April 2017

Since the kids had a 3-week school break we ventured to Italy for a 9-day trip! We started in Rome then took a high speed train to Naples and a boat to Sorrento. We were very lucky with weather, it was sunny and in the low 70's every day! We did lots of walking and fueled the kids with pizza, pasta and lots of gelato.

Spanish Steps in Rome

Victor Emmanuel II Monument

Ruins outside the Colosseum

Colosseum - outside

Colosseum - inside

Fountain in Piazza Novana

Awaiting our tour of the Vatican

Vatican Guard

This is a standard man-hole cover seen everywhere on the streets of Rome. The letters SPQR stood for Senatus Populus Que Romanusa - the Senate and the People of Rome. Relics of the Roman Empire!

On to Naples! We couldn't wait to try the pizza here in the "birthplace of pizza". It did not disappoint, it was amazing. Only wood-fired ovens for cooking pizza around here.

Basilica Reale Pontificia San Francesco da Paola

Ovo Castle

One of the days we were in Naples we took a train to Pompeii to learn more about this ancient city. We had a great tour guide and learned a lot about life in this city about 2000 years ago. What amazed us the most was that life today isn't that much different - they had restaurants, markets, streets that were labeled, houses with gardens, theatre for entertainment and even an arena.

Battling in the arena!

After our tour of Pompeii we stopped at Mt. Vesuvius en route back to Naples. It is quite a high mountain at 1281m but fortunately there are large buses that will take passengers nearly to the top. Just a short 20 min walk is all it takes to enjoy some breath-taking views.

After Naples we were getting tired of trains so we opted for a boat to Sorrento. It was lots of fun - great sunshine, a great view of Mt Vesuvius and a quick way to get to Sorrento in less than 1 hour.

View from the top of our hotel in Sorrento

From Sorrento we took a bus ride to explore the Amalfi Coast. We have heard and read that this is an amazing place to see so we were very excited. When we finally did arrive it was beautiful and we had a wonderful day. But the bus ride was much longer then we expected - 2 hours each way! Its a short distance but the roads are VERY narrow and are just not designed for the large buses that try to navigate their very tight turns. But we were certainly rewarded with amazing scenery after putting up with the long bus ride.