Positano/Venice

Whats up

I am currently writing on our last night in Venice.  Since I wasn't able to update about Positano until now, I will write about Positano and Venice in one blog.  I am going to just start rambling and a lot of thoughts may be incomplete with spelling and grammar erros and its going to be long so bear with me...!

Positano was a very cool city. It literally sits on the side of a cliff and it is so beautiful to look at from the sea. The buildings are so colorful and the town is very friendly.  On the first day in Positano (which was by far the worst day yet), we planned to go to Pompeii in the morning and sit on the beach in the afternoon in Positano. In our minds it sounded like a great day but it turn out as we had planned haha. In order to get to Pompeii you have to catch a bus from Positano to Sorrento, then get on a train from Sorrento to Pompeii. So, to begin the day, we hiked about a half mile/3/4 of a mile up hill to wait for the bus to Sorrento--which was 55 minutes late. So, we waited in the hot sun for the first hour of our day following a not so enjoyable uphill hike haha. Finally, we catch the bus to Sorrento, which was about an hour of incredibly windy roads at the edge of 1000 foot cliffs. Naturally, I became quite sick, mainly because I am a poon but also because the roads were really windy. Sooooo... We get to Sorrento, about an hour late, and I feel like throwing up on the bus driver, and find out there is a railroad workers and road workers strike and there is literally no way to get to Pompeii.  We were both pretty disappointed, Ellen more so than myself, but it was pretty disappointing news.  After learning about the strike, we wandered around sorrento for an hour or so and we were back on our way to Positano, but not before getting some dramamine, so I didn't actually throw up everywhere. Annnnnd, we get back to Positano and finally get down to the beach (our hotel was about 400 steps up the cliff from the beach. It was kind of inconvenient but we had an incredible view of the Ionian Sea) and look for a place to eat lunch because by this time, we were both pretty hungry. It only gets better--we sit down at the first restaurant we see and order an average meal and on top of our average meal, I end up ordering a $9 can of Coke. haha then right at the end of lunch before we were going to try and relax on the beach, it starts to rain.  So, we decided to give up on the day and spend it hanging out on our balcony and just hang out, admiring the view and ordering pizza to the room.  Boom. First day in Positano done. The rest of the time in Positano really was great. The hotel wait staff was amazing and the people were so helpful and friendly. On the second day we took a morning trip to the town of Amalfi, which was not nearly as nice as Positano or Capri.  It did have, however a really neat Duomo. In the Duomo we got to see where Andrew, Jesus's first disciple was buried and some other really incredible Byzantine architecture. While in Amalfi, we also toured a paper mill. It sounds kind of boring and nerdy but this place was actually really cool. The factory was originally built shortly after Jesus's time on earth and all of the original equipment is still in the factory and they still use the same tools to make the paper. This paper factory actually produces the paper that the Vatican uses today for important documents or books they are writing which was pretty cool to learn.

Overall, Positano was a really cool place but I am not sure I would ever return there. Out of the 3 towns we visited on the Amalfi coast (Capri, Positano and Amalfi) Capri was by far my favorite! Btw the food in Italy is amazing, especially in Positano. Now for Venice!

When we arrived here on Friday I was really looking forward to seeing the city because I had heard to much about it and my Grandparents had been here before as well so I was really looking forward to seeing it.  I was definitely not disappointed.  This city really is amazing. The first afternoon we arrived in Venice we just wandered the streets taking pictures and had some dinner.  Our hotel is like 50 yards from Piazza San Marco, so compared to Positano we are extremely conveniently located.  The first full day in Venice was very busy, but we got a ton accomplished. The morning started with a tour of the Basilica San Marco which was another incredible church. The inside was so beautiful and everything was either real gold or painted gold which lit up the entire building. It was really a cool thing to see from the inside.  Which inside the Basilica, we visited the treasury which had Peter's leg and Jacob's skull (kind of weird, I know, but it was still really cool to see them and be so close to them.) Also, this is the burial of Mark.  After visiting the Basilica, we went to the top of the bell tower in Piazza San Marco to get a view of Venice. It was freezing and super windy up there so we didnt last long but we got a really good view of the whole city. It's pretty amazing to think this city is practically build on 18 islands just really close together--thats why they have so many little canals and ponte's.  After the bell tower visit we went to Murano to get some glass and eat lunch. Ellen was able to find some hand made Murano glass that she has been talking about getting this whole trip. Apparently Murano glass is one of the nicest glass manufacturers in the world.  We also go to watch one of the glass blowers do a demonstration which was really cool to see too. Thennnn we took a walking tour of the Doge's palace back in Venice.  The Doge was a political leader that lead in Venice up until like the early 1800's or something like that and the first was in like the 800's.? It was a really neat place, with a ton of history. We saw where the Doge's lived throughout the years and got to see where major political events took place.  We also go to take a tour of the dungeon which was in the basement of the palace which was pretty eery but cool.  The Doge's palace served basically the same purpose as the White House does today for America. Each new elected Doge would occupy the palace with their family until someone took over for them.  After the Doge's palace tour we found a restaurant that was showing the Barca, Man U game and had dinner and watched the game.

Today, we went to this beach island right off of the main part of Venice called Lido. Its a super long, skinny island with sandy beaches.  It was a very interesting place with thousands and thousands of people.  I got way too much sun today but it was a good relaxing day on the beach. Annnnnd I got to swim in the Adriatic Sea! After the beach we just sort of hung out, got lost without a map in the middle on Venice which was pretty fun (haha) and then we had the best meal in Italy thus far. We also ran into Jake Perry and his girlfriend today-so randomly! (Jake is a kid I went to hs and played soccer with) He and his girlfriend came walking out of a shop and I had to do about the biggest double take I have ever done to make sure I wasnt about to like a fool haha. It was so random but it was good to catch up with him even for a little bit.

I would have to say my biggest disappointment with Venice is the service people in this city. They seem to intolerable to people asking any sort of question and were generally very rude when answering. And they are so pushy at the restaurants (besides the place we ate at tonight, which was great). I was under the impression that Venetians especially are very patient at restaurants and you can literally have your table all night if you want, but that was not our experience at all. Anyway, I think Venice is a wonderful city, with tons of culture, which I enjoyed the most--even the rude locals are a part of this culture and I enjoyed learning about this new city.

Tomorrow we are off to Cinque Terre! I am so excited to return there. 2 summers ago when we came here with school we were only able to spend a day there so I am very excited to be able to spend 2 nights there. It is an incredible place--probably the most anticipated destination for me so far! Anyway, thats all for now, ill update in Cinque Terre!