Sorrento

Just wanted to tell you a little about one of my Amalfi Coast trip with my parents, even though it was a few weeks ago. I would have to say it is my second favorite place in line from Italy. The water is beautiful clear blue and great weather. It is a cute little town with really friendly people. We started in Sorrento and took a day trip to the Amalfi, Rafello, and Positono, which was my favorite town in the Amalfi Coast. It has millions of stairs, really old buldings, flowers everywhere, and a beautiful beach. While in Sorrento we had the best dinner at the Buffalo Inn, I had gnocchi and it was the best gnocchi I have ever had I think I will have dreams about it until I have it again! After Sorrento we took a Ferry to Capri and stayed one night there. It is a very beautiful Island, we took a boat around the entire island and of course went into the Blue Grotto. If you dont know what the Blue Grotto is it is a small cave on the island with a tiny opening you have to squeeze through on a small boat while laying down to prevent smacking your head on the rock...like my dad did! He was fine though Don't worry! Inside it is pitch black but the ocean is glowing blue...which is how it got it's name THE BLUE GROTTO! Loved this tirp, Ciao!

update!

Hi there everyone sorry I have not wrote for awhile, I have been really busy finishing up school, studying for finals, packing, and planning my travels for after the program ends...which now has! :( Anyway since I have last wrote I went to visit my relatives in Busto which is a small city outside of Milan. My parents and I went for the weekend took a train there and had planned to go to Lake Como during the day befor visting them but that dident work out because the entire Italy train system was on strike! perfect huh, so instead we hung out in the small town of Busto, walked around looked at shops and ended up on Crespi st. which is my Grandparents last name and the name of my cousins I went to visit so that was kinda cool. Crespi seemed to be a common last name there. Later that day we headed to the family's house for dinner. We were all so nervous that we were not goning to be able to communicate with them but it worked out fine, My cousin Valentina knows English very well so she was our tanslater, and I tried to help with the little Italian I learned. Oh and guess what they have a halk as a pet, never seen that before, My older cousin Roberto goes hunting with it. We had such a good time with them, we were all sad to leave but I will see them again soon, and I promised my cousin Valentina that the next time I see her I will be fluent in Italian, so I better start praticing! P.S. I will post updates very soon about my sorrento and Greece trip.

Second Night with Parents

My parents had their first full day here in Florence in the morning I sent them to the Pitti Palace and the Boboli Gardens my favorite museum here in Florence, they loved it. It is so nice being having them here and being able to share all my favorite places with them. For dinner we went to this resturant I have been dieing to try called Monticello on Via Maffia, it very good of couse. We all had pizza, because the resturant is known for pizza. Their was also a live band during dinner and our Table was right in front so we had a perfect spot. The performers were two men one played the guitar, and the other sang beautiful Opera. Some of the songs were a little more up beat and toward the end of our meal a women, my mom's twin (she acted just like my mom) came up and pulled my Mom up to dance with her, then me it was a great night with my parents before our getaway in Sorrento.

4/5/11

My parents finally arrived today!! It was so nice to see them, dident realize how much I missed them untill I gave them a hug. I showed them around a little then we had a glass of wine outside at a resturant and chatted for awhile cathing up on things and enjoying eachother. Later I took them to my favorite resturant Osteria Del Gatto e La Volpe and we enjoyed a great dinner and wine together. I took awhile to finish my dinner because I was so busy talking to them telling them all about Florence and the adventures I have been on. After dinner they walked me home and I gave them a tour of my apartment and had them meet my room mates, then they were off to catch up on their sleep...which they really needed after their 24 hour plane/train ride getting here! poor them :( Can't wait to spend the weekend in Sorrento with them! Ciao

My Birthday!

I was soo lucky to have my birthday here this year! My roommates were so nice I woke up to our hallway all decorated with sighs and banners, and a Birthday card with a toy pony for me! haha I had school allll day so that was not very fun but to celebrate me being 21 they took me to my favorite bar to get a cider. I had my dinner with all my florence friends at Quatro Leoni, a really good resturant. We pretty much went all out lots of wine and really good food. I had the Florentine Steak, its a huge steak that florence is famous for, the waiter looked at me like I was crazy after I ordered it. Everyone had to help me eat it because it was so big. The resturant surprised me with a cheese cake and candle and everyone sang to me, it really could not have been any better!

Paris

Sorry took me awhile to post again been really busy catching up with school and enjoying my last few weeks here :( But anyway Paris was beautiful. By the time we got there though we were all so tired from the first three countries so I will have to go back again soon. We walked all over the town my favorite part of the town was Montmartre which is their old town Pairs I guess you would call it. It was just really cute town we walked around saw Van Gogh's first apartment, and it's also where the Sacre Coeur is located (big church). While I was there I tried snails, one thing I can check off the bucket list! They were not too bad, I mean what is not good when it is in pesto. On our last night we watched the Eiffel Tower light show, good idea to get some wine and cheese and watch the show reminded me of Disneyland but not as colorful. One thing you can't leave Pairs without doing is drink hot chocolate at Angelina's. Really yummy! We had to get it togo though because it was a 40 minuet wait to sit down, yup thats how good it is.

Amsterdam

Well yes Amsterdam was how I pictured it, probably any 20 year old guys fantacy if you know what I mean. The red light district is mainly what im talking about there are beautiful young prostitues lining all the windows of the streets, prostitution is completly leagal there. Amsterdam is all about bringing in money so anything that will generate money is okay. Which brings me to the part about how when someone thinks of Amsterdam they think pot, well its not actually legal, the police just pretend its not happening because it is the citys biggest source of income. All the cafes that sell pot are called "coffee shops" to disguise them from the police. The town itself is very cute, it has canals going all thoughout very similar to Venice. Something funny about the city is all the buildings are tilted forward, or crooked becasue they were built on mud and the city does not want to spend the money to fix it so they leave it. Just like any small european city bikes are the main form of transportation it is very easy to get hit my them because they drive fast and expect you to move out of their way. I dident get hit by one but a few people I know did! While there I visited the Ann Frank House, very sad it gave me the chills especially when I was in the part where Ann's family would hide out. I'm really glad I saw it, this along with everything I saw in the other citys about the Holocaust really makes me appreciate EVERYTHING about my life.