I know you're thinking that this title is a little extreme since I've had birthday's in Phuket, SharpTop Cove, St.Pete, Colorado, etc..but honestly this weekend was nearly perfect! Thursday started it off with being sung to in Italian class (in Italian of course) and a surprise gelato cake party from my good friend, Christa! She organized a few girls to come over and sing to me with the BEST cake of my life right before we left for the weekend. It was creme di medici flavor (the specialty flavor of my favorite gelato shop)..its like cookies and cream but much better! The cookie pieces are covered in some sort of chocolate fudge and the cake had a pretty red rose on top!! Then I left to meet the group at the train station for leave for the Amalfi Coast. We got on a bus to start the 7-hour journey. Sounds miserable but it was actually fun! We popped a bottle of champagne at midnight for my birthday and passed it around! Slept a good bit, talked with our awesome tour leader, watched some movies...not too bad! We got into Sorento at 2am and left for Capri at 8am.
We took a ferry to Capri, and stopped in the Blue Grotto on the way. We had to get into a little boat for 4 people to get into the grotto, and our driver serenaded us from my birthday as he showed us around! The water in the grotto was unreal. I've never seen water that bright of a blue before!! We finally arrived on the island of Capri and hiked up to the top to see the amazing views. We went to lemon cello and chocolate tastings and then went to lunch! We got to hang out at the beach a little before heading back to Sorrento! Capri was unreal. It was so beautiful and the water was so clear and blue. I felt like I was living in a postcard or a movie. Apparently Jessica Simpson was there that day too, but we didn’t see her. We had some down time to rest and shower before heading to a group dinner.
I put on a fun birthday dress and we meet the group in the lobby for dinner. It was a good long walk to dinner but it was great because the weather was perfect and we meet some great friends on the walk. We ended up sitting at their table for dinner and had an amazing time. They are from the FSU program and some were from Colgate. I decided to indulged at dinner, since it was my birthday and got a wonderful steak! We all shared wine and the restaurant sang to me and brought me tiramisu for dessert! We had espresso con grappa after dinner as a table...definitely a strong drink. Then our favorite tour guide took the 10 of us to a local bar to hang out. We ran into our friends from Vandy that went on different trips to the amalfi that weekend and had a great time dancing and hanging out! It was a amazing night with great friends!!
We got to sleep in a little the next day, thankfully! Then we headed to Positano to go cliff jumping and lay out on the black sand beaches. We got there and laid out for an hour or two then went on a boat tour where we stopped at these cliffs and secluded beach. I only did the first cliff which was 15 feet high...a few brave souls did the high cliff which was 37 feet high. We got to swim around in the clearest blue water and lay on the warm beach for a while before returning to the center of Positano. We grabbed lunch and hung out until it was time to leave. The entire time I would just look around in amazement of the beauty of the dark majestic cliffs against the bright blue sea and the matching clear blue skies. Another perfect day! We showered and napped a little then had dinner at the hostel and watched the consolation match of the world cup on a projector screen, After we got some wine and went to the rooftop with our new friends and hung out. We headed in early to get some sleep.
This morning, we got up early again to leave for Pompei. It was definitely a cool thing to see. The whole city was much more intact than I would have imagined. It was cool to be somewhere that you remember stories about from your 4th or 5th grade classes! We went through houses, temples, saw bodies that were petrified, saw a brothel, and of course saw Mt. Vesuvius in the distance! Then we headed back to Florence. I passed out for the beginning of the ride then woke up to watch Shawshank Redemption, which is now one of my favorite movies. I, of course, cried a little at the end it was so good! Now we're back and settled into our apartment. Started laundry, showered, made dinner, and anxiously watched the World Cup! I’m soo happy that Spain won, but find it very ironic that I was living in Spain when Italy won four years ago, and I’m not living in Italy when Spain wins! Still have so much love for both countries! VIVA ESPANA!!
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