The Beck's: July 2012

We had the craziest time in Sorrento and Naples! We rented a car to get around in and everyone in Naples drives like a maniac! There are no rules, no lanes, mopeds weaving in and out of traffic, it's chaos, but it works for them. In Sorrento, which is where our hotel is, we would drive all the way up a mountain, just to back out and turn around because the roads were too skinny the farther up you got. This was definitely an adventure and we did not find our hotel until almost 2 am! But we were glad to be there when we finally got there and we had the most breathtaking views from our hotel.

After breakfast out on the patio, we headed out to see Pompeii. Pompeii is an ancient city that has been discovered and restored in the last 50. It was the "Las Vegas" of Italy apparently, and Mt. Vesuvius exploded all over it leaving the city under tons of rubble, and petrifying the city, allowing us to see how people lived back then.


People found in the city

These paintings were everywhere throughout the city

Haka Dance

They found this family huddled together

Preston on top of the amphitheater

After walking around Pompeii, we had some yummy lunch and then, we hiked to the top of Mt. Vesuvius.

My cute little Italian diet coke

Mmmmmmm, pizza

The crater in the middle of the volcano

We drove back to Naples after our hike to walk around this enormous castle and to have dinner down by the water. Dinner was good, and I decided I wanted sea bass, but I was wondering the size, so the waiter brought out the fish head, guts, tail and all to see if that looked good! And he said (in his Italian accent) see his eye and his scales, it's a very healthy fish, it's good, no? Yes great, please go cook it make it not look like Nemo now so I can eat it.

View from the castle

Preston's lobster pasta


Me, Preston, the lobster and Nemo all ready for us to dig in

I almost forgot! Preston had been saying for a while that he needed a haircut, so we stopped in at a local barber shop for a trim. They were so funny! We asked for a real Italian haircut. The shop is a cute little family owned shop, pretty sure he is in the mafia, and as we were leaving he told Preston to make sure he comes back in in 3 months! Ok, you got it buddy!

Before

During

After

We are so lucky to be able to have the opportunity to travel with Preston's grandma and her friend. Our trip started off just a bit rocky with the plane ride. I did not sleep the entire 9 hour overnight flight. Seriously, it was awful, but I was happy with arriving in Rome! We found our hotel, refreshed ourselves and since it was still early in the day, we went right out and took a tour of the Colosseum. What an amazing structure! It's hard to imagine a time when people watched other people fight other people to the death and hey let's throw in some lions and tigers while we're at just to make it interesting!

Inside the Colosseum

Right in front of the Colosseum


Our first dinner out, we shared a yummy pizza

We ended our night with a long walk (got kind of lost) and a gelato. I knew people raved about gelato out here, but I was skeptical, I mean really how much better could it be. Oh My Gosh! It is the most absolutely fabulous ice cream, frozen yogurt ,custard type dessert I've ever had! All of the ingredients are so fresh and it really is sooooo yummy!

Our second day we went to church. It's amazing how the sign for our church looks the same even in another language. The cab driver couldn't find the place, and it's not a regular church building with a steeple, so luckily I found the sign and we were able go to sacrament meeting. Now the day before, when we were lost, we were saying how we wished we had a tour guide with us that could help us get around. Well, since having the gospel in our lives is amazing and the blessings just seem to pour out because of it, I sat down right next to the answer to our prayers. His name is Todd Andrewsen, he is an American pilot for the Air Force who is out here on assignment. He said we were an answer to his prayer because he had nothing to do with his down time this week and wanted to do some sightseeing of his own. So we asked him to join us, and it has been a blast to have him around. It's also very convenient that he speaks Italian and knows the city fairly well. We went to the Pantheon since we were too pooped to see it the day before. We ended this night at the Hard Rock Cafe Rome, and it was a great end to a very eventful day.

The gang at Hard Rock

Sharing a fancy drink

Our third and final day in Rome was eventful as well and the morning started off kind of rocky again. My grandma, who is a travel agent, put together the most organized itinerary I've ever seen. We were really dumb and didn't read all of the details she put in there for our tour of the Vatican, so we arrived and the Italian guards ( who are giant jerks and said they only talk to Italians, not Americans) said were out of luck finding our tour guide. So we ran across the street to a little cafe to use the telephone, made a sign and stood in the pouring rain hoping they would find us, and they did! The vatican tour was very long, but it is so amazing to see so much history! We went through the Sistine Chapel as well, but they don't allow photographs (and the one I snuck in there is too dark to see) and the tour guide talked a LOT in here, so Preston sat down and fell asleep for a few minutes. Again. couldn't take any pictures, so I don't have one, even though I wanted one.