Sorrento, Capri, Herculaneum, and Nasty Naples

This past weekend I visited all four of the above listed places. I can't think of a better, more beautiful weekend.

Bravo: The whole weekend was in general was pretty wonderful. Sorrento was warm and sunny. The first hostel we stayed had kiwi vines covering trellises lining walk up to the main office. The second hostel we stayed at over looked the ocean and was perched atop a cliff overlooking the ocean. There were about a million slanted stairs to get to the water and boulders below. On one of the days we took a20 minute boat ride to the island of Capri. The beauty of Sorrento was topped by that of Capri ten fold, especially after taking a chair lift to the top of the island. The water was bright blue, you could not distinguish where the water ended and the sky began. To end the day the group I went with and I went swimming in the ocean. Bravo #2: For a class field trip we traveled to the town of Herculaneum. Herculaneum is similar to Pompeii in that it is a town that was destroyed by the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius, but it is much closer to the volcano (which is still smoldering), making its demise due to hot lava and poison gasses rather than an ash, as was the case with Pompeii. The town is very well preserved and it was definitely a highlight of my weekend to get to walk around a town that began in the 4th century BCE.

Bruto: My professor described Napels as "Nasty Naples" and it was well... dirty. We went to a museum that had many interesting exhibits and artifacts (frescoes and gladiator armour), but outside the museum the city was dirty. Our professors were constantly reminding us that we should be on the look-out for pick pockets at all times. Our school group, professors included, got lost, were smushed on a packed city bus, and missed our train due to poor planning. Bruto #2: I thought the reason there were no screens on windows in Europe was because there weren't bugs. Boy was I wrong! There were no bugs because it was too stinking hot. Now that it has cooled down the mosquitoes have been in full force. The last time I have had this many mosquito bites may have been at Camp Christmas tree when I was in 4th grade.

Interessante: I packed my whole trips worth of clothes, toiletries, etc. into my pink school back pack.