Since I last wrote a few exciting things have happened! For art history class on the 11th we looked at work by both Boromini and Bernini! All of it was absolutely amazing but by far my favorite thing we saw that week was the Ecstasy of St. Teresa. I had been looking forward to seeing this since last semester when it was part of our last art history class. It certainly didn't let me down. It was absolutely incredible! The craftsmanship was unbelievable and it was very moving. Loved every minute of looking at it and took far too many pictures :)
The Saturday following this day we departed for our quick two day trip to Florence!! We were able to take a tour of an old medieval tower which used to be apartments and is now its own museum exhibition. It was amazing to see all the artwork and furniture in real life that we had learned about last semester! The detailing of the artwork was indescribable and the furniture was absolutely beautiful. We then headed off for the markets, both the food market and the leather market! We headed first to the food market to grab some lunch. Richard, MK, Sally and I split 3 different dishes. All three were good considering we tried new things such as boar and kidney! Both surprised me in being good haha
We then headed out for a tour with Jody and Pia, our instructors. They showed us an amazing chapel of the Medici family, sculptures by Michelangelo, amazing architecture, the duomo of the city, and the Faragamo museum! Which is a museum of shoes designed by Faragmo. I wanted them all! Of course right?? After they showed us around for a bit, we were on our own until group dinner that night. We headed back up to the leather market to do some shopping! Leather was bought all around :) most people bought something from the market and was excited to share with everyone else.
That night we all met up for dinner where we were served samples of a bunch of different items on the menu. Another interesting thing we tried was liver. That was surprising good too! Weird right? My favorite though was the spicy spaghetti that we had! It was super delicious! (Dad and Austin you would've loved it! Mom, not so much :p) After the satisfying meal we headed to our hostel for the night. The hostel was a little sketchy and it felt like we were in a prison. And the breakfast wasn't so good. But we survived the night and the next morning headed for the Uffizi museum.
The Uffizi museum holds hundreds and hundreds of paintings and sculptures by some of the most famous artists in the world such as Michelangelo, Caravaggio, Rafael, etc. It was incredible!! We unfortunately didn't have enough time to stay there long enough to see everything. After the museum we had an hour or so on our own until we departed to Tuscany for wine tasting!
We arrived in Tuscany and were taken on a tour of the vineyard and then were sat down for a small meal and wine tasting! It was so adorable! The tour guide had his son helping him out who was adorable and they had three dogs there which were oh so loveable :) Overall, it was a fantastic weekend trip!
We then went back to our routine of classes every week. For art history this past week we saw a bunch of paintings by Caravaggio! He is a very interesting painter and I very much enjoyed analyzing his work! He puts a different twist on things that makes you think. He also almost always has a self portrait in his work portraying himself as the bad guy, not the good guy.
Finally, to top of everything this weekend, on Saturday we took a day trip to Perugia for the Chocolate Festival! We walked out of the train station upon arriving, and saw the Choco-Train! It was so adorable and we took that to the city center of Perugia to the location of the Chocolate festival. Once we got there, we grabbed some lunch and wandered the festival. We ended up buying a chocolate card which cost 5 euro. This card had different tent names on it and when you when to each tent on the card they would give you a free sample of something! It was awesome and totally worth it!! All the chocolate :) And of course we couldn't leave without buying some haha it made for a great day trip. I would definitely go back one day!
It has been go go go here and so much has been happening it's been great! It's already the end of October! Home in 2 months and 2 days! Ciao for now!
Monday, October 28, 2013
Tuesday, October 15, 2013
Childhood Dream Come True :)
What has been one of my dreams since middle school? Going to Germany. What did I do to celebrate the start of October? I WENT TO GERMANY!
Thursday night, after having just traveled last weekend to southern Italy, we made our way back to Termini Train Station to meet up with our group to head to Okoberfest in Munich, Germany! We booked the trip through a company called bus2alps and they are a company that helps students traveling abroad visit other places they are interested in on the weekends. So there were a bunch of students all meeting at Termini to head to Oktoberfest. We left around 9PM and took and overnight, 12 hour bus ride to Munich. We arrived at roughly 9AM Friday morning. Best part? We signed up for the camping portion! I shared a tent with Mary Kate. We went to go drop our stuff off and look around.
After doing so, Sally, Mary Kate, and I got ready for our bike tour we signed up for. It was a bike tour through the city of Munich! It rained on us a little bit but the city is absolutely beautiful. We got to see city hall (yes, the glockenspiel is here and it's not worth seeing; most overrated tourist attraction in all the world), an amazing church (which I can't remember the name...) which was gorgeous and all white inside (nice change from all the color in the Italian churches), a beautiful garden, the Chinese tower, the natural wave in the river of Munich where surfers are constantly testing their skills, and the 2nd largest beer tent in the entire world. This beer tent is 4x larger than Central Park in New York. Let that one sink in for a little bit...it was crazy! It was so incredibly peaceful there I never wanted to leave. And the scenery...goodness I could look at that 24/7 and never get tired of it. This is where we stopped for lunch before heading back and ending the tour.
After making our way back, we decided to go check out Oktoberfest! It was only about 20 minutes away if you took public transportation. We got to the festival and just walked around for a bit. Part of me felt like I was at a giant outdoor Halloween party with everyone wearing their tradition German outfits haha but they were really cool to see! The festival was pretty crowded (go figure it was Friday night...) so we decided not to wait in line to get into a beer tent since it was already around 8PM and the festival closed at 10PM. So we headed back to the campsite and hung out there. From my class, there were about 14 of us who went on this trip. We all ended up finding each other and hung out. We met this group of guys from London that night and they were very interesting but fun to hang out with for a night.
Saturday morning, Sally, Mary Kate, Amanda and I went on a tour of the Neuschwanstein Castle
aka the Sleeping Beauty castle!! It was about a 2 hour bus ride there and then a 30 minute walk up the hill to the castle, but every minute getting there was worth it. Even with all the rain coming down, it was absolutely gorgeous being there near mountains and the amazing castle. We quickly learned that pictures were allowed so I don't have that many up. However, I bought a book at the end that has gorgeous pictures in it. Unfortunately the pictures don't do the castle any justice but at least I have something :) After exiting the castle we walked up more to go see the view of the castle from the near by bridge (because what Disney princess doesn't have a bridge to go with her castle?!). It was really pretty to see because the bridge was crossing over a waterfall making it picture perfect. Nothing could've topped it. Ok, maybe less rain, but we still managed.
After we go back, the four of us girls and our new friend Andrew, who we met on the castle tour, went to Oktoberfest! This time, since the rain finally stopped and it was earlier in the evening, we waited in line to get into a beer tent. The wait ended up not being that bad and got in fairly quickly. We spent some time there and met a very nice French man who we talked to for a little. Then we met Pep Guardiola! He was a soccer player for FC Barcelona, then played on the Spain World Cup soccer team, with his last debut in 2001. He now is trainer/coach for FC Bayern Munich team!! He was kind enough to let us take a picture with him. That was the highlight of my night :) After awhile we headed back to the campsite to hang out for a bit on our last night.
Sunday morning, before our departure time at 1PM, we took a trip to go see Dachau Concentration Camp. It was the most eerie, saddening, humbling experience of my life. It was definitely eye opening. While we were there it was misting which make it all the more eerie. We were able to see the "special bunkers" for the people who got punished, the land where they were forced to stand for hours and hours on end without moving, the regular bunkers and where they all used to be, the crematorium (both the original and the new one) along with the "shower" room (gas chamber), and waiting rooms to go take your "shower". We also go to see the trench along with the barbed wired/electrical fence to keep people from escaping and the watch tower where the guard stayed to watch that area. Everything that we saw wasn't altered in the slightest so we were seeing it how it was back then. Extremely saddening. After the use of the concentration camp, they built a Jewish memorial for all the people who lost their lives. It was nice to have that slice of humanity in an area that so severely lacked it. It was definitely worth seeing. And it was definitely nice to have a relaxing 12 hour bus ride back to Rome after dealing with those emotions.
The trip to Germany was absolutely incredible. Big city wise, I prefer Munich over Rome. It still had it's big city aspects but was way cleaner and quieter. It was beautiful.
After getting in around 1AM that Sunday night/Monday morning none of us were looking forward to the next week ahead of school. However, my walk for Art History on Thursday morning made up for the exhaustion of traveling. Thursday morning our art history class met at St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican. Finally, I have been inside Vatican walls and it was incredible! The moment you walk into the Basilica your breath is taken away. It is a building that can not only fit 2 football fields inside, but can fit other buildings themselves inside!! CRAZY!! And so BEAUTIFUL!! The Basilica also holds some of the most amazing treasures like 4 statues created by Bernini surrounding the center of the Basilica and Michelangelo's Pieta. The Pieta was incredibly beautiful and serene. I couldn't believe I was seeing it with my own eyes! The entire day was like I was walking on a cloud in a dream world. I'm so blessed that it was real life for me.
After class, my friends Emily, Shari, Krista, Sally and Erin climbed to the top of the dome of the Basilica. The first major stop you make you are inside the main part of the Basilica looking down at all the artwork, statues, the apse, etc. It was amazing. Such an interesting way to view the Basilica from up there. We then continued our way to the top and once we go there we saw the entire city of Rome at it's finest. We were so high up it was incredible and jaw-dropping. And of course, we got to see the very well known, classic picture of the Vatican and Basilica from the bird's eye view. Many pictures were taken and many freakouts of excitement were had :) None of us could believe that we actually got to see that for ourselves. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity that was absolutely incredible. I wouldn't trade that experience for anything. It puts such a different perspective on things when you are looking down on the beautiful, gorgeous city of Rome that we are calling home for four months :)
So, as you all can tell, it has been a pretty incredible past week and a half. I'm so incredibly blessed and I wish I could share all these moments with all of you in person. I'm definitely counting my blessings here and there are many more to come I'm sure :) Dreams do come true, so keep dreaming everyone! I know I am :)
Thursday night, after having just traveled last weekend to southern Italy, we made our way back to Termini Train Station to meet up with our group to head to Okoberfest in Munich, Germany! We booked the trip through a company called bus2alps and they are a company that helps students traveling abroad visit other places they are interested in on the weekends. So there were a bunch of students all meeting at Termini to head to Oktoberfest. We left around 9PM and took and overnight, 12 hour bus ride to Munich. We arrived at roughly 9AM Friday morning. Best part? We signed up for the camping portion! I shared a tent with Mary Kate. We went to go drop our stuff off and look around.
After doing so, Sally, Mary Kate, and I got ready for our bike tour we signed up for. It was a bike tour through the city of Munich! It rained on us a little bit but the city is absolutely beautiful. We got to see city hall (yes, the glockenspiel is here and it's not worth seeing; most overrated tourist attraction in all the world), an amazing church (which I can't remember the name...) which was gorgeous and all white inside (nice change from all the color in the Italian churches), a beautiful garden, the Chinese tower, the natural wave in the river of Munich where surfers are constantly testing their skills, and the 2nd largest beer tent in the entire world. This beer tent is 4x larger than Central Park in New York. Let that one sink in for a little bit...it was crazy! It was so incredibly peaceful there I never wanted to leave. And the scenery...goodness I could look at that 24/7 and never get tired of it. This is where we stopped for lunch before heading back and ending the tour.
After making our way back, we decided to go check out Oktoberfest! It was only about 20 minutes away if you took public transportation. We got to the festival and just walked around for a bit. Part of me felt like I was at a giant outdoor Halloween party with everyone wearing their tradition German outfits haha but they were really cool to see! The festival was pretty crowded (go figure it was Friday night...) so we decided not to wait in line to get into a beer tent since it was already around 8PM and the festival closed at 10PM. So we headed back to the campsite and hung out there. From my class, there were about 14 of us who went on this trip. We all ended up finding each other and hung out. We met this group of guys from London that night and they were very interesting but fun to hang out with for a night.
Saturday morning, Sally, Mary Kate, Amanda and I went on a tour of the Neuschwanstein Castle
aka the Sleeping Beauty castle!! It was about a 2 hour bus ride there and then a 30 minute walk up the hill to the castle, but every minute getting there was worth it. Even with all the rain coming down, it was absolutely gorgeous being there near mountains and the amazing castle. We quickly learned that pictures were allowed so I don't have that many up. However, I bought a book at the end that has gorgeous pictures in it. Unfortunately the pictures don't do the castle any justice but at least I have something :) After exiting the castle we walked up more to go see the view of the castle from the near by bridge (because what Disney princess doesn't have a bridge to go with her castle?!). It was really pretty to see because the bridge was crossing over a waterfall making it picture perfect. Nothing could've topped it. Ok, maybe less rain, but we still managed.
After we go back, the four of us girls and our new friend Andrew, who we met on the castle tour, went to Oktoberfest! This time, since the rain finally stopped and it was earlier in the evening, we waited in line to get into a beer tent. The wait ended up not being that bad and got in fairly quickly. We spent some time there and met a very nice French man who we talked to for a little. Then we met Pep Guardiola! He was a soccer player for FC Barcelona, then played on the Spain World Cup soccer team, with his last debut in 2001. He now is trainer/coach for FC Bayern Munich team!! He was kind enough to let us take a picture with him. That was the highlight of my night :) After awhile we headed back to the campsite to hang out for a bit on our last night.
Sunday morning, before our departure time at 1PM, we took a trip to go see Dachau Concentration Camp. It was the most eerie, saddening, humbling experience of my life. It was definitely eye opening. While we were there it was misting which make it all the more eerie. We were able to see the "special bunkers" for the people who got punished, the land where they were forced to stand for hours and hours on end without moving, the regular bunkers and where they all used to be, the crematorium (both the original and the new one) along with the "shower" room (gas chamber), and waiting rooms to go take your "shower". We also go to see the trench along with the barbed wired/electrical fence to keep people from escaping and the watch tower where the guard stayed to watch that area. Everything that we saw wasn't altered in the slightest so we were seeing it how it was back then. Extremely saddening. After the use of the concentration camp, they built a Jewish memorial for all the people who lost their lives. It was nice to have that slice of humanity in an area that so severely lacked it. It was definitely worth seeing. And it was definitely nice to have a relaxing 12 hour bus ride back to Rome after dealing with those emotions.
The trip to Germany was absolutely incredible. Big city wise, I prefer Munich over Rome. It still had it's big city aspects but was way cleaner and quieter. It was beautiful.
After getting in around 1AM that Sunday night/Monday morning none of us were looking forward to the next week ahead of school. However, my walk for Art History on Thursday morning made up for the exhaustion of traveling. Thursday morning our art history class met at St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican. Finally, I have been inside Vatican walls and it was incredible! The moment you walk into the Basilica your breath is taken away. It is a building that can not only fit 2 football fields inside, but can fit other buildings themselves inside!! CRAZY!! And so BEAUTIFUL!! The Basilica also holds some of the most amazing treasures like 4 statues created by Bernini surrounding the center of the Basilica and Michelangelo's Pieta. The Pieta was incredibly beautiful and serene. I couldn't believe I was seeing it with my own eyes! The entire day was like I was walking on a cloud in a dream world. I'm so blessed that it was real life for me.
After class, my friends Emily, Shari, Krista, Sally and Erin climbed to the top of the dome of the Basilica. The first major stop you make you are inside the main part of the Basilica looking down at all the artwork, statues, the apse, etc. It was amazing. Such an interesting way to view the Basilica from up there. We then continued our way to the top and once we go there we saw the entire city of Rome at it's finest. We were so high up it was incredible and jaw-dropping. And of course, we got to see the very well known, classic picture of the Vatican and Basilica from the bird's eye view. Many pictures were taken and many freakouts of excitement were had :) None of us could believe that we actually got to see that for ourselves. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity that was absolutely incredible. I wouldn't trade that experience for anything. It puts such a different perspective on things when you are looking down on the beautiful, gorgeous city of Rome that we are calling home for four months :)
So, as you all can tell, it has been a pretty incredible past week and a half. I'm so incredibly blessed and I wish I could share all these moments with all of you in person. I'm definitely counting my blessings here and there are many more to come I'm sure :) Dreams do come true, so keep dreaming everyone! I know I am :)
Wednesday, October 2, 2013
The Wonderful World of Traveling...
Traveling!! On Thursday morning we left for our first of two field trips of the semester! We went to South Italy. We arrived first in Naples! We first went to Museo Archeologico which is a museum which holds all the archeological sculptures and frescoes found in Pompeii and Herculaneum. It was a really neat place to go! It was cool to see that history in such good condition. We then continued to walk around Naples, with our professor Alessandro showing us around (he lives in Naples). We saw the old retail Galleria Principe di Napoli which is essentially like a mall back in the day. Next stop was food and we had pizza that was invented in Naples and of course, it was delicious. What Italian food isn't? We continued on to see Galleria Umberto I, a castle, and the royal palace. After Naples, we took a boat and headed to Sorrento!
Sorrento was adorable. Small town Italy wins my heart by far, but I still do love Rome. Anyways, we got checked into our hotels and I stayed at Hotel Angiolina. It was super adorable, had vine covered walkway with kiwis growing from it leading up to the hotel itself and there were plants and greenery all around the hotel. It was a hotel I could've stayed in for awhile.
That night we went to dinner for a full Italian meal at La Favorita O'Parrucchiano. When I say full meal I mean four courses. It started out with appetizers which was a small sampling of five different items, followed by a pasta course, then a meat course, and finally dessert. It was the most incredible meal I've had since being in Italy. Nothing will ever beat that meal! Plus, the ambiance of the hotel resembled a garden and it was a very peaceful place to be to accompany the wonderful meal.
Friday morning we packed up all our stuff and headed out to take a train to Herculaneum. Little did we know, and soon found out, the train was on strike for the morning so we were unable to go to Herculaneum. Then came the bittersweet moment of us learning we would be going to Pompeii instead. One part of me was super excited because going to Pompeii has been on my bucket list for quite some time, but the interior designer part of me was disappointed because Herculaneum has better preserved, and more, interior spaces than Pompeii does. Oh well, I'll just have to come back to Italy sometime to go to Herculaneum :p But Pompeii was gorgeous and breathtaking. to see everything that was still there blew me away. The Villa of Mysteries is the best preserved interior space in Pompeii and to be able to see old frescoes on the walls, and imagine what the space used to look like felt like an honor. I loved walking down the streets (the original street even!) and imagining what life would be like and what it would've looked like back when Pompeii was still an active city. How blessed we were to be there, and what a great way to end our field trip as a class.
My apartment ladies (7 of us) plus our friends Emily, Emily (yes both named Emily...there are 3 total haha) and Richard decided to continue our weekend on our own terms. Our next top was Capri! Upon arriving in Capri, we noticed immediately the absolutely breathtaking water and how teal and royal blue it was. I will never get over the water and how amazing it is. Absolutely one of my top 3 favorite creations on Earth. Just something you can never get used to.
We then wandered our way to find our hotel. We stayed in Anacapri which is on the same island, it's just on the other side of the mountain that's on the island. So we boarded a bus and found our way there. The hotel was called Hotel Bussola and it was super adorable as well. The lady who worked there, Rita, was extremely friendly as well as very helpful! She made a suggestion that we go down near the waterfront to Faro for sunset and then recommended a place to eat! She even set it up to where people from the restaurant would come pick us up from Faro, take us to the restaurant, and return us to our hotel when we were ready all free of charge! (We think the restaurant and the hotel had a deal lined up) So that's what we did. We headed down to Faro to catch the end of the sunset. At Faro there is a neat little lighthouse and places where you can just sit and relax on the rocks and look out at the sea. It was extremely peaceful. We were then picked up and taken to the restaurant (I forgot the name :/) I ordered ravioli with walnuts in it which was amazing and for dessert we all got Torte Caprese which is Capri Cake. It was recommended to us by our professor Jody because it is something that is unique to Capri and something Capri is famous for. And of course, delicious. It was chocolate cake with almonds in it! Yummy :) To finish our night of royalty we were escorted back to our hotel to get some rest.
Saturday morning we decided to see the sights! Our list consisted of Grotta Azzura, chair lift, the natural arch, and the Garden of Augustus, and in that order! (Remember the order, that becomes important later :p) So we set off on our way with all of our stuff with us! We went to the Grotta Azzura first, got in a small boat, and went in! By the way, a grotta is essentially a cave in the side of the mountain at water level. It was gorgeous. The incredible blue water and the amazement of that being possible. After coming out of the grotta, we headed to the chair lift! The chair lift took us to the highest point in Capri. When we got up there, we were inside a cloud. We were surrounded by fog from the cloud. It was serene. I loved being up there! It was a great view as well.
We then made our way to the natural arch. However, we took a wrong turn and ended up at the Garden of Augustus instead. So we decided to just go there next since we were there. And guess what, it was beautiful! Just like everything else haha there were so many beautiful flowers to see and capture in a photo. Amazing. After stopping there, we found our path to take to get to the natural arch. Little did we know what we were about to encounter would absolutely exhaust us...
We started walking and we noticed right away that it was a very hilly place, but then it only got worse. The trail we were on was more of a hiking trail, not walking, and especially not walking when you are carrying everything you have with you. There were so many stairs and hills and it was awful. We were not wearing the appropriate outfit our shoes and we were all sweating like pigs. Everyone got a little cranky during the walk...after about an hour and a half we discovered another grotto! Except this one was no longer on the water front, and we could actually go inside. It was pretty neat even with exhaustion setting in.
We finally made it to the natural arch and it was incredible. Mind blowing to know that something like that can form on its own. Very picturesque. We then continued our hike which turned more into a walk at this point to head to the marina to be on our way to Amalfi! Needless to say, we were all really excited to sit down for awhile.
Saturday evening we arrived in Amalfi and then walked about five mintues to Atrani, a subdivision of Amalfi which is where we stayed. We shopped around in Amalfi that night and sat down to eat. I had my first Italian calzone and enjoyed every bite of it. I certainly slept well that night.
Sunday morning we got up and went to see the duomo (cathedral) and crypt that are in the center of Amalfi. Both were absolutely incredible. Ceilings will never get old in Italy. I haven't seen one that hasn't amazed me and I don't think I ever will. Sally and I then took a side trip to go see the town of Postiano. It's a cute little touristy town and we took a bus over to check it out and have lunch. The rest of our group hung out in Amalfi. Postiano was super cute, but super packed with people and crowded. Definitely worth the trip though!
That afternoon we finally made our way back to Rome. It was a very long, exhausting, sweaty, weekend but it was worth it every minute. Even the hiking. I wouldn't do it again, but it was nice to experience. We literally hiked coast to coast of Capri. And eventful weekend to say the least.
This weekend we're off to Oktoberfest in Munich! What an adventure that will be haha stories definitely to come later :) Ciao!
Sorrento was adorable. Small town Italy wins my heart by far, but I still do love Rome. Anyways, we got checked into our hotels and I stayed at Hotel Angiolina. It was super adorable, had vine covered walkway with kiwis growing from it leading up to the hotel itself and there were plants and greenery all around the hotel. It was a hotel I could've stayed in for awhile.
That night we went to dinner for a full Italian meal at La Favorita O'Parrucchiano. When I say full meal I mean four courses. It started out with appetizers which was a small sampling of five different items, followed by a pasta course, then a meat course, and finally dessert. It was the most incredible meal I've had since being in Italy. Nothing will ever beat that meal! Plus, the ambiance of the hotel resembled a garden and it was a very peaceful place to be to accompany the wonderful meal.
Friday morning we packed up all our stuff and headed out to take a train to Herculaneum. Little did we know, and soon found out, the train was on strike for the morning so we were unable to go to Herculaneum. Then came the bittersweet moment of us learning we would be going to Pompeii instead. One part of me was super excited because going to Pompeii has been on my bucket list for quite some time, but the interior designer part of me was disappointed because Herculaneum has better preserved, and more, interior spaces than Pompeii does. Oh well, I'll just have to come back to Italy sometime to go to Herculaneum :p But Pompeii was gorgeous and breathtaking. to see everything that was still there blew me away. The Villa of Mysteries is the best preserved interior space in Pompeii and to be able to see old frescoes on the walls, and imagine what the space used to look like felt like an honor. I loved walking down the streets (the original street even!) and imagining what life would be like and what it would've looked like back when Pompeii was still an active city. How blessed we were to be there, and what a great way to end our field trip as a class.
My apartment ladies (7 of us) plus our friends Emily, Emily (yes both named Emily...there are 3 total haha) and Richard decided to continue our weekend on our own terms. Our next top was Capri! Upon arriving in Capri, we noticed immediately the absolutely breathtaking water and how teal and royal blue it was. I will never get over the water and how amazing it is. Absolutely one of my top 3 favorite creations on Earth. Just something you can never get used to.
We then wandered our way to find our hotel. We stayed in Anacapri which is on the same island, it's just on the other side of the mountain that's on the island. So we boarded a bus and found our way there. The hotel was called Hotel Bussola and it was super adorable as well. The lady who worked there, Rita, was extremely friendly as well as very helpful! She made a suggestion that we go down near the waterfront to Faro for sunset and then recommended a place to eat! She even set it up to where people from the restaurant would come pick us up from Faro, take us to the restaurant, and return us to our hotel when we were ready all free of charge! (We think the restaurant and the hotel had a deal lined up) So that's what we did. We headed down to Faro to catch the end of the sunset. At Faro there is a neat little lighthouse and places where you can just sit and relax on the rocks and look out at the sea. It was extremely peaceful. We were then picked up and taken to the restaurant (I forgot the name :/) I ordered ravioli with walnuts in it which was amazing and for dessert we all got Torte Caprese which is Capri Cake. It was recommended to us by our professor Jody because it is something that is unique to Capri and something Capri is famous for. And of course, delicious. It was chocolate cake with almonds in it! Yummy :) To finish our night of royalty we were escorted back to our hotel to get some rest.
Saturday morning we decided to see the sights! Our list consisted of Grotta Azzura, chair lift, the natural arch, and the Garden of Augustus, and in that order! (Remember the order, that becomes important later :p) So we set off on our way with all of our stuff with us! We went to the Grotta Azzura first, got in a small boat, and went in! By the way, a grotta is essentially a cave in the side of the mountain at water level. It was gorgeous. The incredible blue water and the amazement of that being possible. After coming out of the grotta, we headed to the chair lift! The chair lift took us to the highest point in Capri. When we got up there, we were inside a cloud. We were surrounded by fog from the cloud. It was serene. I loved being up there! It was a great view as well.
We then made our way to the natural arch. However, we took a wrong turn and ended up at the Garden of Augustus instead. So we decided to just go there next since we were there. And guess what, it was beautiful! Just like everything else haha there were so many beautiful flowers to see and capture in a photo. Amazing. After stopping there, we found our path to take to get to the natural arch. Little did we know what we were about to encounter would absolutely exhaust us...
We started walking and we noticed right away that it was a very hilly place, but then it only got worse. The trail we were on was more of a hiking trail, not walking, and especially not walking when you are carrying everything you have with you. There were so many stairs and hills and it was awful. We were not wearing the appropriate outfit our shoes and we were all sweating like pigs. Everyone got a little cranky during the walk...after about an hour and a half we discovered another grotto! Except this one was no longer on the water front, and we could actually go inside. It was pretty neat even with exhaustion setting in.
We finally made it to the natural arch and it was incredible. Mind blowing to know that something like that can form on its own. Very picturesque. We then continued our hike which turned more into a walk at this point to head to the marina to be on our way to Amalfi! Needless to say, we were all really excited to sit down for awhile.
Saturday evening we arrived in Amalfi and then walked about five mintues to Atrani, a subdivision of Amalfi which is where we stayed. We shopped around in Amalfi that night and sat down to eat. I had my first Italian calzone and enjoyed every bite of it. I certainly slept well that night.
Sunday morning we got up and went to see the duomo (cathedral) and crypt that are in the center of Amalfi. Both were absolutely incredible. Ceilings will never get old in Italy. I haven't seen one that hasn't amazed me and I don't think I ever will. Sally and I then took a side trip to go see the town of Postiano. It's a cute little touristy town and we took a bus over to check it out and have lunch. The rest of our group hung out in Amalfi. Postiano was super cute, but super packed with people and crowded. Definitely worth the trip though!
That afternoon we finally made our way back to Rome. It was a very long, exhausting, sweaty, weekend but it was worth it every minute. Even the hiking. I wouldn't do it again, but it was nice to experience. We literally hiked coast to coast of Capri. And eventful weekend to say the least.
This weekend we're off to Oktoberfest in Munich! What an adventure that will be haha stories definitely to come later :) Ciao!
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