Tuesday April 19: "I mean, this is the best pre-packaged toast I've tried"

We start waking up here in Sorrento about 6am to loud church bells that we remain unsure about... Church or rude alarm? After that its a series of loud gals and door slams. So when our alarms went off around 8 we were already awake. We must have our minds in the right place, because we got right up and set out for a jog. After a quick shower, we moved quickly through free breakfast and checkout. Greece? Venice? Decisions decisions. Were having trouble figuring out our ferry to Greece. We decided we need a few Samara kind of days before finishing up, so were hoping to make it to an island in Greece by tomorrow. There we have some serious goals: bake in the sun, sleep in the sun, explore grecian island life and re-center/refocus/regroup. And maybe wash some socks, panties and shirts. Not that we smell or anything....
So we skipped town towards Napoli... That's Naples for y'all American folk. On the way we jumped off the train in Pompeii, curious about the ruins. We wanted to see te froZen people but not enough to pay and wait in line. So we took it in from a distance, compared my Vesuvius to arenal, and re-boarded our train. We had about an hour and a half to kill in Naples, and the one thing that's a must do is eat pizza (where it was created)! Jenny had done some research and we mapped our way to what was reviewed as the oldest and best pizza. There were tons of people waiting outside to get in... The city has pizza rules, thats right, rules. Here's the guidelines for Napoli pizza:

We decided to ask for ours to go and when Jenny ordered one margarita (the only other option is maranara) the friends chefs thought she was one crazy Americana. We walked back to the train station in anticipation and they were right. One was a bad idea. This was the best pizza imaginable, and we can't explain why. It was unlike anything else. We enjoyed our halves and dreamed avout more as we waited for our train.
We had 2 trains to catch to Bari (the port town and homeland to THE Shea Donovan-there's billboards of him all over, your people send their love dear). Obviously, Jenny passed out while Kelly watched the gorgeous Italian scenery pass by as er iTunes played the perfect soundtrack. Today we are feeling great about our decision to go home and know it's the right time. We passed a ton of windmills and as U2 serenaded Kelly there seemed to be signs and symbolism coming at us the whole day. Now let's just hope we can find a boat to Greece...
Success! We made it to Bari with approximately 30 minutes to find the port, figure out a ferry, book and board. We did it! We would be in Ingomenutsa by 6am.
We boarded expecting a shnazzy ferry like our first to holland. Ehh not so much. No Internet or cool spots. We sat in a movie theatre meets airplane type of room with a bunch of strangers and our backpacks. Salad and fries for dinner and, as always, stole some bread for breaky!We watched Erin brokevich (yay for no dubbing) and then spread out across seats in hope of sleeping a bit...
Doze on and off... On and off... I think were somewhere in Greece by now...

Monday, April 18-- The uncurable travel bug

This day was for centering, reflection, and planning forwards. We have had so many ideas and plans and uncertainties rattleing around in our heads and we needed to get some calm. We are really conflicted as we approach the end of the route we had in mind. We both encounter homesickness in fleeting moments, whether it's as silly as missing our blowdryer and straightener or as deep as longing to see a person that we miss. We are really fortunate to be able to talk about these things with one another and be each others support system. The internal conflict comes into play when homesickness meets desire to nomad. We are obsessed with Italy and typically totally absorbed in the present, hence our usual lack of planning! We are soaking up every moment of where ee are but we have a seerious case of the travel bug, there are endless places we want to go. We are fearful that some of these are now or never. It seems unlikely we will retire our pencil skirts and disregard work emails in future years to be dirty hippies living out of a backpack with no plan and few commitments. We want to see Morocco, we have both dreamed for years of a trip to Africa to volunteer, Kelly longs to travel Oceania and Jenny is dying to go to Thailand. The thought of time in a disciplined Ashram strikes our fancy, and so does some time in China. We don't have the money for these right now, and we both have people and upcoming events at home that we are ready to get back to. We decided Almafi was the place to go to mellow our conflicted souls. The Almafi Coast is amazing and the most celebrated in Italy (although we still hold Cinque Terre as an untouchable number 1 in our hearts) and we intended to find and hike Sentiero degli Dei (Path of the Gods) a well famous 6 hour mountain hike. Yea we are just as surprised as you that a long hike appeals to us more than cafe chilling or window shopping...our inner dirty hippies must be really thriving. After an insanely long windy bus ride from Sorrento along the edge of the cliff (think the crazy mountain top toads on which James Bonds high speed chases occur in Austin Martin convertibles) we arrived in Almafi. Wrong place for our path we learned but awesome seaside village surrounded by cliffs with aqua water. We ate crepes in an Italian cafe where the smiley server pridefully told us about the greatness of Almafi and gave us his address so we could write to him when we wanted to return, gotta love those Italian men!
We have come to terms with the fact that this trip will not cure our travel bug, and that's okay.
As much as we feel we need to go everywhere right now, if we hold ourselves to everything we have learned on this trip then we know our travel adventures are far from over. The challenge will be coming home to a society that prizes work and "adulthood" over all else.
After a long chat about home and travels and life, We hopped on a bus back towards Sorrento. We decided this was a good place to map out the last leg of our trip. After some down time and a quick jog for Jenny, we grabbed a salad in the restaurant of our hostel and camped out at the computers. We looked at going to Africa, asia, etc etc. But the reality is, we need a planning break! Despite our lack of planning style, when you're backpacking with no set plan, the reality is you plan everyday. Plan plan plan. Our brains (and bank accounts) need a holiday. So together we decided when were done with Europe, as our rail pass expires, it's time to go home. And time to get excited for it! So... I guess you could say that's the plan :) bed time... Tomorrow were going to.....???

Sunday, April 17- Do you want a bite of my cheese and lettuce sandwich?

This morning we enjoyed the quiet solitary environment of our B&B, and not being
in a mad rush to check out for once. We took nice long showers and repacked our
bags (which are considerably heavier after some impulse gift and souvenir
shopping...guess we should have see this one coming) and did travel research. We
were Romed out so it was on to the next. We were having a hard time making
decisions so we just got on a train to Naples, not the safest place we have
heard, but the Almalfi Coast is supposedly one of the most beautiful in Europe and
we could see the frozen ruins of Pompeii as well as Mt Vesuvius.
Heading this way we could take a train to a nice hostel that Sam (our friend
from Florence) recommended to us in Sorrento.

Sketchball city is what we will call Napoli, although we only saw the view of
the city from our train, and the train station as we connected onto a heavily
graffitied train to go to Sorrento. We arrived at our hostel with some directional guidance from a Polish guy who was also staying there. We dropped off our belongings and headed out for dinner, a delicious and filling roast vegetable dish, before going home for a decently early night.

Saturday, April 16th--Pope's are Weird

We had left things with our hostel hosts open ended about whether or not we could stay Saturday night. By 11 (end of the checkout period) they were no where to be seen so we presumed they had arranged another night for us. We had another date with Jack & Ashley to go see the Vatican so we hustled to meet them at a nearby McDonalds. Most people would take a bus or train over to the Vatican city, but these 4 amici were going to soak up all the sunshine we could. About an hour later we were approaching Saint Peters Square, which is quite a site on Saturday afternoons (or ever). We knew we had a long wait and day ahead of us so we popped in a pizza place... Yes more pizza and no we aren't sick of it yet. Something in the air here strips away the need for all food that isn't Italian... Or maybe were just on a ravenous carb binge and our bodies now refuse to desire foods that aren't white. The busy pizzeria gave us way too much food as we stood in the packed room chowing down. We were barely into the city limits before tour guides bombarded us from every direction. We listened to one woman for a while but decided to just wait in the line and wander through on our own. Luckily another guide approached us and decided to cut us a deal since Kelly and Ashley had student IDs (traveler tip: NEVER get rid of your student ID...you can get discounts everywhere, plus cheaper movies at home. duh). As we spoke with him the first woman came back yelling at all of us and trying to bargain her deals over his... The guy was calm and starred at lady #1 like the looney toon she seemed to be so we left with him, listening to her angry but compelling sales skills behind us. While it was a bit stressful getting there and going, buying a tour was the smartest thing ever! We would have probably never even found the Sistine chapel on our own (seriously, that happens to people). Our extremely knowledgeable guide dragged us through the dangerously crowded Vatican museums. Our first stop was the courtyard where parties were held for popes back in the renaissance, and she explained all the insane details behind Michelangelo's famous ceiling. We also learned about fresco paintings and artists like Raphael who have left their marks. We listened to our guide via one eared headphones, so naturally we played secret agent while trying to follow her red umbrella around. Maturity.

After a lot of narrow corridors full of frescos, ornate ceilings, tapestries and ancient statues, we had finally made it to the Sistine chapel. The ceiling has been restored fairly recently and they left a patch of what it looked like before... The difference was insane! Michelangelo used really bright colors and they say he painted for himself based on details found during the restoration. His self portrait is said to be in the de-skinned saint within The Last Judgement. We sat in the quiet chapel as long as we were allowed. You have to really take it in to be in the sheer awe of what he did. It's overwhelming. Stiff necks and all, we wound our way out and into St. Peters basilica. Another overwhelming site; the basilica is beyond ornate and enormous. We snapped a few pictures in St. Peters Square, which was roped off with thousands of chairs for Palm Sunday tomorrow. Crazy to think that the Pope would stand right there the next day! We stumbled around like idiots before realizing we all had terrible "museum legs". So we walked back to their hotel (across town) because Jack decided we had wine to finish off! Gotta love his style. While crossing over the river into Rome, Jenny heard someone..."Jenny? JENNY!"... then out of NOWHERE, squeals were let out as Jenny ran into a friend from home who is studying abroad in Florence, Carly. It was SO random but awesome. Funny how those things happen. Our tired legs made it to the hotel, passing by the Pantheon, Spanish steps, and other amazing sights. Ashley tucked in for a nap while the three of us took our wine to the neighboring park to play cards. We played games, went through our wine stash, and had life chats with 20 year old Jack. He is an amazing person, as is Ashley. Sightseeing is so incredible, but sometimes nothing beats making new friends with such awesome people around this world and hearing their story and thoughts. New bestys in whales? Check!

When the bottles were empty and out bladders were too full, we ran back to the hotel to wake up sleepy Ashley. Our friend in Florence, Sam, suggested a restaurant to us in Rome with a student menu. It was in Trastevere, where we had been wanting to go, so the 4 of us hopped in a cab and on we went. La Fate was perfect! Italian, cute, and 3 courses for 10 euros!! What a killer deal for Rome. Red wine included of course (keep it coming with this quartet). We all knew we wanted an early night, so we shared an awesome dinner and headed back towards home. It was the perfect end to an amazing few days together. Jack & Ashley are our travel bffs. We were sad bunnies to say goodbye but we know we will see them again :)

As we walked up stairs to our apartment room, we joked about our stuff being gone because the room wasn't ours anymore. Then around the corner there was Johncarlo and Maki, our hosts. Up so late? Oh no! They informed us they had to give the room to new people with reservations so they moved ALL OF OUR STUFF to another hostel they own. We will admit that we had stuff everywhere, personal, important and a lot of it. Our combination of being grateful and mortified left us shell shocked. They laughed and said it wasn't our fault and it was no problem. Maki walked us about 10 minutes away to another nice apartment where our backpacks and a bag full of every lose item we own sat. All our valuables, panties, lost socks, trash... ALL of it. It's official these people are amazing! Totally shocked and humiliated, we paid maki and said goodnight. This was definitely a first (and a last). Bed time... Somewhere above a Chinese restaurant in Rome....

Friday, April 15--Pain No Shame

Today's themes are hangovers and wine...which we suppose are kind of
contradictory themes, but they went together pretty well. We hadn't made it
home until the early hours of the morning, so we had what Patti Foster would
call "a bed day." With our technology and B&B provided snacks we did absolutely
nothing until the late afternoon (not that we could have if we had wanted to). This was obviously the hangover part of our
day, not the wine part. We headed out into Rome to see some sights...which
turned into playing with make up in Sephora and talking about how much we were
going to indulge our vanity when we got home...especially after nights like last
night when we go out to clubs with not a scrap of makeup, scraggly hair, and
dirty tourist outfits. We walked down Quattro Fontane and saw the 4 famous fountains
tucked into the buildings on the four corners. We walked around some beautiful
Roman building looking at the stone fountains and imagining how scary This
statue-filled city would be if everything stone came alive at night. Then we
headed to the Spanish steps to meet the boys we had met on our pub crawl last
night. We really didn't expect them to be there as we barely knew them, made
these plans totally inebriated last night, and would be invading on their
couples trip to Rome. The Spanish steps are known for their people watching so
we scanned the crowd until our gaze fell upon...Jack! He was jumping up and down
and so were we as we ran to meet him and Ashley. This was a fast forming
friendship and the two of them are our new favorites, hilarious, a totally
adorable couple and insanely fun!
Jack immeditaley declared it was time to start hitting the bottle...the red wine
bottle that is. Our first instinct was "heck no!" as we were both still a little
on the queasy side and Jen's head was pounding more and more. Our second thought
was "heck yes we're in Italy, bring on the vino!" We were all in agreement that
this was a hair of the dog kind of evening. We strolled to the Trevi fountain,
where we stopped to toss a penny in and make a quick wish, before finding a
little wine bar with outdoor seating and some seriously strong heaters. Wine and
apperitivo time had our headaches fading and the four of us cracking up and all
enjoying the company of new friends in a new city. We decided to keep the good
times rolling so we had some pasta...and wine...at another spot up the road. Not
the best food we've ever had but definitely some of the best company. We were
probably disturbing the other diners with our level of laughter as we chatted
and planned the script for Ashleys new feature film, based on his highschool
years, Zach Efron will be staring in this award winning film and we will be
first on the list to the London premier thanks to our inspiration and
support....right Ashley?! After dinner we decided it was probably time for some
more wine so we went to a little shop and bought 2 bottles for good measure, but
the wine loving girl working decided to throw in one for good luck so we left
with 3. We walked back with Ashley and Jack to their hotel room where we all
sipped about one plastic cup of vino before tiredness came over us and we were
ready for bed. Hangover + wine must = sleep. We weren't done enjoying Rome with
our new friends so we decided to meet in the morning and go to Vatican City
together.

The 2 of us walked home to brush our purple teeth before falling asleep in our
awesome, quiet, peaceful B&B (Wow Roma is the name if you are looking for an
apartment to enjoy in Rome!) Goodnight peeps! See you tomorrow for adventures in
the Vatican.

Thursday, April 14th-- When in Rome

Most days we are up and going fairly early, either for free breakfast, checking out or sightseeing. When you share a dodgey room with 10 strangers, sleeping in isn't really all to appealing anyway. Our hostel in Rome is more of an apartment bedroom, where the breakfast and snacks sit out all day in the kitchen. Taking in the quiet, clean, dark private room we shared, we decided not to set an alarm on our first day in Rome. Well, it worked! We didn't wake up until about noon. Moments like these remind us that after 2+ months of traveling, your body starts to get a little worn down. So quit your judgin', we still had plenty of time to explore Roma!

First stop today was a little snack bar where jenny was in need of a coffee on the go. Since everyone here takes espresso shots, she ordered an American coffee... A few moments later they handed jenny a small plastic dixie cup of coffee. As she walked awkwardly holding the tiny treat, we decided America does take away best. We headed south through Piazza Republica, stopped in Santa Maggiore (a huge and beautiful basilica) and then winded around streets until we suddenly saw the Colosseum down another normalroad. Lucky for us, we waited less than 5 minutes before we walked in for free (love culture week!). The Colosseum is pretty amazing. The history, what's left, the sheer size of it. We imagined it in all it's glory; drunken brawls over favorite gladiators and men being eaten by starving lions. Roman history is craazy! We peaked around the neighboring ruins where archaeologist work all day but the cold grayness was not awesome for our ugg-less adventures. So we took our freezing feet to a cafe across the street for a snack.

Sometimes culture finds you in the least expected places... Now, everyone warns you about Italian men. And we have encountered a few charmers here and there but nothing to hilarious. As we waited for Jenny's panini, Kelly ordered a latte on which "I *heart* u" was written in chocolate. But this was only the beginning... soon we made a new friend. A 77 year old man, Gianni, came and sat down with us. He has lived in Rome (proudly of course) since he was 7 and we talked about places to see and where we are from. He told us about his 2 sons and his hobby of archaeology. Quite the charmer this guy was... He looked like a short round Robert DeNiero. Gianni asked us to join him at his apartment for homemade gnocci that he was making for his German friend in town. As always, we declined, And then we declined again... and again. But Gianni redeemed himself by sending us 2 huge glasses of the wine of Rome on his way out. Free wine? Yes please! As we sipped our sparkling reds, a young waiter from somewhere near Saudi Arabia came out from the kitchen with a finely constructed foil rose to present Jenny with. Habib, was sure he was in love, and sat down to win Jenny's heart. His Romanian boss decided it was rude to not make Kelly a flower, so he quickly took care of it, bursting Habib's bubble; but not as much as hearing about Shea the boyfriend. Nonetheless, in typical European fashion he persisted, with no luck of course. Before we knew it we had a free pizza and champagne! All we had heard about Romans being rude was bogus! This place rocks. Kelly sampled free gelato flavors with the awkward Romanian manager while Habib explained to Jenny not to "fear him" because he does not use drugs (insert heroin motion) or want her money. If that's not a solid first date we don't know what is, gotta love a man who lays it all on the table! While we applauded his efforts, it was all a bit too much. Our empty glasses were the que to get the heck out so we did just that. Assuring our new friends we'd be back tomorrow (yeah right). Turns out these Italian men are indeed quite forward. Just not the cute ones...

We walked down the street to catch a bus to an area called Trastevere. As we searched for our bus stop, a group on a pub crawl passed us merrily. Earlier in the day we were handed a flier for this event, but we never do things like this and usually venture out on our own. But this pub crawl leader was a smooth talker and convinced us to come into the first pub and think about it. For 15 euros we got free covers, open bar, pizza and tshirts. Since most drinks in Rome were upwards of 8euros it turned out to be a good deal. Since we don't clean up to well these days anyway, we went for it despite our very non clubby appearances. 2 hilarious sweetish girls quickly friended us as we made the most of the open bar. We made friends with a couple promoters for the team before they rushed us out to catch a bus to the next bar. On the way there Jenny befriended Jack & Ashley, an adorable couple on vacation from Whales. While Kelly friended Ben and Taite, backpackers from Canada.

By the time we were in bar #2 everyone was soaked to the bone from the rain. It was a bit to quiet so we all headed saugy to some big club. The rest of the night we danced and partied til the wee hours (details shall go unsaid seeing as they are a bit foggy anyway) when we shared a cab across town with Jack & Ashley. The four of us made plans to meet tomorrow night on the Spanish steps. New friends and a crazy night in Rome... We don't usually splurge or go out but it felt right, it was ladies night, and heck, when in Rome... :)

Wednesday April 13th - Almond biscotti is worth the walk

You can't say you've seen Italy if you haven't been to the vineyards of Tuscany...today seemed like a great day to get our wine buzz on. Everyone said we should go on an organized tour to Chianti but we have discovered we aren't really fans of overpriced tours where we are stuck with a group of potential dudders all day (anti-social of us, we know, but we didn't want any debbies raining on our Italian vino parade). We decided to ditch our backpacks at the hostel luggage room for the day and attempt to get a bus to the region and attempt to find wine...I mean how hard could it be? This was agreed upon as a pretty stupid idea by everyone we came across as reservations are usually needed for tastings and the Chianti region is pretty large and not very pedestrian friendly. We ignored everyone and stuck with our plan but decided we would need a hearty breakfast to fuel for this day. If you are ever in Florence go to the Cafe Deluxe. We had the most amazing eggs benadict with huge coffees - not a big deal to all you at home walking around with your venti lattes, but Italy is a fan of the tiny espresso and has refused to allow a single Starbucks in the country as it is apparently a commercialized rip off of Italian coffee bars. Some of The Beatles greatest tunes played loudly as we ordered from our cheerful Italiano server and enjoyed our amazing breakfasts, happy as clams (why do people say that? Flashback to all-nighter in the library with Tori and Chelsea when this question led to a very strange clam discussion). We were in in this great happy cafe in a city that is at the top of both of our lists for it's beauty, charisma, history, and vibe - this was just one of those moments of true elation where we dug our lives more than we can explain. Dear Jenny and Kelly, when you are old fogies reading this to remember this experience, remind yourselves how important these tiny moments of friendship and bonding and simplicity are! They can be found in every day as long as you seek them out!Anyway, got lost in the moment for a second, back to the main point, we got bus tickets to Chianti and took in the amazing scenery...well Kelly did while Jenny took a nap, she has become a serious master of passing out on any public transportation vehicle, not sure if this is motion sickness or exhaustion but she always misses the most epic landscapes in favor of a little shut eye. We got off the bus full of locals and walked to a cafe where the barista said he had a friend who worked at Castello di Verrazzano, located on a hilltop in the Chianti Classico area. The castle's high position over the Greve valley was once of strategic-military importance and was an etruscan then a roman settlement before becoming the property of the Verrazzano family in the VIIth century (Giovanni Verrazzano is credited with discovering NY) Winemaking here is said to date back to 1150. History lesson over....
Unable to contact his friend he was happy to point us in the right direction. A a nice very italian romance novel cover bus driver took us there for free and we ended at the bottom of the enormous hill that the castle sat on. Here was a a small building for wine tasting where a scary school teacher type Italian woman told us we could basically do whatever we wanted and the castle was up. She wasnt kidding when she said up...holy walk. We really shouldnt be phased after Cinque Terre but this was pretty far, probably 30 minutes straight up hill, but the views of Tuscany were worth the climb. We followed the noise of wine buzzed laughter into a room in the castle and were so sad to find that they were just closing. A nice lady working there looked a little shocked when we said we had walked from the bottom and arranges a special last minute tasting for us with their classic chianti wine, port and almond biscotti while she told us about wines and history - we cannot thank her enough! This was such a wonderful experience!We were apparently there at the perfect time to see the Italian owner of the vinyard and castle cut loose as he took paintings off the wall and posed in pictures with the last lingering guests before switching shirts with one guest wearing a grape covered hawaiian shirt. He tried pretty hard to convince kelly to swap shirts with him as well...but she was definitely not on their wine level and politely said no thank you.
We were offered rides down the hill but preferred to walk and admire the insane views again before getting on our bus back to Florence. We managed a speedy backpack pick up and train station paninis to go before getting on our 8:10 train at 8:08, perfect timing! We were heading to Rome not really knowing what to expect except a big city with big history, especially as it often gets mixed reviews from visitors. We arrive in Roma at night to find what seemed to be an outdoor homeless shelter, complete with drunken prostitutes, lining the train station wall. Cities always give a better first impression when you arrive in daylight. We were so happy to get to our quiet peaceful apartment at B&B Wow Roma. The family owned little place was so nice and relaxing! The owners are amazingly kind. It felt so nice to be away from what we now call "mega hostels" and have a little place of our very own as a home base in Rome. We slept like babies :)