Sorrento Part 1

I am now home in Boise but with some connection problems i still need to catch everyone up on the last few days of our Trip.  After our walking tour of the ancient city of Pompeii we drove on to our hotel in downtown Sorrento- Hotel Michelangelo.  As we arrived with a few hours to go before dinner the group was quite excited to finally have time and a place to go swimming at in the hotel pool- so within minutes of getting the keys to our room we were in the pool... the freezing cold pool but after the many warm days we had had the water temperature was fine by us.

Dinner that night was in the hotel and we had free time after so chose to walk downtown to checkout the famous nightlife of Sorrento... for the evenings is when Sorrento gets dolled up and hits the streets.  We toured nice stores for clothing, scarfs and wares that showed off what Sorrento is know for- their lemons!  Our "stroll" down the streets was filled with many stops so we never made it to the park we were originally headed for.. but seeing Judy's reaction to the various mimes on one of the streets was quite comical.  I think she even had to touch a few to see if they were real!  We topped off our evening by gathering on the 5th floor roof terrace and drinking some wine we had bought in San Marino (the bottles that were over our allowable 2 to bring back per person that is).

Pompaii

I would definitely call our stop in Pompaii impressive.  We were able to tour an ancient city that had been completely covered by the ashes from Mt Vesuvius where very few survived around 79 AD.  The city was left covered for centuries- and even now only a part of the city has been revealed to show us amazing similarities and differences from today to the past.  From similarities like "fast food" restaurants and baking techniques to differences like the local red light district where the different cultures of the past lead to "services" being displayed pictorially on the walls as "patrons" and lupa probably didn't speak the same language.  They still have the ruts from chariots on the roads which were not only visible but we were able to walk upon.  This was the closest we probably felt to being back in time and walking in their footsteps.

Naples

On our way to Pompaii and Sorrento we had a panoramic tour of Naples which we learned is strongly controlled by the mafia.  This driving tour gave us the true sense of what bad Italian driving is like.  With a few near misses i was almost glad to just be passing through.  It is the third largest city in Italy with a view of Mt Vesuvius the infamous live volcano that has over half a million inhabitants living on its slopes today.

Rome- pass through

We made a quick pass back through Rome for dinner and to sleep before heading to our next stops. The restaurant took us by surprise for based on the entrance we wouldn't have imagined it looking as nice below in an underground cavern like place.  With two really good male opera singers providing the evenings entertainment.

Assisi

Well Judy may need to go to confession after this stop at Assisi… for when viewing the St Francis Basilica, that was built to honor St Francis, the patron saint of animals, she thought the calendars at the were free not seeing the donate  2 Euro here sign.  All this came just moments after watching Greetings from Greece movie on the bus, where there was a shoplifter in the group.  The church is very much a working church with monks and nuns using this as their place of worship and residence.  This church has not only viewing some magnificent frescos but the church honors St Francis and his works.  The town itself was quant and mostly tourist shops and cafes.  We walked up and down the hilly streets for 2 hours then back on the bus to our dinner in Rome.  This trip to Rome is more of a stopover in route to southern Italy where we will head to Sorrento, Naples and Capri.