italy in a nutshell

in order for me to continue with this blog, it's come to my attention that i'm going to have to skip some of the details that make writing so much fun. there is simply too much to tell and i'm not writing a book here.

venice



after bassano del grappa, i returned to venice with my girls giulia and jenny to do get it done right. i had originally been to venice for a day and a half and left heavy hearted because the experience had been lonely. venice is definately not a place to meet new people: it's more of a lover's hideaway. so when giulia told me that her family had a place and she and jenny were going for the weekend, i changed my reservation in rome and went along.

we got a ride to venice with giulia's uncle, who brought us by his beautiful sailboat in a marina outside the city. when the afternoon crawled on, we made our way via buses and boats and a lot of wandering to the apartment. we had to rush to make it to dinner or time because giulia's dad made us a reservation at a swanky restaurant by saint marco's square called harry's. we had bellinis, tender steaks, mushroom risotto and gelato so creamy it was like icing. after our bellies were full, we walked out into the square to enjoy the string quartets playing at the restaurants in saint marcos. all of us got a little emotional when they played the theme from titantic and phantom of the opera's "all i ask of you". i have rarely been this happy. we topped off the evening with a creepy gondola ride that started under the bridge of sighs.

the next day we saw an international art show and got pizza in piazza de santa margarita. we took naps and then went for drinks at the little jazz bar, even though giulia was embarrassed to show her face there after asking them for directions 3 times the previous night. we turned it in early and i left the following day for rome. it was really sad to say goodbye to my girls, but i had more places to see. i got off the vaporetti (boat bus) and waved goodbye to them as they floated on to murano to see the glass blowers.

rome

i took the train to rome, taking pictures of fields of sunflowers along the way. when i arrived in rome, i found myself wishing the train would just continue on forever. it's always a little bit tough to start in a new city, when you're hot and tired and completely lost. the train station in rome is a city in itself- there's a mall in it! after a little bit of navigation, i found my hostel and made friends with a few guys. we ended up drinking beers on the roof all night, telling stories of our greatest adventures. the kid from hong kong topped us all with his story of eating a live octopus whole.



the next day i explored the colosseum, palatino and the monument to vittorio emanuele. exploring rome was like being transported back in time. While the ruins are old and worn down, it is amazing to stand and look over all of it and rebuild the city in your imagination. the following day i went on a walking tour with my roomates, meg and ivy, that included the piazza novana (with the fountain of the 4 rivers), the parthenon, trevi fountain and the spanish steps. on my last day, i went to the vatican museum, which ended up being a huge mistake. there were so many people that i stood in line reading for 2 hours before realizing that i was only halfway through the line. i had to pull a sneaky move to get in the door so i could see the museum in time. when i got back to the hostel, i met my new roomate, dan. he convinced me to go out dancing on my last night in rome and i'm so glad he did. his friend andrean was an amazing cali girl with a gorgeous attitude and we had a blast on our last night in rome.

naples

dan and i had breakfast with my favorite roman waiter and when i got to the train station i met georgie, an adventurous girl from london who joined me on the train. we had a spectacular view and our own private car on the train, which i though was wonderfully old school. when we arrived in naples, we made our way to hostel of the sun. this place was awesome- carla, lucca and the rest of the staff made our stay so pleasant and sweet. georgie and i went down to the port and laid on the rocks, then met a canadian named john and ate gelato. the three of us had neapolitan pizza and then took a cable car up to a castle which overlooked the whole city. we drank wine and looked at the city lights of napoli, it was spectacular.

from naples i explored amalfi, positano, pompeii, capri and sorrento. i was actually told not to go to pompeii. i couldn't disagree more. if you have the chance, go to pompeii. it was amazing to see how the lives of ancient people were so similar to our own. they had concession stands and graffiti even. it was so well preserved, you could see the frescos and the bath houses. the amalfi coast is also gorgeous. capri is phenomenal and i got to explore it with mike, as our first traveling activity.



mike and i took a bus from naples to bari and then boarded a ferry to corfu. on board we saw an amazing sunset and left italy behind us. at dinner we met jake and kevin, super laid back hawaiians, and we talked about books and movies over a bottle of wine. when it was time to go to sleep, i curled into a ball on my deck chair, using my towel as a pillow, and slept until we got to greece.