Amalfi

(picture of me at the beach and the other is the view from the room we had our last night there)
I know it has been a bit since I wrote last. Lemme tell you, its been busy but fun! I spent the past four days away from Orvieto at the Amalfi coast. I went with a few friends from the program. I traveled there with two gals. We did the whole booking a hostel and like good planners bought our train tickets there and for our return trip.

Our trip went as follows. Of course after much back and forth of planning of what we could afford and where we wanted to go...you have the actual trip. We met at the funicular at 8:15 am (the funicular is a lift of shorts...only is shuttle form for those of you that donno...i had never heard of it before). This brought us to the lower level of Orvieto (I am living up on an amazing hill!) where the train station is.

On our way down we chatted with a few other people in the program. Two other gals were going to Madrid and were on the same 8:57am train to Roma with us. Let me tell you, when they say 8:47 they mean 8:47! Aside from one train arriving a little late, I have found that Italy's trains are quite timely!

We got to Rome around 10:15am. I was pretty nervous about this trip because I had heard horrifying things about the Rome train station. Not as bad as I thought. I bit hectic and very full of people but I was also with a gal that had maneuvered the train system before and she knew what to do.

From Rome we hop a train to Salerno. Before getting on the train we ask a conductor (or someone that looked like one at least) which car we should get on. He points to the closest two. Us being innocent and niave jump on. Don't worry, it wasn't anything exciting like we got on the wrong train. I was pleased to find a very open and nicely air-conditioned train. We sat next to an older American couple, white middle class and very chatty. A bit too chatty in my opinion. Anyhow,when the guy came around checking our train tickets he informed us we were on the wrong cart and nicely asked us to switch when we arrived in Naples. The other second class carts, not so great. Very crowded and we had a heck of a time finding out seats. We did manage.

Ok so I could write an entire blogg about the trip to Amalfi alone! Sorry I had no internet access for a few days and the cafe I found I had to pay so no time to blogg!

We found our way to Amalfi. From Salerno you can get to the nearby coast towns either by bus or water taxi. We chose the water taxi. Quite a lovely experience :)

Amalfi was SO humid! But i managed to run all three days we were there!

Remember how I mentioned we got our return tickets? Those were for sunday the 13th. The night before (after only 1 full day in Amalfi) I was talking with my friends and told them how it'd be so nice to stay! Long story short, I blew off my ticket and an Italian class. It was worth it but I must admit I am GLAD to be back in Orvieto. It was hot and humid there beyond belief!

If you have a chance, go to Amalfi. The beaches aren't quite like Im use to...ie sand. They are rocky and slightly painful to walk on but they rent beds and umbrellas for pretty inexpensive and you can kick back all day if you so choose!