Rachel and Annie= vagabond vixens

So rachel and i are gypsies- we have been out of town every weekend for a whole month and this past weekend we invaded Pompeii, Naples (kinda), and Capri. I must admit that our excitement level for this excursion wasn't too high since we were sick of traveling but we were troopers and hopped on the bus (painful but someones gotta do it). So off we go to Pompeii- first of all, we get off the bus and the temperature has dropped probably 20 degrees and we are freeeezing. Please tell me how you travel farther south but it gets colder (italy is the land of contradictions)? We ate some fantastic neapolitan pizzas which were welcomed with open arms since we are sick of pizza romana. the difference between these 2 pizzas is that Roman pizza is more flat and crunchy while the Neapolitan pizza has a thicker and more doughy crust. Both are heaven (you cant go wrong with pizza)-- Pompeii was interesting. Vesuvius did a pretty good job of killing everyone and preserving the town. My teacher gave a tour of the entire city and went into pretty good detail- they know the functions of pretty much every building in the city. Those ancient romans had fast food joints, brothels, and shops- much like America today! By the end of the tour, i think our toes were on the verge of falling off. We headed to our hotel which was across the water from Mount vesuvius, on a cliff overlooking the water. Richmond always hooks us up. That night the girls went out on the town (vico equenese). Saturday, bri, chloe, and I woke up bright and early to go on our required field trip into Naples. The other gals had a lazy saturday consisting of shoppin and grubbin in Sorrento. In Naples, we went to the Pompeii museum where they had an erotic room (hmm) and they even had food that had been excavated from Herculaneum! I was paranoid the entire time in Naples because I just got done reading Gomorrah, which talks about the Camorra mafia that is in Naples (they are everywhere and i thought everyone in naples looked like they were in camorristi). That afternoon we went to Mount Vesuvius (why people want to climb up an active volcano, i have no idea). The bus ride to the top was scary due to the fact that buses should never be allowed on those crappy italian streets- i swear we almost fell off about 60 cliffs. The icing on the cake was that we had to climb the last 1000 meters to the top. Ok- so I haven't exercised since I have been in Rome and now they want me to walk up a mountain? Mind you, there is snow on the ground because its just that cold. I am not properly dressed (story of my life) but i head up the mountain and about 30 seconds into the hike, im already panting. No worries though, i made it to the top (after 30 minutes of pure torture) although i honestly thought about jumping off the side of the mountain just to put me out of my mistery. But the view from the top was worth all the pain- we were above clouds! it was absolutely breathtaking and we saw the sun's reflections on the water too. Vesuvius was cool looking too- steam was coming off rocks around the top. The last eruption was in the 1940's and they said the next one is gonna be bad (eek). I took some pictures and then peaced out so I could defrost in the bus. Saturday night needs to go down in the history books: so all the gals minus lili and blake head to sorrento to get some food and check out the town. We get to sorrento and find a yummy restaurant with a cool ambiance. Kelsey was looking sassy and convinced the troops to go out. We first head to this karaoke bar where we belt out Grease and some other oldies. kelsey wanted to be sandy and dubbed me as danny. Good times good times...then we find this other bar that looks pretty cool. We try to go into the regular entrance but we get denied and the greasy italian bouncers tell us to go into this other entrance that is supposed to be VIP but its at the bottom of this hill (sound sketchy? cause it was..). But being american girls, we head down the mountain desperately hoping there is something resembling an entrance at the bottom. Surprisingly, we actually get into this club and there is NO ONE inside but they assured us that in 20 minutes " 1000 people in here". Sure...we decide to stick it out because the inside looked awesome. They had carved this club out of a hill and there were white couches and a big dancefloor. So around 20 minutes later more people start trickling in and eventually it is packed. However, i think the median age of the boys in the club was 15- and they were forward, to say the least. You would think that none of them had ever seen or touched blonde hair in their lives-- we couldn't dance on the dancefloor without getting ambushed. These boys were grabbing our hair and being very suggestive with their hand placements. After a while, we all got tired of being molested every second so we attempted to get in the VIP section (it hasn't worked yet in Italy but we were hopeful). Guess what- we got in! It was a nice refuge from the mob outside...so around 2 we decide to go back home since we had to be ready to leave at 745 the next morning. We go outside to catch a cab and there are no cabs to be found. We find this strange so we call the cab number, no answer. Then we ask the police, who first look at us like we are stupid, and then tell us that there are no taxis b/c everyone is sleeping. Just in case you dont understand, this means we were stranded in a different city at 230 in the morning and not completely sober- bad news. We weighed our options and we could either try and get a hotel room for the 4 hours, go wait outside the subway station for the next train (which came at 5 in the morning), walk the 5 kilometers back to our hotel (not happening after the vesuvius marathon), or just keep trying to find a ride. luckily chloe asked our waiters at the restaurant we ate dinner at earlier and they happily agreed to drive us ( with a 30 euro fee, of course). So we all jump in these 2 italians cars and speed off to our hotel. We arrive safely at home around 330- devoid of sleep and money after our insane night. That next morning was brutal and Richmond decided to take us to Capri, the famous island off the coast of Naples where the rich and famous go to enjoy the beautiful views. It sounds amazing right?? well not when your hungover and sleep-deprived...we all get on a ferry that was a little too rocky and ventured to Capri. After another long climb up the mountain ( I never get a break in this country), all the gals make it to capri and its beautiful. yet again, italy delivers. but rachel still wasn't feeling too hot from the boat ride and she had to excuse herself to the bathroom. Anyways, the island was beautiful and there were so many ritzy shops like chanel, prada, etc. that we just ooed and ahhed over since we had no money due to our previous night. we walked around, ate (of course), and then blake, chloe, bri and I went on the chairlift to the top of the island. the views were the most beautiful that i have seen thus far. the water was perfect, it was such a deep blue. Of course, i jumped (literally) at the opportunity to take a jumping picture and it turned out great! overall, i was feeling pretty good considering my previous night. However, on the ride home, the hangover kicks back in and I start feeling miserable- i guess thats what I get.But roma, our homa, greeted us with open arms and i was happy again.