Naples and Florence

Hi everyone, so here is a short attempt to share with you our last week or so since I haven´t got much time to blog right now....

Naples, Italy

We spent just two days in Naples. We had been hearing rumors that it was a really dirty city and they were all true. It was terribly filthy. As we walked from the station to our hostel we passed piles and piles of garbage just lying on the street. One street was even blocked completely because it was filled with trash from one side to the other. We were in shock. At least we were relieved when we reached our hostel, The Welcome Inn, and it was nice and clean. We ventured outside of Naples to go see the famous site of Pompeii which was the ancient civilization that was destroyed by the volcanic eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 A.D. Pompeii was fascinating. We saw preserved shops, streets, homes, kitchens, a theatre, and some tombs. In one of the tombs we even got to see a preserved body of a Vesuvius victim. It was cool but SO creepy...   After Pompeii we headed to the Sorrento, a town along the Amalfi Coast of Italy. It was beautiful, we swam at the marina, ate a picnic dinner, and then headed back to Naples for the night.

Florence

After Naples we headed to Florence. We stayed at Michelangelo Campground just outside the tourist district. Our campground was on top of a hill overlooking the city so we had the most beautiful view of Florence. It was a fun city. We toured for two whole days... saw the Santa Maria del Fiore Cathedral, which is the 4th largest in the world. It was pretty but not much compared to St Peters in the Vatican. We walked along the Ponte Vecchio, which is the famous bridge of Florence. Its one of only three bridges in the world that has functioning shops and stores on it. Its also the only bridge in Florence that was not destroyed by the Nazis during WWII. We learned that originally the bridge shops were occupied by butchers and fishmongers. They would clean their goods and dump the remains into the river, which flows west to Pisa. This caused Pisa´s water to become very polluted. After decades of pollution, the Florence officials finally realized the problem. So they created an edict that only goldsmiths and jewelers were allowed to own shops on the Ponte Vecchio. So to this day, all you see along the bridge as you walk in to Florence, is jewelry shops. It was really interesting. Florence is the birthplace of Michelangelo so the original David is here. The museum was too expensive but we ate at the restaurant outside it. Our first official Italian meal... spaghetti with meatballs and a regina margherita pizza. It was SOOO GOOD. Florence is also home to Dante, as in Dante´s Inferno, so we saw his house. Our favorite time in Florence was the Mercato Centrale. It was a huge food market in the heart of the city. We saw a meat stand selling cow hearts and tongues and pigs feet... lots of cheese, wine, and olive stands, fruit stands, and BREAD of every kind. We got to sample a lot of things and ended up buying some things to take with us. It was all so delicious. The best thing we´ve discovered in Italy is the GELATO. We had some coconut, mango, and pina colada in Florence. Its so much better than ice cream back home, we love it.

Got to go catch a train now but we´ll try to write more soon about Venice as well. We are now in Munich and heading to Vienna today. We´re having a great time and loving every minute of it. Thanks for all your continued prayers. We love you all and miss you very much.