The Island of Love

Capri is known as the Island of Love and is visited by millions of people each year and is a famous spot for the extremely wealthy. It was gorgeous. I have many pictures that look like I am either taking a picture of a poster or that I am in a poster. However, when I went there were 8 cruise ships near by, so there were a lot of tours. Also there were 90 people on my particular tour, so their was a lot of waiting and such. I have discovered my own independence on this trip. I was so afraid to leave and go off on my own. Now I lead groups of friends around cities and organize people. It's not always me, but that's a part of me that was always waiting for an opportunity to be used, but never had a chance. A lot of things weren't included that had been listed as included in our tour, so I didn't get to go on the boat tour of the island to see the mansions and the caves. That's okay because the caves themselves ended up being closed due to the raised water level, that I would have stayed later to see and explore. Also there was a sky lift to get to the highest point of the island that would have been fun to see, but it was 13 euro for the lift and the boat tour was 17 euro. I decided to spend the money I saved on a gorgeous dress that I found. I love saying I got it in Capri, and one way I had saved money for the trip in general was to tell myself, if you don't buy it here you can buy it in Italy, and usually that was about dresses. Also, I've decided not to go to stay in a Hostel in Rome officially, I just don't have it budgetted, and I will get to see the city. I may actually enjoy Citavetchia more because their will be more locals and personal culture there. I was lucky enough to wander down a street with my friend Chad in Capri that lead to where the locals live. They all seemed rather impressed that we found their neighborhood. We just sat on a step and observed them wander by. It was one of the most gorgeous places I have ever been. I would be interested to see what the culture there is like in the off season, like in February, when there aren't thousands of tourists on the island. It was only an hour hydrofoil to get to the island, which wasn't bad. After we got there half of the group went to the boat tour and a few of us went to the beach. Giant rocks killed my feet but the water was wonderful, yet incredibly salty. It was a brilliant blue green color and about 74 degrees. I was glad we were at the beach from 9:30 a.m. until 10:30 a.m. because after that it got very busy, and it was only mid 80's at that point. By the end of our stay in Capri, until about 5:00 p.m. even the Texans and Floridians looked a bit sunburnt and were searching for shade. My friend from New Mexico isn't real sure what to do with the humidity haha We had a lunch included. We had penne pasta with a basil eggplant sauce. You could definitely taste the fresh olive oil used to saute the eggplant. I could have eaten a whole bowl of just the eggplant. Then we were promised chicken caprese but received fried chicken and french fries...which was odd. The fries were good though :) Granted, I miss heinz ketchup haha. Over all it was enjoyable but I think it would have been cheaper and more enjoyable independently. I've finally gotten my skin to the point where it just gets a darker brown/native american color instead of red. I don't want to push it though so I will probably where a t-shirt on my Mount Vesuvius Hike tomorrow. I'm enjoying the room to myself tonight because my roommate is staying in Capri over night. It's nice to finally have some alone time, too bad I'm exhausted and will probably go to bed soon. Especially since I have to catch a bus at 7:30 a.m. Thankfully I found a good luck charm I wanted for 6 euro instead of the 20 they wanted at pompeii. It's a small peice of red coral in the shape of a horn (often people think it's a pepper, but it's a horn). So I got a necklace piece for that, I just need to find a chain. I felt like I really got a good deal on that especially since red coral is becoming more rare, and I got to see some while I was snorkelling last week in Spain. As far as the evening went we all got dinner on the ship and then washed up to wander Naples for a while. Then the boys wanted food so I had gelato and 2 glasses of wine, Anny and Caroline had these donuts covered in Nutella, and then Jeff and Todd split beer and a giant salami and ham calzone with riccotta and mozzarella in it. Then we all "rolled" back to the ship, and here I am. I need to do some laundry (hand wash is the way to go) and then head to bed. Also before I wrap up, I know i promised pictures but three people had their laptops snatched at the internet cafe today, so I'm not going to risk it unless I have a big group to go with. So I will try, but I don't want to risk losing my computer....I need it :)

Love to all!!

Me