Day 26 - The Beautiful Sorrento

Swimming in the Mediterranean 

This morning I woke up totally refreshed and ready for a full day in Sorrento! I don’t like milk very much, but I find that it’s worse in Europe. I like Canadian milk better. Then the night guy brought me a cd. Last night he had seen me with my iPod and we got talking about music. So then I guess that’s what he did while we were all sleeping. Now I have a cd with 150 songs. So I added him on Facebook, so that I can say thanks later and tell him how the songs were. Then Dom and I headed for the train. Once we arrived in Sorrento we quickly realized that Sorrento is much nicer than Napoli. The views are beautiful, it’s right there on the water and... no garbage! Well, definitely not as much, barely any. First thing we did was find a map of Sorrento. Then we walked up to see the old wall of Sorrento. It was pretty cool and it had some nice views of hills/mountains and of course the water. Next we walked down to the Leonardo DaVinci museum. This guy is a genius. Not only is his art impressively accurate, but he also invented a huge number of things. I found the museum super interesting. There was only one part that had no english translation but, as far as I could tell, it was really interesting. I wish I understood more Italian. I think it was a comparison of his paintings and sculptures and his self-portrait. If I could read Italian, then I’d know the results of the comparison, which I’m sure is the best part. Then we had a delicious Margherita pizza at a street cafe. Afterwards, we walked down to the free public beach, which happens to be right beside the not free beach. I’m not sure how they are different. It’s the same water, just 5 meters to the left. The Mediterranean Sea is wonderfully refreshing. We had some fun with my waterproof camera, and this little girl came over and wanted her picture taken underwater too. We were both speaking different languages, but somehow communicated alright. It was an interesting exchange. Dom got out to read, and I swam some more before we headed back up to the train. Trains make me sleepy. Then we meant to get the famous Neapolitan pizza from Sorbillo’s, but it was closing, at 7!? Since when do Italians have dinner before 7? So on the way back  we bought drinks and snacks for cards that night. Vodka for tonight, since the guys bought the wine and the limoncello. So we warmed up our leftover noodles and set up for canasta with the boys. Dom and I were on a team (at the guys insistence) and we were totally kicking butt. So we switched up the teams after two rounds. So then Kevin and I kicked butt instead. Yay!

Day 25 - New friends, lots of...

Bathouse Floor

Herculaneum

Lucas and Kevin

This morning I woke up around 7, because I could hear the market going on outside. So I slept a little bit more and then got up for breakfast. After breakfast Dom, Kevin, Lucas and I headed for the train station across the square. The train was hot and there were a lot of people on it, so we ended up standing. From the train station in Herculaneum, we walked down the hill to the site of the ruins. I found that I could really see what the buildings must’ve looked like, how it felt to walk through the streets of this village. There were beautiful frescoes and mosaics, and some of the buildings were almost completely intact. Everything was so well preserved; so  much to see and learn. That was really one of the most amazing things I’ve seen. I really love the Ancient Roman Empire. They were such a strong, smart, successful people. I enjoyed Herculaneum. Then we ate some bread and cheese that the guys had brought. I also bought Dad a keychain and this really funny little book, called Pompeii Erotica, for Maryn. It’s kind of hilarious actually; it’s Ancient Roman porn really. Haha. Then we split from the guys; they went in search of a beach and we headed back to Napoli. We stopped at our hostel to ask about a Gelateria nearby, but the girl at the counter (Nhi Natalia) was just leaving so she said, “follow me”. She wanted some too, and she wanted to show us her house (which as it turns out is not a house; it’s just the hotel where she is living). So we followed her up Corso Umberto onto Via Duomo, then on two more turns. While we were walking we talked some, and she told us that she is on a student exchange and just working for the summer. She’s also an only child. And she told me that it’s even hotter in Vietnam than in Italy. She has really awesome straight, long, black hair that I am so jealous of. She’s pretty funny, and very nice. We also got our gelato before arriving at her hotel. The guy who owns her hotel is the same guy who owns the hostel where we are staying, so we got to meet him. She also showed us the mural that she painted on the wall in the common room. After Dom and I left there, we stopped to get some iced tea and canned tomatoes to cook the rest of the linguine for dinner. I also bought a wallet from a street vendor on the way back. Today I made the pasta sauce much thicker, so it was super tasty and very filling. But then we had extra. After dinner I was so tired and full I went for a nap. Then I showered, which always feels nice to get all the sweat and grime from the day all off. After that the guys were back so we headed out for gelato, limoncello and peanuts. Upon our return we were invited to play Uno with Anita and Tom. Anita is from Linz, Austria, and Tom was going to school there. They are best friends. Tom is really from Croatia (p.s.. his full name is Tomislav; how cool is that?). I’m proud to say that as bad as I am at Uno, I didn’t lose once! Then we found enough decks to play Canasta. Tom and I totally kicked butt against Anita and Kevin. And also, the Limoncello is still just as gross as in Rome. Anita has invited me to go visit when I have time when I’m in Salzburg. She wants us to go out places. It was a fun night and now I have some new friends on Facebook! Lol...

Day 24 - Cheap Wine and Pasta

Swimming near Castel dell’Ovo

This morning I was so exhausted, and I’ve been so hungry all day. I had four pieces of toast for breakfast, while we watched the songs of summer on MTV on the tv in the common room. Then we walked back to the archeological museum. It was 10 euros, because apparently being a Canadian student isn’t good enough for the student discount. The museum was pretty cool, but I noticed two things:

1. Busts are creepy, and

2. Ancient Romans really liked naked people.

Statues, paintings, whatever, as long as the people are all nude. Then we tried to find this pizza place that the girl at our hostel had told us about. We couldn’t so we just stopped in the next place we saw. I ate pizza (not as good as last night) and of course a white magnum. Mmm...white chocolate covered vanilla ice cream. Beautiful views and even more beautiful breeze coming in off the water. From there we walked along until we hit Castel dell’Ovo. It was a monastery and a fortress. Now it is just somewhere for people to walk. It was very cool. The legend says that there is a magic egg somewhere in the foundation, and if the egg breaks the city will crumble. Dom joked that the egg must’ve cracked because the city isn’t doing too well. Haha! Then we climbed over the side of the bridge into the sea. The water was really nice, except for the garbage floating here and there. And there were some kids who kept bugging us. They first tried to tell me that my camera was getting wet, I didn’t know how to tell them that I knew that and wasn’t stupid as it can get wet. Then they were trying to tell me to put on sunscreen or I would be red (I didn’t understand this at all, Dom at to translate for me). Then we walked back to our hostel. We each took a shower before we headed down to the supermarket. We bought everything to cook our own supper. While we were eating we met these two guys from the U.S. (one was named Kevin). The food was pretty good. I’m impressed with myself for such good pasta in such a sparse kitchen. Then we wanted to walk and get ice cream, and as soon as we stepped out of the building, these two guys started trying to talk to us. We just walked right past, but they got on their moped and followed! They ended up following us all the way there, and catching up to us right before we got in our hostel. Napoli is weird like that. After, we played cards with the guys (Kevin and Lucas). Kevin and I split the bottle of wine, and I totally kicked ass. Then we all chatted and watched the boys playing soccer outside. We also planned our day trip to Herculaneum tomorrow; they’ll probably come with us.