5th April Sorrento, Amalfi, and Naples

The next day we woke early and drove out to Sorrento first thing.

The hills right up next to the hotel.

In Sorrento.  They had many flags, I don' t know why.

In Sorrento there is a bridge over these other roads that lead off to the sea.

There were lots of little pedestrian streets lined with open shops fo souvenirs and limoncello!
Vicki and me.

The Sorrentine peninsula

My walking group for that morning: Jane (US), Vicki (NZ), and Josie (S.A.)

The Sorentine peninsula is world famous for it's limoncello.  There were about 20 shops dedicated to all flavored types of -cellos.

So we had to find some in a bar to drink!  But I didn't drink it.  that's water in there.

Here's the bartender who served us limon-cello glasses.

On the way back to the bus after shopping in Sorrento.

For this leg of the journey, we got an Italian bus driver to drive an Italian bus, because the roads along the Amalfi coast are treacherous!

And it started to rain!

Amalfi

Roommates at Amalfi

Klaudia and me on the coast

Sylvie, Klaudia, Alex, and Catherine

This photo needed no editing, and it made me think of a Wrath of the Titans type thing.

Pretty black and white church in Amalfi!  I'm on the steps!

Trying to find Pizza in Italy, sometimes harder than it seems.  Especially on the Rotary lunch budget.

Further along the coast, we stopped in another town.

Me, and Caroline 

There were water spouts abundant it seemed in Italy!

We tended to be quite drowsy by around 3 or 4 pm.

Dinner at the hotel!

Klaudia (US) Alex (Can) Ximena (Mex) Me

Going out for a walk into town.  We were advised to stay close and stay in a large group with at least one guy.

The hotel in Naples by night!  My room was just the first level there on this side.

Ostia/Montecassino/Napoli 4th April

Out of the hotel bright and early.

Drove out to see the Ostia ruins!  There was so much to explore!  My group stayed pretty calm though.  We were sent on a sort of knowledge scavenger hunt to read all the plaques, but we skipped out on some of that.

We did participate in the amphitheater skit though.  There were 2 or 3 other groups there, and I think at least one was French and 1 was probably Italian.  We sang the exchange student chant, and their chants didn't stand a chance!

Our group: Bruno (Br), Luly (Mex), Jillian (Can), Barbara (Br), Caroline (Can), Juan (Ar), and myself.
We were meant to get extra points for internationality too.

after the exploring time, we all got back in the bus and set off again.

My sandwich and San Pellegrino for lunch at the road stop

The road stop.

On top of Montecassino, where the abbey is.

Tasha at the top!

The cloisters at the abbey had plumed doves walking around all over. 

Exchangers in the church

The basement church behind and under the main church was all mosaic and extremely impressive! 

The whole abbey is made of white stone.

Exchangers coming out of church!

In the museum section off behind the whole worship space.

And a beautiful view off the balcony!  It's the only building that fits on top of the mountain, so there's a view all the way round.

Alex and Caroline dancing in the parking lot during a rotary snack time. Marzipans.  but yummy apricot pastry style,

Caro and I compare points.

The view from our balcony in Naples!  (just outside, but still counts)  We are pretty
sure that the house across the street was (codename:) skittles.

An internet session before dinner.

Dinner in the dinner hall.

The view off the roof!  We went up to play some card games.

The room in Naples looked like this.