Friday 21 August 2015

Cala Gonone

Oh ya! New ball :)))

Crazy storm in the clouds
This morning we woke up, got packed and drove straight to Cala Gonone! On our way there we stopped at a beach and I bought a soccer ball :) Got to keep practicing! When we got to our beach hotel straight away I got straciatella gelato ,which was delciouso! After we got into our rooms. We're staying in a whole different building than Nana Mary, but we worked it out and got settled! There was a little patio and I played soccer on it and I got 69 juggles *guitar plays in background*! After soccer everyone went down to the beach and swam for a bit. Then we went for dinner. For dinner we went to a really nice restaurant and sat outside under a huge tree.... Oh wait I forgot to mention the crazy thunder storm happening far away from us but we can hear and see it! So we went to this restaurant and the people were crZy for Nana Mary who is now called Nonna Maria! For dinner I had pizza, again. We just ate dinner and socialized and then went home to bed!:) 

Fun Fact:  You could see lightning happening only in the clouds in the far away storm.

Welcome to Sardinia!

Paolo Angeli, Sardinian guitarist

Listening to the music while sitting in the water

The water was so warm!
Today we woke up and got our driver Stefano (from uber that we had before in Rome) to drive us to the airport and we flew to Sardinia!!! Once dad picked up our rental car we drove for about an hour until we got to our resort in La Caletta.  The hotel was nice on the outside and the pool looked pretty decent and......the inside was just as good! Mia and Nana Mary had a room and me and mom and dad had one! The first thing we did was jump in the pool and then Mia and Nana and I went to the beach. To get there it was crazy cat, climbing fences, and getting lost! But we got there annnnddd then I lost them so I walked back to the hotel by myself. And soon followed Mia and Nana! Then we chilled for a bit before we went to check out a bit more of the city.  Down by the water there was an old tower and we went there to see this famous Sardinian guitarist. He was really good! We had dinner across from the beach and I had pizza as usual! Finally at night Nana took us out and we explored a market but didn't get anything except candy. I have a feeling Sardinia will be great! 

Fun Fact: Nana Mary got stuck on the top of the fence and couldn't get down!

Monday 17 August 2015

The Colosseum

Our window looks out right on the COLOSSEUM!!!!
Coolest Nana ever

Inside the Colosseum at night

Today we woke up packed our stuff...and had to lug it up all those stairs to the road. Like, hundreds of stairs and all our heavy bags!!!! No problem for me though :))) At the top we met our personal driver, Roberto, so he could drive us to the train station in Salerno. The whole drive no one said anything:? When we got to train we said our goodbyes to Roberto and hopped on the train to Rome! The whole train I listened to music on dad's phone because my iPad was being dumb :(( But dad has some good songs :) When we arrived in Rome we got a taxi to drive us to where we were staying. While checking in some crazy guy from England was freaking out because he said they were scamming him which they weren't....he was just crazy! After a long time of watching the "scam" business, we finally got into our room....andddddd it is amazing! The view is crazy! It is the Colosseum! The one and only right in front of our eyes! As close as you could get with a hotel! We got settled for a bit.....and then.......the coolest person I know came into the room! It was none other than the one and only....NANA MARY! Yayayayuayayayayayayayayayyayayayaayay Celebrate good times come on! Dooo Dooo Dooo Dooo! Celebrate good times! Nana is with us for the rest of the kid's trip!!!!!! We got settled and told stories to Nana! After chillin for a bit we went for dinner and saw the sunset over the Colosseum! For dinner I just had spaghetti:) After rushing through dinner we made it just in time for our night tour of the Colosseum! Which was awesome! We got to see all around the Colosseum, like where the fights were held and where the people would sit to watch the fights! We even went under where they fought and saw where they kept the slaves and did work! Also there was an area where there were things that were like 3500 BC (Before Christ)!!!!!!!! It was so crazy and awesome! After the amazing tour of the Colosseum we went back to the house and I face timed Nic and we played games and then we went to bed! Another day in Rome is always good!

Fun Fact: The Colosseum is from 80 yeah 80 as in it is 2015 right now and take away all that and make it 80 that's when it was made! But 3500 BC is crazier! It's like -3500 so before they started counting the years!

Friday 14 August 2015

THUNDERSTORM Amalfi style

Hiking down to the sea

Swimming on the Amalfi Coast

At Villa San Michele

Everybody! RUN FOR COVER!!!
This morning we woke up, had breakfast and then left for (our big joke) to find a swim area! First we went along this crazy path that lead us down the steep mountain. We finally hooked up to the main road and saw a Best Western hotel. We thought they might let us use their pool and wifi if we stayed for lunch, but they said no. So we continued our walk for a long, long time to a different hotel we could actually go in! We had some delicious grilled fish for lunch in their restaurant that overlooked the sea.  Then Mia and I finally got to go swimming in the ocean. The ocean was crazy! It was raining and there were these kids from Texas and they were so funny:) After we went to take a bus back up to Ravello but none came.  For two hours the whole time we just sat there at the bus stop. There was a huge thunder storm and lightening coming and it was raining so hard! Finally after two hours this nice guy got us a bus and we had to crouch in the front of the bus until we got to Ravello! At Ravello we got wifi for a bit did some planning and then...the storm came! And we had to run!!!!!! For!!!!!! Our!!!!!!!!! Lives!!!!!!!!!! Wind was fasting in our faces! Thunder was pounding! Lighting was striking! Raining was pouring! And we were running! Finally we got back to the room and cleaned up, hid from the storm, then went to bed! Today was gr8! 

Fun fact: I lost 3 bouncy balls today :)

Thursday 13 August 2015

Hamid Drake in Ravello

Just chillin with the locals!

Getting ready to hear some JAZZ!
The "road" to our apartment!?!?

The main piazza in Ravello

Hamid Drake on drums and Pasquale Mirra on vibraphone

This morning we woke up, packed up all our stuff and brought it up to the pool. Then we went for one last swim, had lunch, and said good bye to Villa Ketty! We were driven to the train station and then picked up by a personal driver named Roberto! Roberto drove us for a long time till we got to the tiny village where we were staying, Torello, a little section of Amalfi! On the drive there were three stops. The first one was to stop and get a picture with the view of Positano! The second we stopped to get lemonade and the people were crazy! They kept giving us free grapes and peaches and whenever we took one they would go "hey!" And everyone would laugh! It was so crazy but a great experience! The last stop was in this strange underground cave! We went on a little boat tour through this grotto and it was another great experience! We finally arrived in Torello and said goodbye to Roberto. There were people waiting to take us to our apartment and the main guy's name was Gweedo and it was like the coolest thing ever! Like his name is greedo like the green guys in Star Wars! I love gweedos! I have a weird obsession. I should be on My Strage Addiction! It's a show where people have strange addictions! I could be on for greedo! If my plans don't work I will probably end up marrying a greedo! Somehow! Idk what I will do but I will some how marry one!<3 <3<3<3<3 

Anywayyyyssss......we had to walk down like 100 stairs with all our luggage until we got to our house! Thankfully Greedo helped us <3. We got into our room and we were immediately sad at how bad the room was: no air conditioning, bad beds, super hot, and no wifi!?!! But there were two showers and we had an amazing view so that was good :)))) After Greedo left I took a shower on our patio outside naked! It was very nice! Thankfully no one saw me! After my shower we chilled for a bit and then walked up around 480 stairs to the main square in Ravello. At the square we got our tickets for the big Hamid Drake show! The whole reason we came to Amalfi! First we went into the big stage are where Hamid was playing and it had an amazing view! The opening show were these awesome guys playing music with bongos and xylophones and singing and they played for an hour. When they were over we went back in the square and I got a Fanta. I played soccer with some kids in the square and wrecked them! But then they had to go and I played with these other kids who were crazy and just talked to me in Italian! Then we went to see Hamid Drake! He was awesome on drums and had a partner playing a vibraphone and they played for so long and I think I fell asleep because it went till midnight and of course they got a encore and we didn't get home till one! And of course we had to walk back down all those stairs to our village and we didn't even see another human. Today was awesome!
Fun fact: My dad knew Hamid Drake because he did some music thing with him and we got to talk to him after the show.

POMPEII

Pompeii
Checking out the ruins
Fascinating information!
Drinking from the ancient water fountain in POMPEII!!!!
This morning we woke up and were immediately amazed at how awesome the breakfast at Villa Ketty was! So many new, fresh foods!! Unfortunately, they weren't really things I like. So my breakfast consisted of a croissant, another croissant, an egg, and then a peach, a nectarine, a plum, another plum, a pear, and twelve strawberries! 

 After a fruity breakfast we went to see the world famous...POMPEII!!! Ay Ay oh Ay oh Ay Ay oh Ay oh x 2! We took a train and right when we got off was none other than Pompeii!!! We were ready to walk in buttttt then we saw the line up of around 200 people! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHGHGHGHGHGH!!!!! We made mom and dad wait in line while Mia and I got slushies :))) Finally we got to the front of the line and went into Pompeii. We explored all of Pompeii and it was amazing. Crazy artwork that survived the catastrophe! Dead people! Colosseums! Pyramids! And other really awesome stuff! My favourite was probably the dead people.

After exploring all of Pompeii, we took the train home. When we got home we did the usual: swimming, chilling, and just anything, really. For dinner we got a pizza from the same place as yesterday, but a guy came and delivered it on a little scooter with a wooden delivery box strapped to the back of it. We also watched the sunset which was very beautiful. Then we went to bed!


Fun Fact: At Pompeii, I figured out a way to strap the audio guide to my hat so I could listen to it without holding on to it. Pompeii was really cool.

Saturday 8 August 2015

Vico Equense

The road to get to our villa
Villa Ketty pool

Metre long pizza...ya!
This morning we woke up really early, had breakfast, packed up and walked to the ferry station. The ferry took an hour to get to Naples, and the whole time I listened to music and made videos....like always! After the ferry, we took a taxi to the train station. The train was about an hour like the ferry and the whole time I did...none other than listen to music and make videos! When we got to Vico Equense we started walking to our villa, butttttt it wasn't the right direction and it turns out we were on a road completely underneath it. If you looked way up you could see a umbrella for our place! So one of the owners Antonio came in his car and brought us to his place and he thought it was the funniest thing. Anyway, we checked Google maps and it told us it was the way! And booking.com! We were amazed at how beautiful everything was at the villa. There is an amazing view and a pool and drinks and it is just incredible! We went swimming for a bit and we met these kids, Jack and Harry from England but they were just leaving! We said goodbye to Jack and Harry and did a bit more swimming. After we dried off and settled in, we got driven to a pizza restaurant which is owned by the owners of our casa! Since our family is crazy, especially Mia, we ordered a metre long pizza! And we almost ate all of it! After eating, the main owner of everything let us take pictures in the kitchen where they actually make the pizzas in the wood ovens! It was really great! When we got home we just chilled for a bit and then went to bed! It was a pretty awsome day! 

Fun Fact: The Englanders were trying to swim the whole length of the pool under water! After a bit I did the whole length of the pool....and back! Underwater! And they were amazed with one length! They should have seen two lengths!