Buongiorno Ragazzi,

I had one of the best trips I've had this past weekend!!! I went to the beautiful Amalfi Coast and I want to go back this weekend, if only I could.  We booked the trip through a company and they pretty much plan everything and make it extremely easy and fun.  We left thursday night at 8 PM and arrived in Amalfi Coast, specifically the town of Sorrento around 2 AM.  We were staying at a hotel called Hotel Florida and it was pretty nice and clean.  They had a pool that wasn't filled yet, and a courtyard with tons of lemon and orange trees.  It felt so much like summer and we had a beautiful weekend of warm and sunny weather.

After getting there closer to 3 AM, we had about 3 hours of sleep and then we were on the move.  We had to catch the ferry to Capri (island off the coast) at 7:15.  I slept most of the way on the ferry and then we started hitting really big waves and after waking up, I was really motion sick.  Then when we got off I was so relieved, only to find out that we were getting on a smaller boat to do a boat tour around the whole island.  I felt a little better on this boat, but still pretty sick.  I didn't throw up though!! I think at least two girls on my boat threw up, and there were a lot of people who didn't look so good.  Anyways, the boat tour was really awesome.  We saw the blue grotto, but unfortunately we couldn't go into it because the tides were too high.  The water was such a beautiful blue though.  We also got to see the green grotto which was a greenish-blue water.  After the boat tour, we hiked up to the main part of Capri and got to take amazing pictures.  We got fresh squeezed smoothies, and I got a lemon and blood orange one and it was delicious. We then took a bus to Anacapri, which is on the other side of the mountain and a little bit higher than Capri.  We got really great pizza for lunch and shopped around.  I bought some really pretty earrings.  They sell a lot of coral jewelry.  We also saw all the shops that make handmade leather sandals right in the store.  They were all so beautiful, but the lowest price I saw was 65€, which was crazy.  After shopping, we took a chairlift to the top of the island.  The views up were awesome, but we were in a cloud when we got to the top, so we couldn't see any of the island, just white cloud.  It was pretty funny.  After Anacapri, we went back down to Capri and just took a nap in the sun until it was time to get back on the ferry to Sorrento.  We got back to Sorrento with just enough time to shower and go out to dinner.  The town of Sorrento is cute, but there wasn't much going on at night.

On Saturday, we were headed for Positano.  We took little buses there because the roads are very tiny and they wind up the mountain, it was a pretty crazy view.  We got to Positano around 11, and we pretty much just laid on the beach all day.  The beach was a black sand beach which was really cool because I had never been on one before! I also found a lot of sea glass which is just pieces of glass, but the sea has worn it down so it's a different coating but they're all different colors.  I collected a bunch to bring home.  The farther part of the beach was sand, but the part closest to the Mediterranean was rocks.  We laid on the rocks, and it was surprisingly comfortable.  Although if you walked around for more than 5 minutes, it was pretty painful on your bare feet.  We took a break for a quick lunch and some quick shopping, but for the most part we just laid on the beach and hung out.  We went in the water a few times even though it was pretty cold.  The water was so blue and beautiful.  The way the houses and buildings are built into the side of the mountain makes it look like paradise.  I absolutely want to go back one day.  After we got back to Sorrento, we showered and ate dinner at the hotel.  Then we went to the other hostel's bar, but it was pretty boring so it was an early night.

On Sunday morning we left around 10 to head home.  On the way home we stopped at Pompei which was only an hour away from Sorrento.  I loved all the ruins in Rome so I was really excited for Pompei.  We had a guided tour which was nice, even though the tour group was a little too big in my opinion.  Pompei was a huge city for being built in 79 AD.  The map we were given was extremely large and I would have gotten lost if I wasn't on a tour.  We saw a lot of ruins, and it was crazy how well everything was preserved because of the volcanic ash.  Pompei was built right on the water, but because of all the volcano eruptions, it is now probably a mile from the Mediterranean.  We saw churches, market places, a brothel, and even some mansions which were very large.  One of my favorite things we saw was the theater, which was older than the colosseum, but not nearly as big.  This theater was just used for plays, not gladiator fights.  Seeing the preserved bodies was scary, but also interesting.  They are so well preserved that some of the ash has come off and you can see the skeletons.  When Mt. Vesuvius erupted, it first erupted with volcanic ash, which contained sulfur so when it hit the town of Pompei, everyone died instantly because it suffocated them.  The lava would flow later.  It was really interesting to learn about.  After the tour, we went to a place that our tour leaders recommended for lunch.  They had told the restaurant there would be a lot of people coming to there and they still only had three people working.  It took us a half hour to place our order and an hour just to get pizza.  It was ridiculous and extremely frustrating.  By the time we got our pizza we were already late for the bus and had to take it pizza boxes with us.  We had a pretty relaxing drive back and got home Sunday night around 10.

This was probably one of my favorite trips because it was so beautiful.  The weather was amazing and everything we did was truly awesome.  I had an amazing weekend with my friends, and I loved just laying on the beach.  Interlaken is still one of my favorite trips too.  They are both two opposite extremes, but I loved both trips.  I am still debating about traveling to Germany on April 18-21.  The travel company that most of my friends are going with is really unreliable and I don't really want use them for my trip.  I would like to go to Germany, but it is the second to last weekend that I am in Florence and I only have three weekends left, which one will be spent studying.  I also want to take a few day trips to some places I haven't been to Italy yet.  Some of these places are Cinqueterre, Viareggio (beach), and Pisa.  I don't want to regret not going to Germany, but I really want to spend my last weekends in Florence. I am also very worn out from traveling; it can be truly exhausting.

This week I have a few things going on.  I have two soccer games tomorrow night and it's playoffs.  On Wednesday night, I have a Renaissance dinner that I signed up to go to with my history class.  It was a little expensive, but the courses are going to be amazing.  It's a five course dinner, first course: ginger and pasta and walnuts, second course: potato with tomato and cheese sauce, third course: renaissance boar suffused with chocolate, fourth course: spicy beef, and a fifth course consisting of a dessert.  And of course, there is unlimited red wine.  I'm really excited about this meal, if you couldn't tell.  Then on thursday, I have volunteering.  I'm probably just going to have a relaxing weekend and do a day trip or two.

Ciao,
Katie