***Sorry for the delay in posts! This was written on the morning of Tuesday the 12th.***
Oh Italy, you've done it again. I've now been to Italy three times, and I love it more and more each time I visit. This time, we took a overnight train from Vienna and arrived in Florence at 9:00 am on Friday (after a three-hour delay). My first order of business was to meet Katy outside the Accademia! Katy is studying abroad in Florence for the summer, so we got to spend lots of time with her. Thursday afternoon consisted of visiting the Duomo, climbing the Campanile (bell tower), eating a delicious sandwich lunch with Katy, going into the Baptistery, Orsanmichele Church, and Duomo Museum, walking across the Ponte Vecchio bridge, and of course stopping for gelato. Jenna from Alpha Chi was also in Florence visiting her family, and Michael from Michelle's Madrid program was also traveling in Florence that weekend, so we all met up that night, watched the sunset, got pizza, and went out together. It was a great group of Vanderbilt friends and we had an awesome time together. Then on Saturday, Katy met us to go to Piazza Michelangelo, which looks out over all of Florence and which I didn't go to the last time I was there. After another delicious sandwich lunch, we visited the Boboli Gardens. Katy and her floormates made a reservation at La Giostra, a great restaurant, for us, so we had a fantastic late dinner together. The waiters brought us free champagne, appetizers, an limoncello for dessert, and I had delicious pear and cheese ravioli for my meal. It was another wonderful night, and saying goodbye to Katy was sad. But it was time to move onto southern Italy!
Early Sunday morning, we departed via train for Naples. Once in Naples, we switched to a crowded regional train to Sorrento, where we were staying for the night. We spent the rest of the day on the beach in town. The water was a perfect temperature, and I FINALLY got a slight tan! We ate dinner at a restaurant down the street from the beach that might've topped our previous dinner. I consumed bread with olive oil, caprese salad, and pasta with fresh clams and tomatoes. Let's just say I was very happy and full. On Monday morning, Michelle got sick, which was a bummer, but Sarah and I still ventured out to the island of Capri. We took a 30 minute ferry over to the island, which is gorgeous. It's made of cliffs, caves, and perfectly blue water, and the weather was ideal. We went for a quick swim right away, and the water was crystal clear and beautiful. We saw lots of little fish swimming around us, and even though it was only 9:00 am, the beach was getting crowded. We then took a 2-hour boat ride around the entire island, stopping to see caves with stalactites, orange coral, rock formations, and the infamous Grotta Azzurra ("Blue Cave"). It's a small cave, and the way that the sunlight hits it makes the water look like it's glowing an electric blue color. To enter, we had to switch into a small rowboat and lay down to get through the opening, which was tiny. But the water was incredible, and my pictures can't even do it justice. After the boat tour, we took the funicular up to the town where there were lots of restaurants and shops. I bought perfume from Carthusia, which makes perfume out of flowers found on the island and has been operating since 1691. Unfortunately we had to make it back to Sorrento to head to Rome that night, so our time in Capri was short, but it was absolutely lovely. That night, we took the train from Naples to Rome, and after checking into our hostel and showering, it was 11:30 pm. But since we were only there for one night, we walked to the Trevi Fountain and all threw our coins in and made a wish. So touristy, but worth it. The next morning, Michelle and I had a flight to Athens, and Sarah had a flight to Copenhagen. So we parted ways, and headed to Greece, the last leg of my trip. Just one more blog post to come!
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