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Hi everyone. My first journal entry is late because all the writing got erased somehow after two attempts and 5 hours of trying. It was torture and I'm still having problems downloading pictures. I hope this time it will work. The plane ride from LA to Cincinnati was long and boring,I thought it wouldn't take much time but it did. The movie that they played was Rocky Balboa,about how old guys still rule. We got on the Boing 767 and took off. It was exciting for the first half hour but then got boring. About two hours into the flight Dream Girls started playing and the movie was great. We also watched the Simpsons and other stuff.The flight took forever. I didn't sleep much because there was so much noise. When we finally arrived in Paris the weather was pretty cold. We had twenty minutes to get to the other side of the airport to reach our Naples flight. We missed it by minutes, but got one to Milan instead. I slept the whole way. Two hours later we were in Milan and we sat in the terminal to wait for our flight to Naples. We finally boarded and I slept again for another hour. My dad later found out that he lost our return tickets to LA on the Milan flight. Trying not to stress out, he said we would e-mail my mom later. We took the autobus to Hostel of the Sunin Naples and checked in.We asked if they reccomended any restaurants inthe area andthey said "Solo Pizza" a couple of streets away. when we arrived around 6:30 pm they were closed and opened at seven, so we walked around and came back. I had pizza with mozzerela,tomatoe and sausage it was great (Michael you would have loved it)! Our second day was very cool. We visited about two dozen churches and saw very old painted cielings and carved wooden beams. Then we walked to Museo Archilogico Nationale. The artifacts were so old they were pretty much gone. There was bronze surgical equipment qand highly decorated scales that were accurate. They even had small beakers. The mosaics were beautiful but very ,very small. One could fit four small tiles on a pinky fingernail. The museum was amazing and if any of you ever go to Naples I highly reccommend it. On our way back to the hostel we ran into some steps that led up to a castle that seemed about 1,500 yrs. old. At the top we both had a Lemon drink that was pretty good with a great view of Naples and Mt. Vesuvious, the only active volcanoe in Europe. I wanted to take a bus down the hill, but my dad said going down is the fun part. At the bottom I said to myself, it was pretty fun. Walking back by the bay we saw a motorcycle rental place. We rented a Piaggio 250cc scooter for 40 euro's during rush hour traffic. We went from the store to the gas station which was like a pit stop and the Italians were driving like maniacs. We drove north to Parco Virgliano and on the way we stopped to pee. We saw our first makeout scene. It was pretty funny , I have to admit. When we got to the top we must have seen six couples in cars sucking face. Including the kissing, the scenery was beautiful at sunset overlooking the Bay of Naples. We took some pictures and drove back. In the end, the day was fun and very interesting. The next morning we took a hydrofoil to Sorrento, across the bay. The minute we got there we went to a laundry mat and dryed our clothes because they got rained on while hanging on the of the balcony at the hostel. After about twenty minutes they were dry so we changed into our long pants. We found another rental place and got a "Liberty" 125cc vespa scooter for the day. We got lost driving around with our backpacks for about an hour trying to find our hostel. When we found it we checked in, got our ponchos and headed for Amalfi drive. It rained a little on the way but overall the ride was pretty good. We stopped once to get gas and kept driving. When we were almost to Amalfi we got caught in a downpour and turned back. Our pants ,shoes and sweatshirt sleeves were soaked. We returned the scooter and stopped for dinner. It was great. The only problem was that when we were paying the owner didn't have the right change, but eventually we worked it out. When we got to our hostel my dad and I tied string around the room so we could dry our clothes. In the morning our clothes were almost dry, but we had to get to Pompeii, so we wore them and got on the train. On the train I read about 30 pages of our book. When we got there my dad bought tickets. We saw so much amazing architecture you would have died. I also took a trillion pictures. Near the end we saw the Pompeii colosseum and amphitheaters. The first amphitheater was pretty small, but the next one was even smaller. The colosseum was big and said to be the best preserved colosseum in the whole world. It's so hard to believe that every thing around here is 2,300 yrs. We spent 5 hours exploring the Pompeii site. We took a train to Roma after that. I read so much it's not even funny. When we were walking from the train statzione this guy named Romano asked if we wanted to stay at his hotel. We said no, but he convinced us by saying he owned it. My dad didn't seemed convinced, but I did. In the end we said, "Si". That night we ate at "Pastarita". I thought it was okay, but my dad liked it. On our way back we got lost and ended up at a great fountain called "Fontana di Trevi". It took 30 yrs.to build and the artist died as a result of spending too much time in the water. His lungs failed him due to the damp conditions of the work. I thought it was beautiful....all solid white marble. I woke up the next day at one pm. We decided to go to the colosseum and check it out. the line was huge with a lot of security, we spent two hours there. The place is awesome. Afterwards we were starving so we ate at this reastaurant on the patio. My dad had Pizza Romano with capers, mozzerella and anchovies. I ordered Penne Puchunesca with capers parmesan and olives. My dad wanted to go to the Albrecht Durer art show, so I said sure. I t was inspirational. Durer lived from 1471-1528, his paintings were very detailed. He would paint every single strand of hair and all the wrinkles. Lauren you should see some of his work. You could learn a lot from him. He is a great artist. As he got older Durer became influenced by Bernini and others during his two trips to Italy. His style loosened up as a result. After the gallery we decided to go to the Fontana di Trevi again. When we got there an American guy named Cris asked us if we wanted him to take our picture together. We said yes and talked for twenty minutes. He was a very nice man from Seattle. Afterwards I got a coconut and chocolate gellato for 1.80 euros. It was tasty. The next day I didn't wake up until 10 am...tired again. We headed for the Vatican and on the way we stopped by the Ferrari store where they had a real Formula One race car that produced 770hp! We also walked down the Spanish Steps. In line at the Vatican City we stood for about 40 min,but the wait was worth it. We climbed to the Copola of St.Peter's Basilica, a giant dome. Then waited in another huge line to see the Vatican Museum and the Sistine Chapel painted by Michelangelo and Rafael. The Pope told Michelangelo how he wanted it, but the artist ignored his design. He even locked the doors so the Pope couldn't check the progress. Once he even ran away to cover the war in another part of Italy, but got caught by the Pope's security and was brought back to finish painting the cieling. Later we saw the movie '300' in Italian. It was epic. The battle scenes were intense and the movie had interesting graphics. Now we're in Perugia, Umbria north of Roma, 2 1\2 hrs. by train. It's said that Perugians played this game where men wore deer skins and helmets with beaks to protect themselves. They threw rocks at each other until one team was too injured or dead to continue. The old part of Perugia is amazing. The hostel is cool to and right in the old part of town. Yesterday we traveled to the nearby town of Assisi where St. Frances lived in the 1200's. The town is very steep with many walls of stone and brick. We walked to the castle\fort at the very top of Assisi that was started by the Romans and finished during the Renaissance. This guy named Fred, a chaplain from Kansas City, took our picture and told us the story of St. Francis. Fred took us to St. Francis' house where his dad chained him up and told him he couldn't join the church. His mom felt bad for him and unlocked the chains when his dad was gone. Later, when St. Francis' dad caught him by the church and started yelling, he took off his clothes and handed them to his dad. The bishop put a robe on his naked body. One of the coolest things was the two churches on top of each other where St. Francis is buried. Overall we've had a great time in Perugia. Until next week...Ciao! PS: I finished our book. Jairn
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