Photo recap... {take 2}

The first day there, we stripped off our socks, wore flip flops all day, and walked in the med...

The market was amazing, the spices were fragrant and beautiful...

The views were beautiful in Monaco, even if it wasn't my favorite place...

As soon as we got to Italy, we began the consumption of gelato...

Florence from the Michelangelo's Piazza... I have this thing for sunsets as you will later see...

Our first night in Rome, we stumbled upon an Irish pub showing the Twins game - Aaron insisted we stay and watch and inning. The game began at 1:30 am. We walked home much later and we found the colosseum on accident. it was a nice surprise.

One of the ceilings within the vatican museum - almost every ceiling was better than the last.

This was the BEST gelato that I had during my stay in Italy. I can't remember the name of the flavour, just the wonderfulness that it was. Thanks Primavera, Sorrento!

The rest of the group from Sorrento with their delicious flavours...


Part of the ruins at Pompeii, it was a day full of education, awe, and sun...

The view of Mt. Vesuvius from Sorrento... Naples was visible on clear days too...

As I flew into Nice, the Mediterranean was as blue as could be and the weather was sunny and warm. I found our cosy little apartment without too much trouble and met up with three of my flatmates. Mary and Em were just stopping by for the night, so we went grocery shopping and then cooked a big family meal. It was great to catch up with eachother - it seemed longer than only a week and a half apart. The girls left early the next morning and I spent the next three days with the boys exploring the markets of Nice (amazing produce, spices, olives, you name it!), the parks (with mosaics of Odysseus...)and even a day trip to Monaco. We sunbathed on the rocky beaches, actually carried our dinner to the beach in bowls one night for a picnic, and chucked rocks into the Med for entertainment. It was another place that I have decided that I will return to in the future... that list is growing longer and longer...

From Nice, I took the train with the three boys to Florence. Brando went off to meet up with Mary and Kevin, Aaron and I found our B&B on the edges of the city. We enjoyed taking it easy in Florence, that seemed to be the theme of this break - relaxing, sun, and gelato. The food was great - we had a wonderful meal of true Italian pizza, gelato every day and actually a meal of kebabs was in there somewhere too. We waited for hours to get into the Uffizi galleries and the Academia was a long wait as well, but it was worth it. The art was incredible, but the number of tourists was not appreciated. I suppose it was our own fault going there over Easter holiday. On Easter, the three of us opened our lone easter egg on a bridge while looking at the pontevecchio and thought longingly of our Easter baskets of years past... we soon got over our lack of chocolate when the church service provided fireworks and rocket powered doves. It was quite the experience.

From Florence, we headed to Rome by train. We settled into our B&B there and forged through the crowds. We saw the Pantheon, the Vatican Museums and St. Peter's Basilica, and all kinds of other important and famous things (Trevi Fountain, Colosseum, Roman Forum, Piazza di Popolo, Spanish Steps... etc). The gelato was good again and it was beautiful weather. We cooked a few simple meals in our B&B (fresh pasta of course) and before we knew it we were off to the train station again. We met Kate in the train station and then met Mary and Emily in the Naples train station and headed to Sorrento.

Sorrento is on the southwestern coast of Italy, not far from Naples, on a peninsula. We spent a day in Pompeii... the ruins are incredible and much more extensive than I had ever known or imagined before. It was worth out 11 Euro - with out a doubt. At somepoint, every day, we all made a point of getting gelato - it never got old - and we found time to cook family meals in our great flat. We did go out for dinner one night... there was live piano music, candlelight, and phenomenal food. The beaches of Sorrento weren't all that great, but the nearly intoxicating scent of orange blossoms that was always in the air, plus the fun markets made up for the lack of good beaches. With one day left, Em and Aaron headed out to make their way to Athens and then Istanbul... on the last day in Italy, Mary and I were on a train before 7am to begin our trek to Greece... Kate left later in the day to meander her way to Istanbul as well and Kev left last to spend some time on the sandy beaches of Northeastern Italy.

It is officially way past my bedtime (funny how that happens with internet allowing you to talk with friends at home so easily), so I will just have to finish the last post about break tomorrow...

Just incase you couldn't tell from the pictures on Picasa, I loved Greece... so it may turn into an epic post. Good night, sleep tight, and thanks for all of the love from the States - it is great to hear from you all.