Naples, Sorrento, Capri, Positano and Pompeii

Wow, what a trip. I had so much fun on my trip to southern Italy with the students.
On the first day, we went to Naples to see an archeological museum. We had to go and then leave right away because recently there had been a Mafia gun fight. We did get to eat at a really good restaurant in Naples though. The pizza there has much thicker dough and it was so good. They also have amazing Gelato. It was a quick but fun stop in Naples before we headed onto Sorrento. We stayed in Sorrento for all three nights, but went to other places each day.
On the second day, we went to the Island of Capri. It was so beautiful and amazing. We took a ferry over there. As soon as we got there, we went to see the blue Grotto. The blue Grotto is a sea cave where they water is ridiculously blue. It was the bluest water I had ever seen. We took a boat with the students and the driver turned on his speakers and we danced and it was fun. Once we got there, we went into tiny row-boats to go into this little hole that took us into a huge sea cave. After that, we went to the town of Capri and hung out there for a little while. Next, David and I went up to Anacapri to see the top of the mountain. We went up there by Chair lift and the view was spectacular from up there. It was amazing. Once we got down to the bottom, we went for a long boat ride around the whole island. It was so cool. We went and saw all of these huge rocks and caves. It was kind of stormy out, so that made it feel like even more of an adventure.  We saw all the houses of very famous people who live on Capri during the summers.
On the third day, we had a free day to do whatever we wanted. We decided to go see Positano on the Amalfi coast. It was a long, hot bus ride to get there and I felt sick, but it was so nice to lay on the beach. I was the only one on the beach that went in to the water. It wasn't that cold; it was actually really nice. After that, we got some food and left. We went back to Sorrento to chill out before we went out to dinner. We went to a really good restaurant. I got clams with pasta and it was amazing.

On our last day, we went to Pompeii. We had a guided tour of Pompeii for two hours, which was interesting. We also went and saw the molds of the dead bodies. It was so sad. Overall, it was a great trip and I had a lot of fun.

Ostia Antica and Venezia

Before all of our spring break guests came to visit, we went on a little one day trip to some ruins called Ostia Antica. It was so cool because we would run around everywhere and jump over things and go through tunnels and have fun. It was like a kid's paradise, I had so much fun and I didn't want to leave. We met up with some students and we went there with them. My dad was also there and we ran and had fun through this huge area of ruins. I forgot to bring my camera so I didn't take any pictures but it was still really fun. We had the most incredible time, but my dad was leaving in the morning, which was sad. However, right as my dad left, my sister Julia arrived! It was really great to see her.  Before we left for Venice, I took her to some sights that my mom was tired of seeing. I took her to the colosseum and the forum, which was fun. We also went to the Sistene Chapel, which was very stressful because there were so many tourists getting bottle necked as they all made a "sprint" for the Chapel. There was nothing holy about this place on this day because everyone was pushing and shoving. Michelangelo would have been very displeased to see this.

Well, off we went to Venice for a two day get a way. We got into Venice at about four; we checked in and ate some food outside at a cafe where they played music. After that, we went for a sublime Gondola ride. The Gondalier loved my sister (all the guys in Italy did)... and he said his name was Romeo, since her name is Julia. He had a great voice and we rolled into the sunset. After it got dark, we went by an area where it was completely quiet and it was so relaxing. It was a great Gondola ride. After that we went out to dinner at this really good place where we started talking to the waiter about language. We talked with him for a while about dialects of Italian. It was very interesting. After that Julia got tired so we went down for a drink at the bar and chilled out before going to bed. The next day, we went to the Basilica in Piazza San Marco. It was really amazing and this was the second time I had seen it. In the afternoon, we went to a palace with exhibits that told about the history of Venice, which was very interesting. Finally, we got a water taxi for the train and left, but it was a very nice weekend get a way.

Amazing Austria

 For the Second Part of our trip, my dad and I went to visit our friend Friedl at his house in Vienna. It was a shorter trip (we were only there for four days), but it was relaxing.

On the first day, we walked to the park with Friedl and had wiener schnitzel, which is one of my favorite things about Austria. We then went to an old Austrian Amusement park where they had this swing that flew you 350 feet in the air. It was so much fun. Then we did bumper cars, and I had fun  driving them and hitting my dad. After, we walked back and waited for Friedl's son to come home. When he came home, we went out to dinner at a Heuriger. A Heuriger is a place where they serve the recent year's wine and their wine only. They also have a buffet and different meats, which were delicious. A man was playing accordion while we ate, which made it fun and relaxing.

On the second day, we went to the Belvedere Museum. It is a very famous museum which holds my mom's favorite Painting: The Kiss by Gustav Klimt.  I've seen the print a million times, but it was incredible to see the real thing! It had so much gold and color. We walked around there for a couple of hours and went down to the exhibition of Egon Schiele at the lower Belvedere. He is a portrait painter who does many portraits of himself. It was really fun.

On the third day, we went to see the Lipizzaner Stallions, which is a Spanish Horse Riding School in Vienna. We then walked to the world famous Sacher Restaurant for lunch. It was so good, I was in Heaven. After a long siesta, we went back to the Amusement park and rented a 2 man bike for fun. Later that night, after dinner, we went to this old castle where you can see all of Vienna. Right as we were walking out, we ran into a Pro Woman's downhill mountain biker who was going for a night ride down the trail right by there. It was another fun day and I was excited because the next day we were leaving for the countryside.

On our last day, we went out to Friedl's farm outside of Vienna. We played Badminton and ate good food until we took a nap. After the nap, Friedl gave us a tour of the farm where we saw all of the cows, sheep, pigs and one beautiful and giant Saint Bernard named Bari. Friedl then walked us over to a memorial  for his Uncle, who died on the Eastern Front in Russia during WW2. After that, we had to leave and say goodbye to Friedl and his family. I really enjoyed our visit with them because it was so much fun.

PIctures of Istanbul

My writing about my trip is Directly Below this Page.