Roma, Sorento part two, Corfu, and Athens

HEre I am, sitting in an internet cafe, looking out at Hadrien's Arch, remembering my times in Italy...So wonderful!
Rome was a much better experience than Florence! For one, things weren't closed and we said money be dammed and went to wahtever attractions we wanted to go to regardless of the price. The city is dirty and seems to be crumbling before our eyes, but my gosh, some of those crumbles are beautiful. Frank was sorta sick so he styayed in the hostel for a day while Joe and I wandered in the rain through the Roman ruins. It was an absilute downpour but made the crowds smaller! We didn't want to do anything too exciting because Frank would miss it so we took it easy. The next day we stood in line for about two hours waiting for the Sistene Chapel and surroudning museum. I have officially broken Vatican law and took a picture of the ceiling. The room was smaller than I imagined and the ceiling was very low, but its hard to imagine how one man could have done so much work by himself. That same day we went into the Vatican (more lines), walked through the church, saw the catacombs, and hiked to the top of the cupola. We have now been to some of the largest and most impressive cathedrals in the world: The Vatican, Notre Dame, St. Peter's, St. Paul's, the BErliner Dom, the Cologne Dom...
We did some more things but I can't rememver what they were!
Sorrento was just like I remembered it from four months ago. We stayed at hostel but we were the only guests so it felt very private. There was a famr next door with goats, pigs, and a horse that poked their heads by our door in the day. We mostly wandered aroun d the town, looking at the water. One day we went to Mt Vesivius and climbed to the top. When we left it was hot and sunny so we wore t-shjirts (I wore a tank top) . When we got the the bottom of the mountain, though, it was raining and windy. NOt to be intimidated by the 'hill', we started the climb. People were giving us looks that were a combo of pity and disgust (mostly directed to me, the dumb girl in the skimpy clothes). We made it and it wasn't as cool as we had hoped. That evening Frank and Tarek got fed up with trying to find a restaurant that I could eat at and said that they were eating pizza at t pizza only place. JOe was sweet and stayed with me so we took my mom up on her offer of a nice dinner to be repayed to me (I guess I whined too much about bad food) and went to a place tht she nd I had tried to go to but it was losed in the off season. We had fresh salads and he had homemade pasta and I had risotta. It was wonderful. I left Italy with a good taste in my mouth. And Frank and Tarek feel bad for ditching us.
The next day was the day from hell\;
LEave at 7AM to take a train from Sorrento to Naples, catch train in Naples that tke sus to Tarnto, catch train there to take us to Brindisi, catch bus there to take us to port, take ferry to Corfu, take taxi to hotel and arrive there at about 8AM---the next day!
The ferry was strange. We slept in an airplane thing and there was a TV on all night. Didn't sleep well. When we woke up to get off at our port, the TV was playing soft core porn. Very strange.
Corfu was one of those beautiful places that you can't take enough photos of. Our hotel had a pool and we relaxed at it happily. Burned a bit, but not too bad. Would love to return to the same hotel with my family. Reminded me of a more exotic Hawaii.
Now we're in Athens, our last stop. Its very hot and there's a lot fo concrete around. Probably the last time i write on here, sorry its so full of misspellings, the backspace key is stuck.
Tomorrow mroning we will wake up super ear;ly and get to the Acropolis befpre it gets too hot. NOt sure what our plans are for tonight. Maybe the Archeological museum?

Towns on top of hills

After the disaster of Florence, Orvieto was a welcome breath of fresh air. Literally. I think it may be the only area in Italy that doesn't stink like sewage!
Its a tiny little town that was so sleepy and small we found our way around it in a matter of hours. Very pretty little streets. Its up on a hill so we had to take a furnicular to get to the town. We enjoyed our hotel where we lived a little like kings trying out the life of poor people. We at least had our own bathroom, even if it didn't have a shower or hot water.
The following day we went to Civita. This involved me racking my memory until I remembered the name of the town that Rick Steves and my mother reccomend visiting, buying bus tickets to a neighboring village (not as easy as it sounds), and then walking about 20 minutes to Civita. Its a town of seven people, including MAria, the old lady who invites you to see her garden and then charges you for it. It was very pretty, if only because it was so isolated and old. Can't figure out how to paste a photo on this computer so you'll justy have to google it yourself. Its the one that looks like a tiny town on top of a hill.
Now we're in Roma but have yet to explore. Tomorrow we meet Joe's friend, Tariq, who he went to Ecuador with. Tariq has been reporting in Iraq and other dangerous things like that. Will be intereting. Not sure how long he will stay with us as he has no plane tickets.

Nightmare

Florence was miserable. If there was potential for it to go wrong, it did. Don't want to recap the crappiness, but it rained every day we were there, May Day is a holiday in Italy so everything was closed, our hotel was a ceiling over our heads but nothing more, and we spent too much money on food. Since everything was closed, that means that I am now the only art history major to visit Florence for four days and not see the Uffizi nor the David. I am shamed.