Catching up

My internet has been down and I've been crazy busy, so I'll try to do a little catching up here:
When last we left off, Joe had his 24th birthday. He is now a very old man. Soon, he may start tucking his shirts into his underwear. We met up with a few of our friends and made the usual rounds: Gordon's Wine Bar (a very classy joint--seriously!), Quizno's, and of course, the bowling arcade. We didn't set out to bowl, but when we passed if (its right next doot to the London Eye), we knew it was a sign. It had bowling, video games, pool, and a bar. What more could we have wanted. We all spent far too much money and drank entirely too much alcohol, but made it home in one piece and enjoyed ourselves tons.
The next day, I met my mom at the tube stop by Heathrow (took lots of careful planning so that I could meet her, but not pay the £10 for the ride) and tried to be a good daughter and show her around the city. I'm sure I failed, but she still said she had a good time. We spent a few days in London and then moved on to Italy. We flew into Naples, and then moved down the coast to Sorento. We didn't have a hotel booked in Naples (big mistake) so when we got to the train station, we freaked out and checked into the first gold doors that we saw. And by checked in, I mean we even ate there! We did manage to see two amazing museums in Naples, one of them was home to the stolen treasures of Pompeii. Sorento was gorgeous. It was sunny all the time, but there was a cool breeze. It was the off season so there weren't many tourists there--perfect. I ate a ton of risotto and discovered a love of cappucinos. Visited Pompeii and even I'm amazed at the five hours we entertained ourselves there. Took a day trip to Capri (pronounced with the emphasis on the first part of the word, not the second, kind of like a New Yorker would say it) and we went on a hike. I think my nature-loving mother can count on one hand the number of times that I have voluntarily gone hiking with her, but I enjoyed myself. On our last day, we took a bus ride along the Amalfi coast to Positano. The Amalfi coast is a windy road with houses literally clinging to the cliffs. It looks like the whole thing could fall at any moment. When we got home, I checked in Joe's 1000 Places to Go Before YOu Die book and was happy to see that everything we did was in the book. We got back to London and stayed with Dinah for a few nights. She and my mom hit it off and are planning vacations together! Strange how connections and friends are made.
I'm back to work and aware that I only have six more weeks in London! I'm trying to cram ten museums into every day and doing a damn good job of it. I have seen everything in the National Gallery (and I might remember 1/10 of it!) and tomorrow I'm going to two galleries and the Tate Modern. I burned myself at work yesterday (not on the espresso machine, hot water, or the oven, no, that would be too easy. I burned myself on melted cheese)so I have a lovely large drip mark on my arm that occaisionally oozes water. It doesn't hurt anymore, though. My last day of work is March 23! Woooooo!
In other news, I love the free papers in London. I mean, where else can you learn that Britney is a lesbain, Peaches doesn't like Madonna, and Siena keeps wearing undies and no skirts out in public? This is serious news that deserves to be printed. I'm also falling in love with the Orange (a cell company) TV ads here. They remind me of the really funny VW ads that were on a few years ago. Remember? There was the one with the guy jumping in front of a shopping cart so it wouldn't touch his Jetta? I'll try to post some of them on here...