View from part-way up Mt. Vesuvius
Rise and shine, it’s 6 am! Time to grab a quick (but hearty) breakfast, throw on my hiking clothes (and new running shoes!), and be off for Vesuvius! I took advantage of the bus ride there- perfect for a nap. :) When we got to the volcano, it was closed for another hour so we had to wait. Luckily, my Natural Disasters group is doing our documentary on Mt. Vesuvius. We got our whole thing filmed, and finally Mt. Vesuvius opened! There were about 100 SASers on the hike, but all of the people in my particular class (23 of us) were in one tour group with our professor. Geology field trip, woohoo! There were some stray dogs at the entrance gate. One of them joined our group for the hike! He was SO cute. When he’d get distracted and fall behind, he’d look up and realize we were ahead, and sprint to catch up! And when he ran ahead, he’d eagerly look back and wait for us. When we finally reached the crater, he stood right on the edge and gazed in, just as perplexed as I probably looked. The crater was amazing. Of course I was expecting a crater- it’s a volcano! But I didn’t know it would be SO huge, SO real, and SO much like what a crater should look like! Actually seeing it made its reality hit me. I was ACTUALLY on a volcano that had SO much power that it destroyed so much civilization.
Seeing so much of God’s creation every day just bewilders me and makes me realize that I will never understand how great, majestic, and powerful God really is. It’s a constant reminder that puts me in my place as a mere human. I am realizing it so much more this summer, I think because I am going to such a huge variety of places in such a short period of time. It’s incredible to be seeing so many places and so many cultures, and so many people that worship the same God as me. I knew this voyage was going to change me- I’m starting to understand the things that will give me a greater perspective on life and the world. Just being in Europe for 2 countries has showed me how sincere people there are- not all of them, of course, but a good amount of tour guides, waiters, hotel concierges. People can be so helpful, and I’m learning how to listen and be sincere. When I am intentionally being sincere with people, of course I realize it. But why not be that sincere all the time? Why not ask “how are you?” and really mean it, and stick around to hear the answer and talk to the person. Both shiplife and portlife are teaching me this.
I know I went on a tangent, but that’s where my volcano story led me! So anyway, the crater, the view- everything was so incredible. If only my camera could capture the moment! I need to invent some sort of thing so I can record moments- not pictures, not video, not sounds- moments. Because it’s the moments in life that are most worth remembering. It’s the moments that teach you the biggest lessons- when you’re alone thinking, when you’re interacting with others- the whole scene, plus the emotions and feelings, are all such important contributions. Wow, I’m definitely in a tangent mood today! Again, back to the volcano.
When we got nearly to the top, they stopped us and said we had to pay extra to go to the very top. We had to go with a tour guide, but we’d be able to go to the highest peak and feel the volcano’s activity but since it was a class field trip, it wasn’t fair to make everyone pay extra so we just stayed at that point of the volcano. We hiked down with our professor, learning even more about the volcano. It’s all so interesting! My professor is adorable and amazing- I think I’ve talked about her before. She is so into geology and natural disaster, so it makes learning it so much more fun. It really is like learning something because you want to, not because you’re in class and you have to. And her accent makes everything better! Her husband is also on the voyage, and so is her adorable little daughter. Adorable she is, but smart too! She’s probably…maybe 6…and while we were in Pompeii yesterday she goes, “Mom, want to know some random facts about the Coliseum?” I sure know I wasn’t talking about the Coliseum when I was that age- I was playing with dolls and learning to spell simple words! It was so nice to have Stella along on the trip, though, because I miss kids! It’s always nice to have a youthful mind along to ask the simplest question. And it’s so fun to see them learn!
Back to the volcano again- I promise I’ll finish talking about it this time! I forgot to mention that up in the crater, it was beautiful. I could see the strata, I could see volcanic gases steaming out, I could see the different kinds of rock. I could even see the plants that were starting to grow in the volcanic rock since the last eruption. All the colors were so vivid! Oh, and I didn’t forget to tell Vesuvius that its grapes don’t make the best wine. :) On the bus ride home, I knocked out again. Apparently the drive down the volcano was VERY scary and windy. I did wake up when we had one close call. It was just one very narrow, windy rode that huge buses were going up and down. I think it was a good thing I was passed out asleep- that way I didn’t have to deal with my car-sickness or fear! Major props to our bus driver!
Dog friend!
Volcanic Gases
Crater
View of Napoli, Italy from Mt. Vesuvius
Bottom of crater
Crater of Mt. Vesuvius
Hiking!
Plants just beginning to grow back from last eruption
Yours truly
So we got off the ferry. Now what? Find a hotel. It was about 3, so we went to some information booths/stores….all of them had just closed, or were just closing and wouldn’t help us. Perfect timing! We walked around a bit, not even knowing where we were on the island, then stopped for food because girls tend to get grouchy when hungry, and we were all girls! We found out we had to take a cable car up higher on the island and that’s where we could find hotels. We went into a decent number of hotels, asked the price, and walked straight back out. We were thinking of getting a 2 person room and putting 5 in it, but we ran into some fellow SASers who said they planned on doing the same but were advised against it- there is an Italian law prohibiting more people in a room than bed space available. At check-in, you have to give all your passports for documentation. If anyone is in the room who hasn’t given their passport, the hotels can (and do) call the police. Bad news! We didn’t want to deal with the law in other countries, so we just went with 5 people and asked the prices. We were getting very tired- again, I am so glad I did such a good job packing! The other girls had a lot more stuff than me, even duffle bags. Walking around looking for a hotel became hard with so much stuff. I’m not sure if I was still so positive because I was trying to be, or if my small backpack had anything to do with it too! We finally found an adorable hotel- Hotel Capri. We went in and got the best price any hotel had given us- by far. 200 Euros for 5 people. We knew when we heard it that that was a good price for that many girls, the day of, in Capri, in vacation season. They showed us where we would be staying, and it was so cute. It was this little mini-apartment almost. We walked into our door on the second floor of the hotel and there was a big room with a twin bed and a double bed. There was a TV, mini bar, and bathroom down there too. Then there was a little spiral staircase that went up a floor. Up there was a California king! Such a huge bed..and a big bathroom. We even got 5 pairs of slippers! We silently looked around, left, and decided we’d look a little longer then come back most likely (unless we found something better).
We kept walking and found ourselves on the downhill slope to the other side of the island (rather than facing the harbor/port side) on a tiny walkway through gorgeous little houses and B&Bs, surrounded by beautiful, colorful flowers and an amazing view of the ocean ahead of us. And there were parts in the shade! This is definitely where our trip turned. The girls who had been getting a bit grumpy all felt better. We didn’t find anywhere to stay there, but it was so pretty and relaxing and so—Capri. We decided that we would come back if we had time and take pictures when we were sweaty and tired and without our overnight bags. We didn’t end up having time to go back, but it was still so pretty seeing it! We went back to Hotel Capri, checked in, and got settled in. Once we got inside our room, we threw our bags down and collapsed on the beds for about 20 minutes, just laying there. We had been going nonstop since the morning! For me, I woke up at 6, hiked Mt. Vesuvius, got back, showered, somehow got packed and ready in 20 minutes, caught the ferry, and looked for a hotel and FINALLY found one. And now I was laying down on the bed, taking it all in. Once we were all a little more relaxed and refreshed, we decided to go walk around and get dinner. We walked to several places and looked at prices (Italy was still so expensive despite how long we looked everywhere to reduce prices), and walked through the “town” parts of Capri, and found a row of restaurants and shops. We asked the prices at one place and they were WAY too expensive, so the owner recommended a pizza place in Anacapri. He wrote down how to get there, the name, and who to tell that he referred us once we were there. We took the bus and almost died- well, that’s what we thought. Seriously, I have never been in a vehicle going that fast around those sharp turns on the edges of cliffs and inches from walls lining some roads. Somehow, we got there. Italian drivers..
We found the place recommended, and got seated right away. We all ordered individual pizzas- not realizing they were FULL sized pizzas. Like, large Dominoes type. For a number of people. Nope, these were all for us. Luckily, they were SO good! Sadly, most of us finished our entire pizzas- myself included. Halfway through, Michelle knocked her water over onto my pizza. The second half was all soggy! We laughed about that for probably ten minutes straight! There are pictures. :) After dinner- wait, no- I completely forgot to mention the fact that as we were looking for a restaurant for dinner, we stopped and got gelato. Guilty! The bus back to Anacapri was scarier than the bus there. We were SMASHED in and barely fit. Brittany C. was literally hanging from the bar above the door. If she leaned on the door, she would have fallen out and been cake the way he was driving. We all were grasping onto her and each other, packed in like sardines, and crossed our fingers! Oh, to be on land! We quickly got off the bus, walked around a little more, got some more gelato (yes, really- you don’t understand HOW good this stuff is here!!), and went back to our hotel. Bedtime!
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