Sorrento, Naples, Pompeii, and Capri Island

Ahhh what a great weekend! Toni, Andrea, and I had so much fun! It was the best weekend I have had in a long time. Above is the sea view of the city of Sorrento. It was fun just sitting and people watching and enjoying the scenery!

Sorrento is also very famous for its lemons and of course lemoniciello! We ended up getting a nice seafood dinner our first night, and a round of lemoniciello on the house! The food was amazing and the atmosphere was great (we sat on the patio of the local restaurant that is right on the sea).

This is the view from the top of castellamare of the bay of Naples in the background!

This photo was also taken at the top of the hill, only this picture is from a ruin on the hill and is looking at the bay of Sorrento and the island in the distance is Capri. This was a fun hike because the whole time it felt a bit like Oregon.

Oh wow! So Capri is probably my favorite place in the world next to Costa Rica! This is the port of Capri. You can see Capri Town just ahead, and if we were to climb the hill we would find the city center and the second city of Capri, Anacapri.

Horray for friends and riding on boats! That is what we got to do a lot of when we arrived. As soon as we got off the ferry we went to the blue grotto.

This is a picture from the inside of the blue grotto! It was gorgeous! The blue color is due to the refraction of the sun on the water; even though it looks like there is a wall below the surface, there actually is not. If it was warmer (and not illegal) you could swim right out of the grotto into the Tyrrhenian Sea! The really fun part was getting in...the speed boat takes you to the grotto entrance and then you get into small three person row boats. Then to get into the grotto yourself, you have to lay down and slide in. Very fun and very worth it!

This is the view from the centro (or center) of Capri Town, which is 450ft above the port via hills and stairs. It was worth it:) We then had lunch on the roof of a restaurant here in the centro.

Once lunch was done it was time to hit the beach! It was great just laying on the beach, and getting in the turqoise water! There were very tiny jellyfish floating around and lots of fish. It reminded me of a movie. After tanning we of course, had to have gellato and Toni and I both bought a pair of classic strappy Italian leather sandals, that were literally made for our feet!

On Sunday we journied to Pompeii, and let me tell you it was amazing! This is the beginning of the site with Mt. Vesuvius looming in the distance. Pompeii is also very, very big, so if you go pack a lunch..no, seriously!

This was a man found in his bed. The eruption happened early in the morning, and no one escaped.

This was the most moving frozen man. He was found next to his mule cart like this. If you look close you can see he is not sitting but praying.

This was Pompeii's grand colessium, with me inside!

The enterance to Pompeii is even spectacular in itself!

Overall it was an amazing weekend! I hope you enjoy the pictures; comment, e-mail, or maybe smoke signals!

Ciao

Charlotte

Toscana

I had to add this one..it sums up the weekend:)

Good day all! This weekend we had the chance to go explore Volterra and San Gimigano, two small Tuscan towns. They were both beautiful and as you can see from my photos, both had beautiful views!

These two photos are from the top of the town tower. It was not the nicest of days, but it was still so breath-taking. I would recommend anyone vist these small towns.

Overlooking San Gimgano..

This is a Roman Forum found in Volterra. It dates all the way back to the 1st century a.d.

This are a few different shots from Volterra...

On sunday a group of us decided to go to the Bange Vingioni hot springs! That was an adventure!

This is a picture of the road the bus dropped us off at....we just starting walking and laughing.

You can't see it really well, but this is a site of the hot springs..it is running down the side of the moutain.

We finally found the area to get into the hot springs, and here it is..two hours and a hike later :)

Hope you are all well! Don't forget to comment and e-mail!!

Love

me

Mojitos, Friends, and Rams..

Ciao all!

I am currently sitting in my room enjoying an awesome thuder storm! Any of you who know me ( or any from the northwest) probably know this is an enjoyable thing!

We have had a fun couple of days here with the wednesday market, and last night one of the apartments hosted a fajita night! We had homemade fajitas, fruit salad, and mojitos! It was so much fun to have our whole group in one spot that wasn't school. I am really enjoying everyone on the trip! I actually got invited to the hot springs on sunday and to sail to the elba island with a group! I am super excited!!

We got the opportunity to visit the Ram contrada museum. This is the only contrada out of 17 that opened its doors. The contradas are very private and are usually only for the residents of the community..aka Siena born. The contradas are basically districts throughout Siena. They have thier own animal, colors, government, museum, church, and plazza. I live in the nicchio which is the shell contrada. These contradas are very diverse and are very impotant especially during the Plaio in July and August. (The large horse race, that is so much more than just a horse race).

This is the garb of the men that walk in the parade that is held. The women cannot walk. They can only make the outfits.

This is a very old saddle and the crest of the ram that the horse would wear.

If you can, take a moment and look at this. It is my favorite palio. The palio is given each time to the winner of the palio race. Each year it is done by a different artist and then displayed in that contrada's museum. The oldest one is from 1746 and is in the eagle contrada.

The last sunday in May we will get to see the choosing of the 10 contradas that will run in the July 2nd palio.

I love the history of Siena, so if anyone is interested in more history or has a question please comment and I will get back to you!

Hope everyone is well and has a great friday!

Love and hugs!

me

Ahhh Wednesdays

Update for wednesday:
So here in Siena we have a lovely thing call the open air market! At this street fair you can find clothes, kitchen stuff, flowers, and most important...food! I had the pleasure of sampling some fresh food today, like calimari and roasted chicken! Both were incredible and cooked right in front of you! I normally do not like wednesdays but now there is the market and the cooking class at night! We also had 80* weather today, so I even got a little sunburnt..hehe!

Tonight we learned to cook gnocchi, which is an italian dish that is made of potato noodles. Also a quice with spinach and riccota and tiramisu for desert. I love our class, but I am so full after i hate climbing the stairs and hills that our quaint town has. Yes, not only is Siena old and full of cobblestones, but also you must go up and down at least three steep hills a day!

Last night was also fun because I bought my first bottle of Italian wine and my first time buying a red. i really enjoyed it! It was Rossa Sicilia and had a very fruity taste, so I can now come back to Molalla and tell Mary I like a red:)

Tomorrow is a potluck night at someones apartment and then out dancing at the discoteca, which should be awesome! Also Saturday is a group trip to Volterra and San Giminiano, where a) new moon is being filmed and b) san giminiano is where mary told me I had to go for beauty and wine tasting!

I hope everyone is doing well. I have a bit of a cold from Roma, so I hope to get over that soon!
I miss you all so much! Being away makes you realize how important your family and friends are, so keep me posted and I send you all smiles, love, and hugs!
Buona Cera
me

Roman Holiday

This past weekend I had the joy of touring Roma! Here are some pictures from my trip, even though pictures cannot describe these places! I was simply awe struck at each place. Above is the Vatican in St. Peter's Square.

Here is the inside of St. Peter's Basilica, where we wandering inside not knowing why there was a line, and we saw it was because the pope was holdinga good Friday service for holy week. It was mind blowing!

I like this picture because it shows the giant screens put out for the holy week and easter services. The people come and sit outside listening, watching, and praying. It was a very emotional experience for me to be a part of it and feel everyone's emotions around me.

Here is one of the bridges that crosses the Tiber River. Now keep in mind we arrived in Roma after being on a bus for 2 and half hours at 1:30 pm, checked into our room, and went to the Vatican. At this point it was about 5 pm and we decided to wander...this is where the adventures begin!

This is the beautiful castle at the enterance to the bridge. I belive it is St. Catherine's but I will have to look it up.

After visiting the Pantheon, having a cafe latte, and getting lost for most of the evening, we finally made it to the Trevi Fountain. Legends claim that if you toss a coin over your shoulder into the fountain you will one day return to Roma. Not only did we do this, but we all sat and marveled at this site. The fountain was wonderful! It was also huge! Pictures don't really do this magical place justice. After this we all decided it was around 9:30 pm and we were hungry, so we ate at a McDonalds that was three stories tall...yes we ate big macs on the roof in Roma! :)

Now that it was dark it was time to try to find our way home....horray for Charlotte and her GPS on her amazing iphone! It was an absolute lifesaver! We headed to the Vatican again to see if there was anything for easter vigil, and there was the lighting of the candle but nothing else too exciting. On our way out I spotting the gaurds with swords, so yes I did have to have my picture with them. I must also mention that the most handsom, nicest guys you could ever hope to meet work at the Vatican! Wow is all we ladies could say! :)

This one is for you Michael...I know you are pleased ;)

This is obviously the Vatican, but I took it because it was night-time and because of all the chairs out for easter sunday. You see that section towards the front? Yeah, that's where Toni and I got to sit!!

Ahhh easter sunday was amazing. Toni and I had to wait in a line outside the square for 2 hours, and then once inside we thought we would have to stand because we didn't have tickets. One of the gaurds asked us why we were standing, and we responded that we had no tickets. His response was, so? You are here now so go sit! So not only did we get seats, but we got good seats! The mass/celebration was kicked off with the ringing of the bells that lasted a good 15 minutes, along with two bands playing; one included the swiss gaurds and the other the italian guards. Then the pope himself came through the crowd! I will never forget how happy he looked and that he took his time. He shook people's hands along the way and blessed babies on the way to the alter. Below is the beautiful alter.

The service was also amazing because not only did we have communion, but the mass was in at least seven different lanuguages!!

This is just a typical sunset here in Toscana, so I thought I would show you this site that is normal to so many but after two weeks it still brilliant to me!

I hope everyone had a great easter, whether you celebrated or not. I hope you got to spend time with family and friends. I miss you and love you all, keep commenting and I will update you soon.

ciao!

Ciao! Buongirno!

Ciao la gente bello! (hello beautiful people!)
Sorry I have not written in a while, our internet is touch and go...so since monday a lot has happened! I have started my classes. I am taking a literary class, cross culture communication, and italian. The italian is way fun! I am picking it up really fast because of my spanish background, which is awesome! On wednesday Siena has a great open air market that basically takes over half of the city! My roomate and I wandered around it and found sweet leather jackets! I actually got to haggle my jacket down..hehe..thank you mom for teaching me to always examine everything! I did not need to say a word, just point and say hmmm a lot! :)
Last night was also the first cooking class, which is so awesome! We learn to make everything from scratch; yesterday we made pasta, mushroom sauce, artichoke-potato bake, and the classic Florentine cake! It was so good, but now I need a pasta maker at home!! It was way easy so when I get home I am going to have to cook some classic Italian dishes for you guys!

Tomorrow myself and three of the girls are going to Rome for the weekend! We are going to visit the collesium, the vatican and its gardens, and anything else we can see!
I miss you all and I am really glad you have been commenting and texting :) hugs to you all and I will upload pictures when I get back from Rome!
Ciao!
me


PS. The fish flies at night ;)

Plans!

Ciao everyone!
I don't have any pictures for your today, but I do have some words! :)
First of all; our hearts go out to those affected by today's earthquake. Many people died, many were injured, and many still remain unaccounted for. May angels lead them in.
I must also say thank you to my friends for caring about me so much as to call me in Italy and make sure that I was ok. I feel truely loved and blessed.

On a lighter note today was the first day of classes. I decided not to take art history, but instead literary lanscapes. This class has a lot of reading in it, something I have been missing since I have become a chemistry major. I also decided that I am going to take a cooking class offered through the school, with some of the other girls in hte group! I am way stoked to learn how to make everything from scratch! It is a three hour class and for each class we cook a three course meal and do some food and wine pairing!!

I also got to practice my cooking tonight! I made dinner with my roomate, for us and four other girls! It was fun and challenging in a small kitchen, but everyone loved having a home-cooked meal.

Today we booked a place to stay in Rome for this weekend, so if you see the Vatican on t.v. on Easter Sunday....we will be in the square! We are going friday through sunday and are going to see the Sistiene Chapel, Vatican Gardens/Musems, Collesium, and the catecombs!

I hope all is well with everyone! Keep Commenting! I love to hear from ya'all! :)

Art History Tour and Apartment

This photo is from today. It was nice and warm, and as is custom for the Sienese I went and tanned on the Palazzo. The towns people go here since they do not have a beach close by!

These two pictures are the views from my apartment window. We are located in the south part of town, but considering it only takes about 20 minutes to walk from the north to the south, it is all good.

I had to take a picture of the bunny! The shops have windows filled with these chocolate animals and huge eggs. The children get these eggs or animals instead of a basket of things. The eggs are about the size of two basketballs on top of each other, and they are hollow, filled with cream, or solid chocolate.

This is my friend Sara and I at lunch yesterday!

This is me in front of center of the city, the torre. This is also where the famous Palio is held twice a year. This torre is also a symbol of power to the Sienese. It is the same height as the Cathedral, so as to represent no difference of the influence of church or state. Also if you look close you can see the coat of arms on the side of the building; they are black and white with the white being on the top. This shows that good always conquers evil.

Pictures!

So I tought today I would post some pictures since I have a lazy evening! We all had a 6 course meal for lunch, it was amazing but I am now tired and full. I threw in some picts of gellato, the view from the highest point of Siena( with me in it), the view from one of the restaurants in the Palazzo, the local buildings, and the inside of the Baptista!Enjoy the photos!!