Weekend on the Amalfi Coast

On Thursday we went to class as usual. In sculpture class we had to start our abstract piece. My work ended up looking like a radio. After class, I went to this sandwich shop and got a sandwich with salami, goat cheese, and tomato for 2.50 euro... I am going to miss that back in the states. I had my second Italian quiz which actually went better than the first one. That evening Worth and I climbed to the top of the duomo. It was 486 steps to the top but well worth the climb. The view was amazing and you could see so much of the city. From the top it was easy to see how we get lost at times because everything looks the same! A group of us got dinner that night together, and we then went to get our train tickets for the next morning.

Friday morning, we left for Naples at 7 am. It was a three hour train ride on the fast train as opposed to the six hours it would have taken us on the slow train. The train ride was much more enjoyable this time compared to last weekend's trek to cinque terre in a non air conditioned train. Once we got to Naples, our driver, Giovanni Russo, took us to Positano. He greeted us with 2 bottles of Limoncello. That limoncello was so disgusting. It was so strong all of us took one sip and about spit it out. On Sunday Giovanni ended up giving us another free bottle and we all bit our lip to keep from laughing when he handed it to us. One of the boys in our group can speak pretty good italian so Giovanni talked his ear off for the hour long ride to Positano. We all thought Aldo was going to go crazy. Upon arriving at our hostel, Hostel Bricketts, we went and got pizza and beer at the restaurant next door. The food was great and then we made our way down to the beach. This was quite the climb down the mountain and it was HOT! We were sweating like crazy by the time we got to the beach. We had to pay for use the beach since it was private. The black sand was so hot on our feet and several of us burnt the bottoms of them. The water felt awesome though after the hot climb and we were ready to relax in the sun for a few hours. That evening some people in our group took the local bus back up the mountain, while Isabelle, Sarah, and I decided to climb. We actually beat the other half of the group back to the hostel, but I think we were a lot hotter than them. The climb up wasn't too bad in comparison to Cinque Terre last weekend. It was a good thing we made the climb back up because we knew the way back later that night. That evening our hostel got us a free ride to this nice restaurant. Our service was fantastic and the food was pretty good. They gave us free bruschetta. Everyone in the group got bistecca with blueberry sauce except for Sarah cause she is vegetarian. The steak was alright. I was disappointed in it because they overcooked it even though I asked for medium rare.. pretty frustrating. One of the waitresses was actually a girl from California. She had been traveling the summer before throughout Italy and feel in love with an Italian boy and stayed out there (don't worry dad, this won't happen to me). After dinner we went back to the hostel and hung out with the people there. The bartender at the hostel told us he would take us to this really cool club that is carved into the rocks for a free cover. On the way to the club, we saw Denzel Washington eating dinner with a few other people. We knew that he was in town, but we never thought we would actually see him! Isabelle and Ashton stalked him for awhile and ended up getting a picture with him. The girl he was with was from Eden, NC, which is apparently really close to Reidsville...so Isabelle had a lot to chat with them about, haha. The club was so neat how it was carved into the mountains and the way the sound reflected off of it. It was such a fun night!

Saturday morning we got up bright and early for our boat trip around the coast. We were on about a 40 foot boat. Our first stop was in Capri where we had about an hour and a half to spend. All of us were feeling a little seasick by the time we got there so we just rested and grabbed a snack. Upon getting back on the boat, we had a packed lunch of caprese sandwiches. They were delicious! Our captain then took us to the green and white grotto. I swam around the boat in the white grotto, but I was unable to go inside because I only had rainbow sandals and couldn't climb on the rocks. Ashton, Laura, and Sarah went and they said the water was so blue inside the grotto. A local also informed them that it looked just like the blue grotto, but with less people. At the green grotto, I was able to swim to it because I didn't have to climb on any rough rocks. The water reflected a brillant green off of the walls and it was so pretty. We then climbed to the top of this rock edge and jumped off in to the ocean. It was really fun at the time, but I think I may have cracked a rib in my chest from the impact of the water. I am kinda regretting my decision to jump off of the rock now. We then sailed around the coast for another hour and a half before heading back to Sorrento. When we were sailing around we saw Bill Gate's yacht and the owner of the Chelsea soccer team's. The Chelsea soccer team owner's yacht was sooo cool. It had its own helicopter and lots of jet skis. It was a also a sleek black color. I wish I could have hopped off our boat and joined them. After a long day on the water, we headed back to Positano. We got dinner at the pizza place next to our hostel again. The owner there loved us and told us how nice we were. He even invited us to ride on his boat on Sunday at 3, but it ended up that we were leaving at that time. That night we took it easy because we were all so exhausted. I had trouble sleeping in the hostel because it was so hot and loud! People were snoring like crazy in addition to everyone else in the dorm running around and screaming. I hope my other hostel experiences go a little smoother. On Sunday we walked around the town in some of the shops and got a quick lunch. We then headed back to Naples to catch our train. We finally got back to Firenze around 9 last night. I went to bed really early because of the lack of sleep I got all weekend. It was such a fun weekend though and the Amalfi coast is absolutely beautiful. Tonight the girls are going on a boat tour of the Arno River!