Sorrento/Capri, Italy pictures

Naples/Ischia, Italy

After already purchasing train tickets to Naples, we accidentally slept through our alarms, missing our train.....so we got up, got ready and headed to the train station.  We attempted to get on a train without having a ticket, in hopes that we would be able to buy one on our phones after leaving the station, but chickened out and got off! We planned to wait for the next train which was an hour later.  We got on, what we thought was our train, with seats apart from each other, only to find out we'd got on the wrong one.  Fortunately we were going to the same place and so only ended up paying a bit more for the ticket, but a least we made it!  We arrived at our hotel, where we found the nicest, most helpful staff! They directed us to the ferry port, where we took a boat to an island near Naples, called Ischia.  The boat ride was gorgeous and the island was also very beautiful.  We enjoyed a day on the beach relaxing and taking in the sun.  We were headed back to our ferry to take the last boat ride from Ischia and realized everyone else had already boarded the ship and they were about to leave. They saw us running to the boat and thankfully waited for us otherwise we would have been stuck in Ischia overnight.  The concierge at the hotel recommended a restaurant where we enjoyed two massive pizzas, the most delicious pizza we've had! We justified it, reminding ourselves, that the crust and dough of this pizza was WAY thinner, making it that much easier to finish both, just the two of us! HAHA! The next morning we were off to Sorrento on the Almafi Coast!

Naples/Ischia, Italy pictures

Rome, italy

We said goodbye to Venice and headed to Rome.  We had reserved our seats online the day before, but weren't sure if we needed to print our ticket. So we left for the train station about an hour before departure, which we thought was early enough, but the water bus took a little longer than expected. We got to the train station and split up into separate lines across the station, to ensure that one of us would find the answer to our ticket question.  With just six minutes before the train left, Jillian got to the front of the line, only to find out the electronic copy was sufficient.  In a panic, we found each other and raced to our train with just two minutes to spare--phew!!!  We thought our worries were over, but realized otherwise , once we got to our "hotel".  What was described as a B&B really turned out to be a room in some guy's apartment, that smelled like stale cigarettes and urine.  So needless to say we thanked Booking.com for canceling our room, booked another one and got th heck out of there! The guy was nice enough to call us a taxi...thank God! The hotel we booked ended up being located in Rome's Chinatown--ironic-- it was an ancient monastery with no elevator and three locked doors to access your room! But really it was fine and ANYTHING was better than the first place! We started our on/off bus tour at the Colosseum that night, which was perfect--no crowds, not as hot and such a sight to see! Then we trekked across the city to find Pirelli's, a highly recommended restaurant, stopping along the way to have a cocktail and some bruschetta--the best we've had!  Our waiter was awesome, made good recommendations for food and made sure we got on the bus safely.  On the way home we stopped at the Irish pub around the corner from our hotel.  The beer was good, but the entertainment was priceless.  We met a three year old little Asian girl named Angela, who spoke only Italian.  She talked us through the dinner menu, cheered us with her water shouting "salute" over and over again and gave us candy from her Hello Kitty backpack! She was absolutely ADORABLE!  The next day, we finished the bus tour seeing all the ancient sights.  That night we had dinner at the famous Fettucini Alfredo's, where they claim to have created Fettucini Alfredo.  It was delicious and we made friends with three American sailors, who we ended up having drinks with and danced the night away with at a local club. Late night, but fun! 

Rome pictures

Venice pictures

Venice, Italy

After a short train ride, we arrived in Venice--unbelievable! It really is built on water:) We got off the train and had some confusion about which water bus to take to our hotel, while seeking guidance, we met, quite possibly, the oddest couple from Richmond, CA--Jillian thought they were brother and sister....even asked them...haha! We finally got the bus right, but were immediately scolded by the "bus driver" to take off our backpacks and get out of the way of the exit! We took a beautiful boat ride to our hotel, trying to take as many pictures as possible.  It was really hot, so upon getting off the boat, we stopped to taste a popular local cocktail....delicious and hit the spot.  We got to our hotel easily, only to find that without an elevator, we were going to carry our 50 lb bags up three flights of stair since our room was on the third floor---ugh!  Our hotel was in short walking distance to Piazza San Marco, we walked around to get familiar with the area. A little later on we found a restaurant for dinner near our hotel overlooking one of the canals.  The next morning we were up bright and early to see all that Venice had to offer. There were cruise ships docked everywhere, which meant that the streets were very busy. First stop was a gondola ride where we were able to see the city by way of the grand canal. We visited the Rialto Bridge and had lunch near it-good suggestion Susan.  We then went to Piazza San Marco to enjoy the sunshine and Prosecco.  As we sat people watching, we met a couple from Florida. They were fun to talk to and also gave us a great restaurant suggestion in Rome; which was our next stop.  To continue our buzz we headed to Harry's Bar for the famous Peach Bellini and also enjoyed the atmosphere. We had to navigate home across the city to freshen up and head out for dinner near our hotel. They had live music, outdoor seating and the pasta was delicious. The next morning we headed to Rome...