"She is too fond of books, and it has turned her brain." {Louisa May Alcott}

Friday, June 3, 2011

A.F. (After Florence)

I am writing from a hostel in Sorrento right now. I have just come from swimming in the beautiful Mediterranean and thought to update you on my doings. After school ended, Alexa and I packed up and cleaned our whole apartment and left for Rome. We ate some delicious fried baccala in Roma and then I had to say goodbye to my roommate, which was actually quite tearful. And now, I am flying solo! I went and spent the whole day in the Roman Forum, met up with Niccolo for a quick hello, then departed for Naples (Napoli - where all the trash strikes are). I arrived pretty late and was just a little fearful because Napoli can be a quite intimidating at first, with the traffic, "friendly" people always asking "where are you from?", and trash piled up everywhere. But the next day, I explored and I could actually see its charm. I learned that Naples hates the rest of Italy, and the rest of Italy hates Naples. It has always been an oppressed city I guess because it has always been under the rule of someone else (before Italy's unification in 1861). So I guess you can kind of understand why they are constantly in sciopero (on strike), and so riotous. I tried the so-called best pizza ever, at da Michele, and I will agree with everyone else in the world that, yes, it IS the BEST. (and yes, it is the one in Eat Pray Love)


After gorging myself on pizza, and then gelato of course, I took the ferry to Sorrento. That first view of Sorrento was absolutely magical. It is perched on the cliffs above the Mediterranean, and you can see these amazing tunnels and stairs in the rocks that bring you down to the beach. It kind of feels like Pirates of the Caribbean. And tomorrow I am going on a tour of Capri, and going to experience the Grotto Azzurro. I wish I could take pictures of everything, but my camera pooped out yesterday. So I will try my best to paint it with words...