Sorrento

Friends,

My apologies for the lack of postage the past few days. I haven't been near a computer since last week.

So much to tell, I'm not even sure where to start.

Last thursday we went back to Rome and saw the Spanish Steps and the Borghese Museum that has an exhibition of Bernini sculptures that can make a grown man cry.

At the end of the day my friends and I took a train from Rome to Naples. Then from there took a sketchy subway (makes Marta look classy) from Naples to Sorrento. We arrived around 9:30 and walked to our hostel from the station.

We stayed at a hostel called Hostel 7. Apparently it's the #10 nicest hostel in the world. This place was paradise. Which seems like an oxymoron for a hostel, but I am serious. Really modern setup, great music, great food, tons of young people -mainly Americans- staying there. It was so nice to be around people that speak english and understand the necessity of a toilet seat (not kidding, the toilets here don't have seats). The rooms have 10 beds in them, and we had a group of 9. I felt so bad for the lone ranger in bed number ten that had to put up with our (and by 'our' I mean the guys) shenanigans.

The next morning we took a private boat tour to Capri. The boat took us to Capri, handed us some sandwiches and a sack full of beer and let us loose. We explored the island and took a ski-lift type deal to the highest point and the view was incredible. A couple hours later the boat came to pick us back up and took us around the the Grottos (caves) around the island. We got to swim into them and jump off the rocks inside. One of the coolest things I've ever seen/done. The color of the water is this rich royal/turquoise blue that reflects off every angle of the cave inside. When you see places like this in movies you just assume they don't really exist. Oh but they do. Everyone got all cut up from the rocks and stung by jellyfish. All part of the experience, plus we looked way hardcore bleeding all over the boat.

Our tour guide's name was Augustido and he was fine. The epitome of an Italian Stallion. He let the guys drive the boat while he sat at the front and drank beer. How great is this country?

We were on the boat all day, and were wiped out when we got back to the hostel. We stopped at a local supermarket to buy some wine and beer (it's so expensive at the bar at the hostel). When we got back we realized we had no way of keeping it cold. I don't know why, but the Italians have not discovered the concept of ice. It makes me crazy. So we resorted to walking around town begging restaurants for a bag of ice. Long story short, someone took pity on us and gave us a ziplock full. How kind. So we marched straight back to the roof of Hostel 7, used our trash can as a cooler, cut our lemons with a plastic knife, and watched the sunset. You can't beat it.