salerno.pompeii.florence.

Daniel graciously allowed us to have free time in Rome on Wednesday at our disposal. Because of this, many of us decided to take a day-trip to Pompeii to see the Roman ruins. We took the train from Rome to Naples, then to Salerno. Upon arrival in the latter, Daniel realized the train station had given us tickets for the wrong route. Because of this confusion, we had an hour to kill in the small Italian town of Salerno. Little did we realize, this would be one of the most picturesque, enjoyable hours of the entire Italy trip. Why? Salerno is located on the Tyrrhenian Sea. I've never seen water so clear and extensive. Pictures just can not do justice. After killing some time exploring Salerno, we boarded another train to take us directly into Pompeii. This city was destroyed and buried as a result of the volcanio eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in AD 79. Spanning across 165 acres, Pompeii is at least 3x the size I was expecting. Our precious tourguide showed us many of the former Roman markets contained in the city as well as an ancient Roman brothel, which weirded me out! We left for Pompeii early in the morning on Wednesday, expecting to arrive around 10am. Instead, the entire trip there took over 6 hours because of the train confusion. The train ride back into Rome was slightly dreadful. I started feeling sick and my sinuses were acting up. Most people slept, but I was way too uncomfortable. We arrived back into Rome and had a group dinner at a local restaurant run by 4 nuns. The food was French-inspired and better than I expected. At the conclusion of dinner, all the nuns gathered around the restaurant to recite their Ave Maria, a traditional Catholic song asking for the intercession of the Virgin Mary. After dinner, Kat and I took a cab back to the hotel because I was not feeling well at all and knew I needed the best medicine would be a bed.  We had to spend 13 euro for the ride, but it was definitely worth the money.

Thursday, we began our journey to Florence. The train ride was only a few hours and as soon as we arrived, Daniel allowed us a few hours of free time for lunch inside the city. I, however, opted to rest at the hotel because I still wasn't feeling 100%. I had to meet up with the group at the Duomo, located inside the city's main plaza. This was a 20 minute walk from our hotel, but I didn't get lost once. Aren't you proud, Mom?! Our first historical excursion in Florence was to the Galleria dell Accademia, most famous for housing Michelangelo's massive sculpture of "David." Our tour guide was overflowing with information, which was slightly overwhelming at the time, but now I'm grateful for it. "David" was quite intriguing to see. He is 18 feet tall and his hands and head are extremely disproportional. Regardless, I found him beautiful. Michelangelo's depiction is unlike many others because he portrays him before the actual fight with Goliath. Our time at the Galleria seemed rushed and I wish I could have stayed for several hours, but we had a strict agenda in order to see all that we had planned to. We next saw the first Medici palace and the Medici chapels, followed by the Belltower and the ornately decorated Cathedral of Florence. We had a few free hours inside Florence, which was spent inside the street markets. Let's just say: LEATHER GALORE. I'm not a huge leather wearer/buyer, but it was still interesting to weed through. We met back up for dinner then straight back to the hotel to get in bed early since we had to get up at 530am that morning.