Amalfi Coast (6/26-27)

From the main beach in Positano

First big trip of the summer and I headed off to the Amalfi Coast!! It is absolutely incredible. The girls I went with said it was better than Capri and even rivaling Kaui Hawaii! It is a line of little towns nestled into the steep and jagged cliffs of Italy. It is south of Naples about an hour and a half train ride away. Of course transportation ended up being complete chaos again, but we survived and had a wonderful weekend. We get home really late from work during the week (Wednesday - Friday not until almost 8:00) so I relaxed Friday and then we were up bright and early Saturday morning to head to Amalfi.

Positano

We caught a ferry to the town of Positano, Italy. Many of you may not know that I have an AWFUL time with motion sickness - especially on boats! So I was a little unsure about the ferry, but it ended up being alright. We got to Positano around 11:00 or so and spent a few hours relaxing on the beach and grabbed a little bite to eat at a snack bar (I had bruschetta and it was delicious!) We then had to make it up the STEEP hill to the hostel we were staying in (okay so we took the bus). Spent a few hours relaxing and then we headed back down to the main beach to have some dinner. We found a wonderful little restaurant tucked away in the rock cliffs called Lo Guarracino and had wonderful dinner - I love seafood and this is definitely the area to find it! I had spaghetti with clams in a parsley and garlic sauce - amazing some of my absolute favorite things! We then went to this club called Music on the Rocks - it is a happening place and it was so neat to experience it! However by the time we left music on the rocks it was late and the buses had stopped so we hiked up the 600 stairs to our hostel (yes I counted them!) My calves are still sore.

Positano

We woke up and had a wonderful little breakfast at our hostel - I had eggs with tomatoes, toast, and a cappuccino. It was some of the best breakfast I have had since being in Italy. We decided that sunday we would travel on to another little town along the coast. We caught a bus that ended up taking an hour to travel not very far! They are extremely narrow windy roads that are absolutely terrifying!! This was another issue with my motion sickness! We spent the day cruising around the town of Amalfi - checking out the shops and just enjoying the day. Then we headed back to Naples later on in the afternoon. This is where it gets real interesting …

From our hostel - Hostel Brikette

We took a bus to Sorrento (very windy, narrow roads with a very confident bus driver!) This took about 1 1/2 hours then we caught the regional train to take us back to Naples - this should have taken 1 1/2 hours, HOWEVER 2 stops from where we needed to be the train STOPPED. People started getting off and we really did not feel like waiting so we hopped off and went and found a bus stop. Here we again WAITED for about 30 minutes before the bus we needed came. This was by far the FULLEST bus I have ever been on. We literally were like sardines, I could not move without everyone around me moving as well. We then finally made it to downtown Naples where we had to wait for another bus to take us where we needed to end up. By the time we got back to our hotel it had taken 6 hours to get home on what should have taken a maximum 4 hours! Mamma Mia!!

Town of Amalfi

However it was a phenomenal weekend and I think I need to go back to Positano because it is absolutely beautiful!! I was in love and cannot wait to experience more of Italy!

Amalfi

Pompeii (6/19)

Saturday was the first opportunity we had to travel and we took a trip to Pompeii as a whole group! There are 17 day camp counselors and then our Director, Audrey. I was not sure what to expect when we got to Pompeii, but I was very excited! We left fairly early and took the bus to downtown Naples where we caught the train and rode the train south to Pompeii. We had a little bite to eat when we got to Pompeii (I just had a yummy tuna sandwich) and then spent a number of hours wandering around the excavation of Pompeii. It was just so neat to see the details of this ancient city. Some of the really neat things that caught my eye were the casts of bodies from the volcano and there was an area with a lot of art that was painted on the buildings that is still intact! It was really neat!

It was a very warm and dusty day, but it was just incredible to think about the way the city once was and how they are utilizing it now. Then we wrapped up the trip to Pompeii with a wonderful Lemon Granita (very similar to frozen lemonade - yum!) This area south of Naples, towards Sorrento is known for their HUGE lemons and they are delicious!

On the way home from Pompeii the bus situation got a little tricky! We waited for the bus we wanted to take for about an hour in downtown Naples, it FINALLY came but was too full and did not let anyone on! So then we decided we would take the metro to a different part of town and try to catch a different bus - just as it began to POUR down rain! We were eventually able to catch the bus we wanted, but it probably took us about 3 hours to get home. It was a very eventful and exhausting day!

A little information about Pompeii:

Pompeii is a ruined and partially buried Roman town-city near modern Naples in the Italian region of Campania, in the territory of the comune of Pompei. Along with Herculaneum, its sister city, Pompeii was destroyed and completely buried during a long catastrophic eruption of the volcano Mount Vesuvius spanning two days in 79 AD. The eruption buried Pompeii under 22 meters of ash and pumice, and it was lost for nearly 1,600 years before its accidental rediscovery around 1592. Since then, its excavation has provided an extraordinarily detailed insight into the life of a city at the height of the Roman Empire. Today, thisUNESCO World Heritage Site is one of the most popular tourist attractions of Italy, with approximately 2,500,000 visitors every year.

Baggage and Breakfast

The large green bag has FINALLY made it!! When we got home on Thursday from visiting the city of Naples it was waiting so patiently for me. It was such a relief! I hope it enjoyed its detour!

I also wanted to share with you my delicious breakfast that I have the pleasure of enjoying from our hotel. Prosciutto, yummy cheese, croissant, Nutella (apparently it is very common in Europe), kiwi (very large kiwis!!), and coffee (the greatest coffee I have ever tasted, it is strong, but creamy, and just wonderful!) YUM!

Welcome to Napoli!

Sorry this post is so late!! I will get better :)

Thursday we went into the city of Naples (Napoli) and had an opportunity to see what it was all about. We will use the public transportation systems a lot while in Italy because we are forbidden to drive (more information to come on that one!) The purpose of this trip was to teach us how to use the public transportation system and let me tell you, it is an adventure!! Two wonderful guys that work for the MWR spent the day teaching us and showing us around Naples. Jerry was born and raised in Naples and works for the MWR, he was an expert for the language barriers! Michael is from San Diego and has been in Naples for two years and also works here for the MWR.

We started from our hotel and caught the bus (excellent option, but can be a little unreliable and crazy) into part of Naples and then took the metro (like the subway) into downtown Naples. They showed us around and taught us how to get to the port when we wanted to take a ferry somewhere (like Capri :) and what our different options where as far as regional trains (staying within the Campania), metro (local city), and trenitalia (big fast trains that take you to other regions). A little complicated, but I think I am figuring it out. We kind of wandered around and it was SO neat to just see all the tall buildings that line every city block, open air markets everywhere, and the endless crowds of people. There is so much history within the city and it is so interesting and very different. You always picture all the clothes and Italian flags hanging from apartment patios and that is EXACTLY what it is!!

We stopped and had lunch at a WONDERFUL little Pizzeria. It is all very reasonably priced and oh my goodness it is absolutely delicious!! It is so fresh and simple and incredible. This a very big pizza and I did a pretty good job eating most of it unfortunately, but it was just the greatest thing ever!

Throughout Naples we were able to see some incredible architecture, buildings, statues, and views. I will try get a album started of each trip I make, but our internet is kind of slow. They do compare Naples to a large city like New York City and Chicago, so there are of course some unpleasant things, but it really is fascinating to be spending my time in what seems like a whole new world.

More to come soon! Tiff

I Made It! (most of me)

Ciao from Naples, Italy!! I have made it here safe and sound (most of me)! I flew out of Seattle at 7:30 Sunday morning, into Newark, New Jersey. In New Jersey I had to take a shuttle to a different terminal, walk FOREVER, AND had to go wait in line at check in to get a NEW boarding pass (how ridiculous!) East coast folks are a little nuts and I was waiting in line with the Alitalia airlines and the Italians are very interesting (apparently NO ONE checks airline regulations before they go to the airport). There was a lady with her 4 daughters and they had 6 overweight bags! She was kind of mad as you could imagine. (For those of you who do not know it is $100 dollars for an overweight bag and you have to pay $50 for a second bag).

Then I flew from New Jersey to Rome, 8 hours, ALL NIGHT. It was weird, it was like we were chasing the sun (and then we caught it). It got dark shortly after we left New Jersey and then we slowly caught it Monday morning in Rome. We left late from New Jersey (I am not sure how late because I fell asleep waiting on the tarmac!) so I was terrified I would miss my connection so I had to walk VERY QUICKLY a very long ways to catch this flight, and I never went through customs and never got a stamp in my passport (a little interesting). Luckily Italians are a little lacks about timing because I made it just in time to go to the bathroom and board.

Then a quick trip from Rome to Naples. I waited a lifetime for luggage. I was feeling good when I got one, but unfortunately only got one, I am still missing the one with all of CLOTHES, but I am feeling optimistic. I unfortunately did not ever have a window seat to take any pictures, but ti is kind of okay because I slept pretty much the WHOLE way! However all the airports were so simple to figure out so I am very grateful for that, because I was a little bit of a wreck (if you had talked to me in New Jersey you would have understood - thanks mom :) I got into Naples pretty early so I had the afternoon to relax, but not nap because they insist you stay awake until bed time to take care of jet-lag (that was very challenging because I was EXHAUSTED). Well that was the joy of my trip, overall pretty good!!

One very large green bag is missing from this picture!

This week we will have some training to prepare for the kids next week! I am SO excited :) That was a terribly long post so I will post more later!! (Sorry there are no pictures yet, I realized I need the cord to hook my camera up to my computer! So I am working on that!)

Tiff

What is she up to you ask?

For those of you who are not completely sure what I am up to I will fill you in. I am headed to Naples, Italy to do summer camp for the US military children in Naples.

I came across this opportunity because WSU is a training site for Camp Adventure. Last winter I found flyers in the College of Education and I figured I should check it out. Well I showed up to the interview and I got a position as a camp counselor. It is an educational program through the University of Iowa and I will get 12 graduate credits from UNI. Camp Adventure is contracted through the MWR (Morale, Welfare, and Recreation), a department of the military. This is really exciting for me because my Grandbarb worked the MWR in San Diego for many years. As Camp Adventure we come in and put on a wonderful, exciting summer camp for these children.

Camp Adventure pays for our plane ticket, they provide us housing (I will stay in military housing while in Naples), and we get a small living stipen to survive the summer. We are not paid because it is an "educational program" and it prevents us from having to deal with work visas, but I will also get credits that will work towards my master's degree (eventually).

So that is what I am up to, we are staying with my Uncle Ricky tonight and I am headed to the airport bright and early!

Are you sure this is real?

Through Adventures in Italy I hope to take you all along on my trip filled with kids, food, sunshine, and all my experiences in Italy. I leave in 3 days - I am SO thrilled, but still have SO much to do! (I really don't think I quite believe it yet) I have been very busy substitute teaching, which has been amazing, but it is time for my wonderful adventure to begin!