Overall, today was a nice relaxing beach day with lots of sun and I actually got to read my book! Later in the afternoon, Spornitz (as we collectively call the Germans) came over to the villa to watch the Germany - USA game and have a delicious pasta dinner with us. It was a great time, especially when you go through a bottle of limoncello and almost 2 bottles of sambuca!
6/27
Another very relaxing beach day. This is part of the reason I haven't been updating, it's just been so nice to relax on vacation! The unfortuante part is that my mom and Lee had to leave this morning very early (4 am). However, they made it back to South Carolina safely.
The evening had another fun event. The villa recently had a pizza oven installed, but in order to use it we had to have the villa pizza chef come and prepare the pizzas for us. Today was the first day that we could have him there, so we had a pizza party. He brought out course after course of pizzas, each as delicious as the last. Also, the housekeepers who were helping him had prepared a few dishes for us as well. Along with our pizza we ate eggplant parmasean, a fantastic antipasta, and finally a wonderful dessert. It was a great experience in which the owner, Renato, came out afterward and shared some of his own homemade limoncello with us. This place was truly amazing, and we appreciate everything they did for us.
6/28
Today was an early day. We had to be out of the villa and on our way to Rome pretty early. 3 cars packed full of luggage and people were headed out from Ravello on their way to Rome. The drive was nice, but it was sad to leave the villa behind us. We got to our hotel around 2 o'clock and checked in. We learned of shuttles to take us into Rome and pick us up, which happened every two hours. We enjoyed some snacks in the executive lounge, and made our way toward Rome. We only had a few hours, so we decided to take a hop on hop off bus tour to try and see as much of Rome as we could.
Our first stop was to try and see Trevi Fountain. We got off the bus and headed in what we thought was the correct direction, and after about a half hour or so of walking, we found the fountain. It was such a glorious sight to see that one of our most anticipated stops... Was under construction. The entire fountain was drained and had all kinds of construction happening to it. It was very disappointing, and we made our way back to the bus stop.
One great thing that did happen was that Knud was able to find the Hard Rock Cafe in Rome and pick up a t-shirt for his collection.
We decided that we didn't have enough time to try and see anymore sights on foot so we were going to just take the bus around. We get to the very next bus stop and they kick us out of the bus. Apparently we had to change busses. I still don't understand why, but I know that we did not get as good of seats as we did on the other bus.
The tour continued, but I have to say that I was not impressed with many of the sights. The Colosseum was a disappointment for a few reasons. First, it was also under construction. Secondly, their was an event going on so we could not enter the Colosseum to see the inside at all. And thirdly, the city was built up right next to it as if Rome didn't want to highlight this monument. The Colosseum felt out of place, like an old building in a new world.
We also learned, by doing some research online, that in order to enter the Vatican, you must not show any shoulders, cleavage, or knees. This went for both men and women. So seeing anything in the Vatican was out seeing as it was 80-85 degrees or so. Overall, Rome was quite disappointing.
We got back to the hotel and ate some food. This is where some fun started. First off, as we walked back to our room, the carpet near our room was flooded, and it seemed as if the room across from Shadley and mine was the cause. We decided that we should probably let the front desk know. When we walk into our room, our lights don't work. We inserted the key into the light switch like you are suppose to and nothing was happening. Okay, so we need to call down to the desk. We head on over our Rebecca and Aaron's room right next door to call. Knud calls down, and there is no answer. He called once more and when nobody answered it was time to take a trip to the front desk. Long story short, Shadley and I have a junior suite now, and our lights work just fine. As for the flooding, we still aren't sure what was going on.
One more fun little story. In each room is a mini fridge (as usual). However, everything in the fridge is on a pressure sensor. When an item is removed from that sensor for longer than 15 seconds, the item is automatically charged to your room. So Rebecca decides that she wanted to read this claim for herself (and thought it was in the fridge) so she swings open her fridge door. Well, in doing so three or four bottles of water come flying out. It was hilarious watching her scramble to put the bottles back within 15 seconds.
Well, I believe that concludes the stories of the last few days. We are getting sad that our trip is almost over, but we try not to think about it. Tomorrow we are off to Venice, but not without losing a few more comrades. Grammy, Grumpy, Omi, and Aaron are headed home tomorrow.
Safe travels everyone,
Shadley and Tom
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