Capri. Pompeii. Rome. Florence. Venice.

The past few weeks have been a blur of visitors, food, and travel.

Courtney and Thomas came to Positano about two weeks ago, and unfortunately the rain and cold began the day of their arrival and didn’t let up until the day they left. Two different mornings we actually woke up to see snow on top of the mountain, which apparently never happens. When you’re in a little beach town and it’s cold and rainy, there are pretty much only a few things to do: eat and drink. So we did. We went to Capri for a few days, and had a beautiful apartment courtesy of Mario’s sister, Nuncia, that overlooked the water. Unfortunately, the weather in Capri wasn’t much better than Positano, but we still had a great time exploring the island.

View from our apt in Capri: 
The day before Courtney and Thomas left, Natasha, Keith and Wyatt came to town, and the weather actually cleared and warmed up. Shockingly, the pattern of eating too much and drinking too much didn’t abate upon their arrived. Our typical day consisted lunch at La Cambusa, relaxing on the beach for a bit or shopping/walking through town, grabbing a bottle of wine at a little beach cafe, going back to La Cambusa for dinner, and then grabbing gelato and/or more wine and limencelo. We also managed to accidentally crash a party for the future mayor, bring home a few stray dogs (GianniFranco, Cannoli, and Fredo - the weak one), and have drinks with an Italian film director.

After a few days in Positano we went to Pompeii. 

We had a beautiful day to explore, so spent about two hours walking through the ruins. From there we went to Rome, where the pace only intensified. We must have walked 10 miles a day - especially the night we accidentally walked to the Spanish Palace rather than the Spanish Steps (not entirely my fault) - and at night continued eating and drinking far too much. We spent a day in Florence, taking in The Duomo (as well as hiking to the top), Ponte Vecchio, Uffizzi Gallery, Accademia, Medici Palace, and a wandering through a few random churches.

Highlights of Rome:
-Seeing the Pope in Vatican City and making Keith take a Marist Matters photo in front of the Vatican.

-Touring the Sistine Chapel and St. Peter’s Basilica, which were both breathtaking and brought back random tidbits from my Art History classes. 
-Castel Sant’Angelo
-Colosseum, which we managed to walk by at least twenty times while lost, as well as Arch of Constantine. Pretty impressive.

-The Roman Forum and Palantine Hill
-Being super touristy and throwing coins into the Trevi Fountain
-Celebrating St. Patrick’s Day at Rome’s oldest Irish Owned Bar
-The Pantheon
-Going to the top of Victor Emmanuel, my favorite building in Rome, as well as surviving “Death Circle,” the crazy traffic circle in front of it.

-Lunch in Campo di Fiori

I’m probably not the best influence, because I keep trying to convince my friends to quit their jobs and drop out of grad school to join me in Europe. Unfortunately, no one has agreed - yet. So after Natasha, Keith and Wyatt left, I headed to Venice. I had booked a hostel, thinking I could slum it for a few nights if it meant only paying 35 Euros a night, but unfortunately it was so disgusting that I was out after one night, choosing to just eat the pre-payed cost rather than spend another night there. It was bad.

While in Venice I went to the Opera one night, toured San Marco (amazing), Doge’s Palace and a few other churches, and just let myself get lost wandering the streets. Unfortunately I was sick my first day there and it rained the other day, so I wasn’t able to see as much as I had wanted to.

I had a great week of traveling, but am glad to be back in Positano. I was originally supposed to leave April 15th, but I think I’m going to extend my stay another month.