a fun tour!

Our hotel was very nice. After Fabrizio kept warning us about the "moderate" accommodations, I expected the worse, but it was one of my favorite hotels.

After dinner, we took a walk in Assisi in the rain.

There are 14 churches in the one little town of Assisi:


It's a good thing all roads lead back to the Basilica, because we were lost! Yes, okay... we should have listed to Cheryl. Anyway, from the Basilica, it was easy to make it back to the hotel for a good night sleep.

Italy/Greece : Day 5 - Around Sorrento

We got to sleep in until 7am! You should have heard the cheer when Fabrizio made that announcement. hahaha!

We were so used to getting up at 6am that we were still up early. The kid's room is right below ours. Good Morning Chris and Cheryl...

This morning we are taking a shopping tour into Sorrento. Our first stop is an inlaid wood demo. Hmmm... interesting and pretty, I guess. A lot of people from the tour were buying platters, music boxes, picture frames, and chess sets, but we didn't buy anything.

The kids took off for downtown Sorrento soon after that. Jim and I waited for Fabrizio to take us into town. He was going to tell us where we can find a birthday card in Italian for my nephew. We've been looking everywhere! Well, everywhere we would find a birthday card here... markets, drugstores, and book stores, but no luck. Turns out that to get a birthday card in Italy, you need to go to a tobacconist at a store called a tobacchi. They sell tobacco products, newspapers, and greeting cards. So after getting the card, we shopped a little downtown.


The kids did their shopping in their own way...


We shopped all morning and had lunch on a local farm. They make all their own food and ingredients from what they grow.

Some of us got put to work making pizza...

TIME TO EAT!!!

YUM! Cheryl's favorite meal!

Those of us who still had energy climbed on a bus to the Amalfi coast and Positano. The drive was fairly short, the road was twisty, and the views were gorgeous!

The town of Positano was crowded. We walked to the beach and put our feet in the water. (NOTE: at the time we thought it was the Mediterranean Sea, but I just looked it up. It's the Tyrrhenian Sea) I wish we had our swimsuits. The water felt wonderful!


We did a little exploring... I LOVE those grapes hanging down over Cheryl's head!


Everyone was ready to go back to the hotel early, and most slept on the bus. It was a LONG day... and it's not over! We have another BIG meal tonight at the hotel. All this food is getting to me, so I decided to go for a run through the park adjacent to our hotel. It wasn't a big park so I went round and round and round. When I was done, I stopped on the terrace to cool off and what did I see?


Cheryl and Chris going for a swim! There were a LOOOOONG staircase running down the cliff side, so I went down to say "hi."


I left them to it and went back up ALL THOSE STAIRS!!!

Later when I saw the kids at dinner, they asked, "Hey, Mom! Did you know there was a elevator?" Huh? Now you tell me! hahaha!

What we learned today... If you visit a farm, wear pants and long sleeves or the bugs will eat you alive!

Italy/Greece : Day 4 - Rome -> Capri -> Sorrento

We had another marathon day today, but I'll try to keep this post shorter ;0D

Today after another 6am wakeup, we said good-bye to Rome. I realize that I didn't give you a description of what Rome is like. It's crowded, but clean and charming. In Rome, a mini-cooper is a BIG car... a smart car and cars of that size fit right in. There are thousands of scooters which the Italians call mosquitos, because of how they buzz around everyone. Fabrizio keep touting our bus driver's skill, saying that, "You are lucky you have a Napolian bus driver!" Even Jim was impressed with how he'd drive the little streets in Rome with inches to spare on each side of the bus.

We didn't really know what the "Napolean bus driver" comment meant until we left Rome for the port of Napoli (our bus driver's home). What a crazy place! There, markings on the street on only for decoration, and signal lights are considered only suggestions. But, thanks to Samuel's skill we made it safely to the port, and boarded a boat to the beautiful Island of Capri (thankfully, leaving Napoli behind).

The main part of town at the top of the hill. Jim and I headed to the funicular (cable car) that would take us there. In the meantime, the kids jumped on another boat for an island cruise:



The town was so interesting! The houses are carved into the side of the hills; the streets are little walkways or intersecting tunnels.


We found some pretty spectacular views:


Meanwhile, on the cruise, the kids were see the same things we were, but from sea level:


When the kids got back, they did a little exploring of their own... Trust them to find the Rodeo Drive of Capri. Capri is the designer showcase (second only to Milan). All the major designers and new upcoming designers have shops in Capri. Yeah, the group of ladies on our tour, who we affectionately called the "shopping ladies," were in heaven!

We stopped at a cute little sidewalk cafe for... you guessed it... PIZZA!

Now is our time to leave. We met up with the kids just before heading back down the Funicular to board the ferry to Sorrento. The ride was only 25 minutes, but it was an exhausting day. We all fell asleep.

BUT, it's not over YET! Welcome to SORRENTO!!!

We had just enough time to get to the hotel and take showers, but with our entire group taking showers at once, the water pressure was almost non-existent. I had to rinse my hair out under the faucet. Eventually, the hotel ran out of hot water... some of the group members were NOT happy! After the showers finally got finished, we took several micro-mini-vans to a lemon farm for dinner. The road to the farm was insanely narrow... too narrow for a bus... too narrow for van... but just wide enough for a micro-mini-van. BUT NOT wide enough for the micro-mini-van to pass anything (not even a pedestrian). Seriously, there were inches of clearance on each side! Here is the van:

And here is what it looked like inside, lol!

This is a private residence and they open their home up to serve tour groups a home-cooked meal. Isn't this a wonderful place to eat? The food was WONDERFUL and plentiful. Like all Italian dinners, it lasted for a couple hours.


Look at this view from their yard!


The specialty of the lemon farm (in fact the whole region) is a lemon liquor that they call limoncella. We tried the limoncella here, and it was very strong! Chris and I didn't like it, but Jim and Cheryl did. In fact, Cheryl finished Chris's cup. I told Chris to make sure that Cheryl didn't fall down the stairs on the way to their room tonight. On the way back down the mountain in the micro-mini-vans, the group, who we fondly refer to as the "crazy Australians" had hit the limoncella a little to much... they offered our driver 50 euro, to pass the van in front of us. Needless, to say, it was a WILD ride down the mountain! When we reached the bottom, we all tumbled out laughing. We got back to the hotel after 10pm... time for bed!

I'll leave you with the FUNNY OF THE DAY: Our hotel was old, but with lots of character. The elevator was tiny! It claimed to hold a maximum capacity of 5. The 4 of us got into the elevator, and it wouldn't budge! We were over the weight limit. I got out and took the stairs... Well, the elevator may have a maximum capacity of 5 Italians, but it only holds 3 Americans.