PHOTOS!!!
Here are some photos from Vietnam. We just realized we can do this with all of our previous adventures, so those will be coming soon... as for now, here they are:
FIRST, CAMERON'S:

Hanoi

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=12l4bvx3.qjleps3&x=0&y=qxde2l

Ha Long Bay

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=12l4bvx3.ugddsor&x=0&y=-1g0i2e

Hue - where we celebrated Thanksgiving

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=12l4bvx3.11qtyz23&x=0&y=wzsz7f

Hoi An

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=12l4bvx3.er4u00b&x=0&y=-4lzl97

Nha Trang

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=12l4bvx3.55tf4wb&x=0&y=ucsi3v

AND HERE ARE MOLLY'S:
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=14vtlzpa.235p78la&x=0&y=itpoxq

Viet Nam 1 - Hanoi & Intrepid HALONG BAY...
After 3 days of showing Cameron my favorite places around Hanoi, we joined 10 other fun-loving backpackers for the beginning of our 2-week tour with Intrepid Travel, an Australian-based company. Our fearless leader was a 27-year-old Vietnamese guy named Ngan, who grew up just north of Hanoi. Ngan MADE our weeks to come, with his sense of humor and adventure, impeccable English and willingness to take us off the beaten path. We began by heading east to Halong Bay, my favorite place in Viet Nam (and my fourth visit!).
A famed UNESCO World Heritage site, Halong Bay is known for its old wooden fishing junks that have been turned into tourist cruising boats which glide between the tall limestone cliffs and the Gulf of Tonkin.
I was so excited to be back in the serenity of this place, and with a friend who was experiencing and appreciating it all for the first time. We sat back and relaxed on the wooden rooftop deck chairs after a delicious seafood spread of prawns, fish and squid (don't worry, I enjoyed the veggies and tofu). We stopped to explore the "Surprising Cave," which, for the fourth time, was not so surprising, but enjoyable nonetheless (as you can see from our photos!) - it is one of the largest caves in VietNam, full of stalactites and stalagmites in all sorts of shapes and sizes and displayed with ever so tasteful colored spotlights. We then hopped back onto the boat just in time to watch the bright orangy-pink sun go down between cliffs and after about 30 more minutes of cruising, we anchored for the night. The brave ones of the group put on our swimsuits and jumped off the roof, plunging into the warm and very salty bay. What a glorious way to spend the day!
Our dinner was more of the same seafoody mix, but we enjoyed getting to know our group members. We have become quite close with two British girls, Caroline & Emma, who have also just finished university and are doing a similar trip around the world. We were the only Americans, and joined by 2 singles from Sydney, a couple from Melbourne, a couple from Tasmania, and a couple from Nottingham. We young ones went to bed early and Cam & I had the best snooze as the boat rocked us to sleep around 8 pm.
After such a calm afternoon and evening, none of us were prepared for what was to come... We awoke the next morning around 7 to very ominous clouds and within minutes, a torrential downpour that came right into our cabin! Thank goodness we had already gotten up - otherwise it would've been quite a rude awakening! We dressed in the bathroom and could hear the crew scurrying around, yelling in Vietnamese and sounding frantic, although to the two of us water babies, we figured they were just over-reacting and we were merely experiencing an exciting storm firsthand. We jokingly squealed when our door flew open and we saw just how wild the storm was, but then realized that perhaps the rest of our group was not enjoying it quite as much... Just as we emerged from the bathroom, a deckhand saw us in the window and yelled for us to go up to the galley. We packed up our bags and ran up giggling, only to find the rest of our group bundled in bright orange life jackets and sitting sternly, looking at us as if we were crazy. It turned out that the crew had run around, forcing everyone to don life preservers and immediately gather in the galley - apparently the safest place to be should anything happen - and since we were not in sight from the window of our cabin, nobody knew to tell us to head upstairs.
Now, these old "junks" are not exactly the sturdiest of boats. They have many leaks (as we learned) and have little bow coverage should we hit a wave in the wrong direction. As the storm worsened, Cam & I wondered how extensively our captain and crew had been trained for situations like this, and thought that we just may know more about boat handling than any of our Vietnamese counterparts. We were being thrashed around in 4-foot swells and had dropped the "big" anchor, taking the waves head-on. Within minutes, however, we saw that the captain recognized the potential danger our group was entering, perhaps more than any of us actually realized, and took the storm very seriously. Fortunately, we survived unharmed, although most of the windows, pots and "crockery" (dishes) on the boat did not.
Just as the clouds were parting and we began underway again, Ngan told us that we would be picking up some more passengers on the way in - hoping it wouldn't inconvenience us. We all thought surely it would be no problem, and looked around for another boat from which they would be arriving. No boat was in sight, and as we scanned the water, we saw just what he was talking about: two orange blobs floating together, and a lone mast sticking out of the water half a mile away. Castaways! Our initial excitement to be a rescue team turned into worry as we saw that two older women were floating on life rafts and it appeared that someone was seriously injured. It seemed to be a mix of emotions as we got closer to the people floating in life preservers and a kayak - some seemed to be crying, some in shock, and when asked if they were okay, two girls yelled up "We hope there are smokers on this boat!" and showed us the unopened beer cans they had managed to rescue from their sinking boat. Chaos really had taken a toll on everyone, and almost everyone was in utter shock of what had happened. Some were bleeding and their leader had been knocked unconscious for a few minutes. It turned out that this was another Intrepid group who had been traveling together for two weeks - meaning that all of their backpacks, passports, wallets, cameras, etc. had gone down in their cabins with the boat. Only two of the "survivors," as we have called them, had their money belts on with everything including plane tickets.
Luckily, the sun came out just as quickly as the storm had come and gone, and before we knew it we were pulling into the dock to disembark. As soon as we arrived, little Vietnamese women selling souvenir t-shirts and shorts boarded our boat and came up to donate their goods to everyone who needed dry clothing. We snapped some group photos of everyone in their Halong Bay gear, exchanged email addresses to share photos of the raging storm (and survival), and bid our new friends farewell. The first hour of the bus ride home was spent re-hashing the morning's events. Everything had happened so quickly that we were all so incredulous and thankful that everyone had survived. We later learned that 5 other boats had sunk in Halong Bay, there had been several motorbike accidents on land, and many people had died as a result of the storm. Needless to say, we were very very thankful to have been in such good hands; Ngan told us that if we had left 15 minutes earlier that morning, our boat would have been in the same unprotected spot, and probably would have gone down, too. Someone was really looking out for us that day.

On our way home we wearily got out of the bus for the planned tourist stop at a ceramics factory. It was interesting to see how pots and ceramic wear were mass-produced - from the molding to the decorative painting - but there was something very anti-climactic to this after what we had been through only two hours before...


Back in Hanoi, we continued with the planned Intrepid itinerary: a cyclo tour through the Old Quarter in the evening, followed by a classic water puppet show. My second round at this event was equally as confusing yet enjoyable as it had been in 2004; the story was sung and performed with traditional Vietnamese musical instruments and was utterly impossible to understand. Nevertheless, the performance itself was neat because the puppeteers stand behind a curtain and somehow maneuver large wooden and lacquer water "puppets" through a little stage full of water. Perhaps the favorite part of the performance were the complimentary paper fans each guest was given upon entrance; they have come in MOST handily throughout the rest of our trip!

All in all, I really enjoyed going back to Hanoi, a city which I am proud to consider a sort of home to me. Being there during APEC was interesting to see just what a show that place can put on when it wants to. The usually calm green park surrounding Hoan Kiem Lake in the center of town was loaded with illuminated billboards sponsored by Canon with photos of Hanoi saying "Welcome to Hanoi, APEC," and most of the propaganda posters with "Uncle Ho [Chi Minh]" were covered with more welcome banners.
It was fun to re-visit my favorite restaurants and shops, although a bit sad to find that a great silk store and the wonderful young woman who worked there were gone, and my favorite art store had been torn down, where my friend Huong worked. I had been looking forward to finding him, and kicked myself for never exchanging e-mail addresses or anything with him. I did smile as I passed the same old man with thick tortoise shell glasses, sitting on a tiny plastic stool outside his souvenir shop, and I noticed he'd traded his white ponytail for a trendy buzz cut instead. I also had the pleasure of taking Cameron to my old neighborhood: A-2 Bach Khoa. The primarily student-filled area had barely changed since I left in 2004, and I even stopped by my old dorm room. The internet cafe I once "enjoyed" (with fluorescent lighting, turquoise walls and throngs of teenage boys looking at pornography) was still there, and had even added computer monitors for enhanced computer game enjoyment. The "crap stand" (food stall) where I once enjoyed a styrofoam container full of steamed rice, spring rolls and roasted peanuts for 30 cents was there, although my friend Tim (who is now studying and living in Bach Khoa) told me that he learned they re-use their rice! All hopes of sharing THAT experience with Cam went down the drain right then and there... I even saw the same little xeom (motorbike taxi) driver who seems to still sit across the street from our dorm gate, waiting to give students a ride into town. The other day in the Bangkok airport, I picked up a book by Pam Scott called Life in Hanoi, which describes much better than I can just how life goes around that wonderful city. I think Cam has gotten a good taste of Vietnam in general, both the good and the bad parts, and I loved being able to show her around the places most special to me.

HONG KONG -

We were absolutely thrilled to arrive in Hong Kong, where we would be staying for 6 whole days - finally a place to unpack our things and enjoy a slow pace to sight-seeing! We groggily wiped our eyes as our taxi dropped us at the doorway of the Mirador Mansion in Kowloon, where we had booked accommodations with none other than USA Hotel. WELL, the USA Hotel looks much different on hostelworld.com than it does in real life! The Mirador Mansion was perhaps once a mansion 300 years ago, but is much more like a shopping center with sketchy items ranging from post cards and silk to sex toys and fake Rolex watches. I showed a woman who looked somewhat authoritative my confirmation email with USA Hotel's address, and she shoved us into a tiny elevator that only serviced certain floors, and punched the 13 button. We practically exploded out of the elevator, pushed by everyone else and a foul stench, and found ourselves in what seemed like a very poor apartment building. A nice woman recognized our disbelief and beckoned us to a yellow door with a small tinted window, where we were to check in. Then a man took us down to the 10th floor, through 2 more yellow doors, and BOOM, we were in the USA Hotel! Only this place was the size of a shoebox - seriously: barely enough room for 2 twin "beds," and a bathroom the size of half of a small shower stall. The walls were covered with very thick, hideous, floral wallpaper and fake wood paneling. There were no windows, and an air conditioning unit that dripped onto Cam's bed and shot out hot air, but we had to keep it on for some sort of circulation. THANK GOODNESS for the tv, miraculously mounted in the corner above my bed, so that we could again have hot dates with Star World when trying to fall asleep each night. Without windows, or any sign of daylight, it was often difficult to tell what time of day it was!

Fret not, this was the only setback to the HK trip. After a much-needed nap, we ventured down to the waterfront on the Kowloon side, and had the most glorious first view of the Hong Kong skyline. Don't worry, we only took about 100 photos of the vista - complete with an old Chinese fishing junk, red sails and all, as it cruised slowly across the skyscrapers. We also posed with Jackie Chan and put our hands on Connie Chan and Bruce Lee's stars on the Avenue of Stars along the waterfront.

We wandered up to the Jade market, first of many outdoor markets in Kowloon, where we did some damage in the jade and pearl departments. On our way home we hit up the Temple Street night market, where Cam found a fabulous leather bag (to be seen in most photos to come!).

We were treated to TWO separate outings at the Peninsula Hotel, thanks to David Barrett. We got all gussied up in the cutest outfits to come out of our bags, and enjoyed high tea in the lobby, as well as cocktails up on the top floor. We felt quite posh the night we stepped foot in Felix, on the 28th floor, and were treated like princesses as we presented our gift certificate. Within minutes of being seated, the manager came over to ask if we would accept champagne sent from two gentlemen across the room! Tickled pink and feeling rather grown-up, we did as we'd seen in movies, and discretely accepted it, while figuring out who the men were (I would equate them to Bill Clinton and John Britten!)...

We took a day to ride the Star Ferry over to its brand new Hong Kong pier, opened while we were there, and took a bus, then a tram, up to the Peak. Since it was so hot, we were not dressed appropriately for the hurricane-force winds and cooler weather up there, but tried to enjoy the view nonetheless. Through smog and haze, we snapped a few quick photos and walked around as much as possible before nearly freezing to death. We'd planned on walking down, but it got dark very quickly and we were forced to join the masses back in the tram.

One of our favorite trips was to the Hong Kong Art Museum, where our art viewing experience was much more enjoyable than those in Europe. We were lucky enough to catch an exhibit of French artists from the Pompidou called "Artists and their Models," as well as some traditional Chinese art.

All in all we thoroughly enjoyed Hong Kong and all that it had to offer, but I was itching to get to Vietnam...

BAHRAIN -
Really nothing to write home about here. Thanks to Kim, we stayed at the Intercontinental, a necessary step up from where we had considered residing. Within minutes, we realized why everyone's response to "Where are you heading next?" ("Bahrain.") was "WHY in the world would you go THERE?!" Absolutely nothing to see, not even a good souq - trust us, we searched high and low and somehow managed to spend $$ in the one shop we found open with pashminas and jewelry! Other than that, we enjoyed the rooftop swimming pool and room service for breakfast. Night one was spent at the nasty Le Bistro Thai buffet inside the Intercon, where we were the only females in the company of a handful of American military men. Our second and final night, we ventured across the pool deck to the Lebanese place affiliated with our hotel, which was okay but not as scrumptious as what we ate in Dubai. We had planned to wander farther for Lebanese, but after scoping the possibilities with the concierge, we discovered that while we could have our pick of hotel restaurants, why not just stay within the safety of the trusty old Intercon?!
We also must admit that we fell in love with cable television. We found 2 English language channels, one of which was Star World and WONDERFUL. We enjoyed a few too many awful movies to help us fall asleep, including our new favorite, Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle and a couple of cheesy romances. Needless to say, we were ready to go when the time came to fly to Hong Kong!

DUBAI -
First of all, we apologize for the delay on these next few entries... the lack of updates is a sign that we have been kept busy since our time in Praha!
We were greeted at the Dubai airport at 2 am to lines of mostly Pakistani and Indian men, staring at those of us who had arrived in the stifling heat as we filtered out to find taxis. We immediately realized that we could no longer blend in as easily with "locals" as we had in Europe (we also learned that these men usually have no purpose to their visit to the airport!) The taxi to us to The Springs, where we were to stay with Sam, Heather (Cam's step-sister) and Rob's friend. At 4 Am when we arrived, we soon learned Sam had only just arrived home after a night out on the town (Thursday nights are our combined Friday and Saturday night, as Friday is the only day most have off for the weekend in Dubai). After only minutes of conversation, there was a knock at the door and little did we know, our entertainment for the night had arrived. Toby and Martin are Sam's German neighbors, basically the equivalent of Sam's Cosmo Kramer, who had also been out thoroughly enjoying themselves. Totally sober, we ended up dancing to "I've Had the Time of My Life," as well as belting out some David Hasselhoff classics. The night was topped off with Martin trying to the do "the lift" with Molly, while Toby kept adjusting my stance and pushing my chin up and making sure I was looking him straight in the eyes. Clearly, Tobs has seen Dirty Dancing a few too many times! To give you a fair description, Toby is a petit and very charming man, while Martin is taller and very German, and both quite proud to be German. (Martin couldn't stop talking about his little village in Germany, while Toby was ecstatic to return home for the holidays so he could meet some beautiful German women in the town Christmas fair over hot wine.) We went to bed with the rising sun and could only dread the heat we would wake up to. We took a taxi to Jumeriah Beach Club, the ultimate in private clubs, and left Sam contemplating if he was in any state to be driving his pick-up truck into the desert for an overnight and some dune-buggying and ATVing with 20 of his closest friends.
Thanks to Kim, Rob's business partner, we were treated to one of the nicest beaches either of us have either seen. It was perfect and just what the doctor ordered after leaving nice cold snow flurries in Prague and Vienna.
Kim's husband Cliff picked us up after our day of sunbathing and brought us to their lovely old "villa", really more like a palace, complete with wonderful staff and their 2 beautiful sons, Christopher 4 and Andrew 8 months.
The next day was our big desert safari, compliments of Alpha Tours, kindly suggested by our STA travel agent, Deirdre. A white Toyota Land Cruiser picked us up from a hotel location and we piled in with a British couple and a Greek couple. The 40 minute ride out to the desert was unbelievable, passing all the present and future construction sites of Dubailand and Sports City--these places the likes of Disney Land, times a million. The desert was amazing, just as we'd pictured it--tons of sand! Our excitement for our exotic desert safari soon fizzled, when our Land Cruiser pulled up next to 20 other identical 4WD units. We all got out to take pictures, beautiful photos with blue sky and red sandy dunes in the background and the sound of ATVs buzzing behind us. After 10 minutes, all the drivers started beeping their horns frantically and we all piled back in. People with weak stomachs would not enjoy the next part of our adventure, the sand "surfing" as they call it. The driver literally surfed down the dunes, following all the other little white Cruisers in front of us. He would quickly accelerate to the top of a dune and then side-slip down the other side, carefully avoiding the hazard lights of the trucks in front of us, also "surfing" the sands.
Our night ended at a Bedouin camp, with everything from camel rides to Henna tattoos and belly dancing. Molly and I found the perfect spot in a nice little corner, sitting on pillows, and dined on a fabulous traditional Lebanese meal of kebabs, hummus, babah-ganoush, pita bread, and a delicious salad of tomatoes, cucumbers, mint, and little pieces of toasted pita. Yum, yum.
All in all, we both agree Dubai is the most incredible city anyone can ever imagine - literally. It is truly indescribable, but if we had to we would compare it to Las Vegas and DisneyWorld on steroids, each new building bigger and better than the last. If you would like a honest answer, any and all of the latest articles (Vanity Fair) and news programs seems quite accurate in their description of this fast growing city!

PRAGUE!
We touched down in grey, cold Praha (Prague in Czech, a language already bewildering to us) this late afternoon. The sun was setting at 4:30 PM when we landed, and by the time we had retrieved our bags, it was totally dark out. We enjoyed our second taxi ride of the trip, even more pleasurable than the first in London, since it was about 1/4 of the price. Ah! We love Czech krowns (sp?). Since our two roommates were already snoring when we arrived, we quickly unloaded our bags and bundled up and headed down stairs to ask the very cold woman at the front desk of Hostel Rosemary for the nearest supermarket. Five blocks and a very chilly walk later, we found ourselves in the basement of the metro station at the doors of Alberto. We amused ourselves perusing the aisles for dinner to make and goodies that we have missed while constantly dining out. It took quite a while, since we have no understanding of the Czech language and had to slowly evaluate illustrations on labels and put together the mix of consonants when decyphering the differences between milks and salad dressings and flavors of teas. Molls was content on cereal with what appeared to be Skim milk and Granny Smith apples while I had my heart set on meat of some sort. After taking a gander at the meats, I decided I was better off with an entire roast chicken, pre-cooked, than going for the frozen fish or pre-made meals. Feeling pleased with ourselves for finding such delicious treats and at such a bargain, after the euro, we realized the joke was on us...turns out you have to have to bring your own grocery bag! So we loaded up our stuff into the ever so flimsy and small fresh produce bags, all 2 of them, stacked the chicken on top of the 6 pack of 40 oz. Czech beer (which cost all of $1), and carefully balanced the eggs in one hand, while cradling the water and grapefruit juice in the other. Barely making it up the stairs of the metro station, due to tears of laughter, we naviagted our way back to Hostel Rosemary. Some nice Czech hockey players (we could tell by their gates) noticed our struggles and offered to carry our groceries for us.
After our delicious meal of chicken, salad, bread and apples, the only disappointment came when Molls proceeded to pour her "Skim" milk onto her Nutty Flakes and it came out more a consistency of curdled/fermented milk or yogurt. All in all we are off to a great start in Praha! We just hope that the rest of the people of Praha that we will be finding in the beer halls and jazz clubs will be as friendly as our Czech hockey playing friends! Time to go bundle up and hit the sack. Thinking of you all back home...
XO C&M

ROMA, the finale -
We arrived back in Rome with bells on. Following a suggestion from Ricky Tetrault and David Barrett, we headed over Harry's American(?) Bar at the top of Via Veneto, the rather chic area of the city. Dave highly recommended the Bellini's, so €16 later, we found ourselves lounging in the swanky spot, slowwwwly sipping our delicious drinks. Perhaps more enjoyable than the beverages was the ambiance. We had front-row seats to a couple of "performers," who basically sang karaoke with a terrible electric keyboard back up and laptop teleprompter - mind you, all set atop the beautiful grand piano! Picture the couple from Waiting for Guffman who think they are the best singers and actors, and add Italian accents and awful gaudy outfits, and there you have it... I was lucky enough to be serenaded by the man to the "Unchained Melody," but the worst was when the woman put on sunglasses and swayed her head back and forth like Stevie Wonder, singing "I Just Called to Say I Love You." Ohhh we had some good laughs! We considered accepting the invitation of three older Italian men to join them for drinks, in the hopes of getting another Bellini, but we couldn't bring ourselves to stoop that low... Always an adventure!
To cap off our time in the ancient city of Rome, what better to do than visit the Colosseum, perhaps the most widely recognizable landmark of all? Today we walked over to check out the ruins and had a wonderful afternoon taking it all in. How wild to think that this place is still standing after thousands of years, and in a few days, we will be in one of the newest cities in the world (Dubai)! We have thoroughly enjoyed our time in Italy, and really celebrated it with a delicious lunch of olive paste & tomato bruschetta, pasta with vodka sauce, caprese salad and cappuccinos.
OH, and talk about a small world after all -- we just ran into two girls traveling together, one who went to Hobart with me, and the other went to Middlesex with Cam! How nuts is that?! Ciao for now!

NAPLES (PORTICI & CAPRI) -
Only slightly scarred by our odd encounters Wednesday night, we were glad to head south to Naples on Thursday morning. Thank goodness Cam did her homework on HostelWorld.com and booked us a room at the Fabric Hostel & Club, just outside of the dirty and busy Napoli, in a fishing town called Portici. We arrived to the little local train station overlooking the main port, and were greeted by salt air. Ahh, how delightful to be back on the coast! The town of Portici does not seem to be a tourist attraction, and after walking some 20 minutes, I was wondering just where Cam had booked us... Unfortunately, the directions given by the hostel were not so accurate, so we had a bit of a roundabout walk from the station, causing only a slight traffic jam when locals gathered around us and tried to steer us in the right direction. Thanks to the kindness of strangers, we found it up a side alley, and it was not at all what the rest of Portici looked like! It was hip and trendy, with a wild nightclub attached to it. After freshening up, we set out to find some botanical gardens and archeological ruins, supposedly nearby. We walked up a very steep hill for about 2 miles, only to run into the major highway and something resembling an on-ramp, leading up to a hospital. A little frustrated but mostly amused, we turned around and walked back down to the water where we had arrived. We took in the fresh air and watched local fishing boats unloading their catch of the day. When we got back to the hostel, 2 guys from the Mona Lisa and our friend Rosanna (who we'd met in Florence) all arrived, and we were thrilled to see some familiar faces.
Since Napoli is where the Margherita pizza originated, we set out to find a few for dinner, and stumbled upon bottles of vino rosso for only 1 euro each! After dinner at the hostel, our new friends Mark and Derrick from CA taught a few of us a cork game in which we had to recite a rhyme: "I'm number __ spot, I've got __ spots, how many spots does number __ spot got?" It is a little confusing at first and hard to describe, but we had lots of laughs and will attach a picture if possible.
Friday brought summer weather and a trip to the island of Capri. Oh it was lovely! (My favorite place so far...) We took a train to Sorrento, then a ferry to the island, and were immediately entranced by the sunshine and beautiful vistas everywhere. The houses were whitewashed and stacked up on the cliffs of Capri, overlooking the Mediterranean, with colorful flowers and lush palm trees scattered in between. We decided to splurge on lunch and sit in a nice restaurant with the BEST view in Capri town. We did not, however, realize just HOW much we would be splurging... Poor Cammy was thrilled when the waitor told her the special of the day was a lobster pasta for a mere 13 euros, only to find out when we got our bill that it was THIRTY instead! Oops! I must say, however, it was worth all 30 to see the look on Cammy's face when her meal arrived -- wonderful. (Again, will try to attach that picture!) I had Caprese salad and bruschetta, which really hit the spot. After our extravagent lunch, we decided we could not afford anything else on the island, except for a little gelato sampling for those of us with a sweet tooth. We explored most of Capri on foot, going up and down some very steep hills and thoroughly enjoying the views almost everywhere. The main piazza is scattered with glitzy stores like Gucci, Fendi, Ferragamo, Tods, and dozens of jewelry stores that made us drool. We decided to return to Capri once we could stay on a yacht and actually afford to shop!
The ride back to Portici was a little sad after such a nice day (I didn't want to leave), but we tried another pizzeria and finished our wine before heading to bed relatively early.
Today we walked around the real botanical gardens in Portici, but realized that the alleged "ruins" within walking distance were actually Ercolano, or Herculaneum (sp??), and we did not feel up to joining the swarms of other tourists and paying the 12 € to get in, so we hit the road back to Roma. At the train station in Napoli, we were reminded what a small world it is, as we ran into Page Vinyl (sp?) from Duxbury, who had been on the Amalfi coast all week! We are now back in Roma, limping around on a major budget until we get to Prague on Monday...

ROMA!
Rome wasn't built in a day, that's for sure. But we quickly learned to not let the maps fool us, as everything is capable of seeing on foot. The Mona Lisa Hostel where we are staying is great for the solo backpacker, looking to make friends in the tiny living/kitchen space. We were forwarned by Judith of our weird roommate, whom had already upon arrival to Rome, forgotten his luggage on the train! He's from Australia and loves to recite Monty Python and talk about music and sing until all hours of the night, and made for a very interesting stay.
Wednesday was our day at the Vatican. Molly had read in Lonely Planet that on Wednesday mornings when he's in town, the Pope gives Mass in St. Peter's Square. We arrived just in time to catch the end of Mass. It was truly amazing. Masses of people, crowded around sitting and standing, watching the 4 teleprompters all over the square, as the most powerful man in Christendom spoke. We were both moved to tears as the hymns were sung. Though neither of us are Catholic, we were struck by how moving it was watching and listening to the Pope, and I could imagine how awe inspiring it would be to be Roman Catholic and witness the same event.
After Mass, we walked around to stand in the 3 block line to get into the Vatican museum and see the Sistine Chapel.
We pushed through the crowds and meandered towards the Chapel, following signs and avoiding tour groups and the flags and umbrellas leading them. Once inside it was truly magnificent and what made it even more meaningful, was having seen the Pope speak earlier; it really made me appreciate what a truly remarkable feat the Chapel is and the museum as a whole. Our experience that day was very humbling, unforunately it was slightly ruined by the tour groups and the constant "Shhh-ing" by the guards every minute and the murmer of voices. We can only imagine what it would be like to stand in the Chapel, surrounded by the most magnificent work of all time in utter silence.
From the Vatican, we walked over through Piazza Nuova and stopped for a drink and some lunch, so exhausted from the crowds and walking all day. With our bellies full, we walked towards the Pantheon, a rather spectacular sight and much larger than either of us had anticipated. The walk back to the Mona Lisa was rather quiet as both of us were tired from the activities of the day and trying to realize the magnitude and splendor of the sights seen.
The events of our evening, really solidified our view of Roma- an ancient city ruined by the marvels of modern technology. After a short rest in the hostel, we headed to the closest internet cafe. I was stationed next to the last computer, furthest from the door, where an old odd man was sitting. Upon sitting down, the man quickly hovered over my shoulder, watching me open and read my emails. I tried closing all the windows, hoping he would stop and mind his own business. He stopped, but then quickly resumed his interest as soon as I started typing away again, staring at me, looking me up head to toe and then back at my computer screen. As the weird noises got louder and the moaning inceased, I let my eyes wander over to the old mans computer screen. Porn and lots of it filled the screen!! How lovely. I was disgusted and tried to keep a straight face and focus on my own emails. Molls was perplexed as to why I did not strike up conversation and tell him to back-off....she of course did not see his computer screen. There would be no conversation had! My night ended with a poke from the old man, as he had pulled his computer screen into view so that I too could get a good look at what he was enjoying. Scarred from all of this, we quickly ran out to get a Margherita pizza to go and headed to bed, totally perplexed by all the events of the day!

FLORENCE, ROMA
After lots of vino from the night before at Zaza's and a fabulous dinner, we were slow moving on Sunday morning. After breakfast and some time showering we were ready to take on the day. A slow stroll through the markets and some much needed therapeutic shopping, we made it to the Uffizi, our activity for the day. Unfortunately nothing prepared us for the 3 1/2 hour wait in line. Luckily because there were three of us, Rosanna, Molly, and myself, we were able to take turns waiting in line while the others mosied in the markets and along the river. After seeing works by Botticelli, Michelangelo, Carravagio, Leonardo, and other greats, we were feeling refreshed and ready to hit the gold markets of the Ponte Vecchio. (Sadly, no purchases!)
Dinner that night was an amazing array of fresh Italian dishes starting with fresh procuitto, mozzarella, tomatoes, pate, three kinds of pasta, six different desserts, and 5 assorted drinks with each course! We feasted until we were practically rolling each other out of the place (thanks again to recommendation by Augusta Nadler!) and walked home through a quiet Firenze.
Monday was spent on a wild goose chase to find a box in which to send gifts and over-packed clothing back home. Of course the Post Office didnt sell them, so we were sent all over the place looking for some alleged store that did sell them. When we finally found one, we had to fill out all kinds of forms and eventually paid more than what was worth for the box and its contents, and sent it on its merry way. We then said farewell to our friends from the hostel and hopped a train to Roma. Arriving in the late afternoon, we were greeted with warm sun and an easy walk to our hostel. We got here just in time to meet up with Lydia Guild, our good friend from Cohasset, who took us out for our first night in Rome. We had a delicious dinner and had fun hearing of Lydia's travels through Europe, as she is completing her 6 week trip soon.
We spent the day today (Tuesday) walking through Villa Borghese and down to the Trevi Fountain, where we snapped photos and threw coins over our shoulders into the water, to ensure a healthy trip back to Rome in the future. In the setting sun, we wrote post cards on the Spanish Steps and enjoyed a little people-watching. Thanks to a suggestion from our favorite waitress, Dee from Arthur & Pats, we had a yummy dinner at a little place just behind the Steps.