Rome Trip Part III

OK, I promise this will be the final post about our trip to Italy! We drove the four hours from Rome to Sorrento encountering crazy traffic the entire time. I am so glad Hyrum was driving and not me!!! We got to our apartment rather late so Tuesday evening we just went right to bed.

Day 6: Julian is usually the first one up when we are on vacation and Hyrum is always so great to take him for a walk in the stroller and let the rest of us sleep. The plus side of this is that Hyrum always knows his way around the town we are staying in because of his morning walks with Julian. He found the grocery store, a yummy bakery and the town center...all of which came in handy while we stayed in Sorrento.

We walked around a bit in the town of Sorrento but our main goal for this day was a trip to the island of Capri. We hopped on the ferry boat in Sorrento and enjoyed the 45 minute trip across the Bay of Naples. Once in Capri we took a bus (once again a life threatening experience!) to the town of Anacapri. From this town we decided to take the chairlift up to the top of Monte Solaro. This was a one person at a time sort of chair and the boys weren't allowed to go up by themselves so I took Townsend while Hyrum hung out in the town with Emerson and then we switched. It wasn't ideal to split up like this for 2 hours but the view from the top was simply amazing and I'm really glad we did. After our adventure we took a bus to Capri Town and walked around a bit and enjoyed window shopping around the very expensive boutiques. We took the funicular back to the boat dock but had just missed a ferry so we had 45 minutes to wait. Lucky for us we were right next to the water so the time flew by as the boys played in the waves and threw rocks and sticks in the sea. What a wonderful way to end a fun day!

A view from Sorrento

The boys bought these swords in Rome with money they had saved up. It was great they had something to do while we waited for things...like the ferry boat. I love Emerson's pose in this photo, what a crazy boy:)

Our ferry boat trip to Capri

Townsend and I 1,900 feet up at the top of Monte Solaro. You could see around the entire island of Capri as well as across the Bay of Naples to the big city of Naples and we could even see Mt. Vesuvius looming in the distance.

Family photo in Anacapri

The boys by the water waiting for the ferry to take us back to Sorrento

Playing "chicken" with the waves and throwing rocks in the water

Julian LOVES water. It was all we could do to try and keep this little man dry:)

I like this picture because it reminds me of how dogs stick their heads out of the window of a car. The boys loved the trip back to Sorrento and, as you can tell, loved the fresh cool air from the sea.

Day 7: While in southern Italy we had to visit the ruined city of Pompeii. I wrote a report on Pompeii when I was in 8th grade and the whole time I was walking around I kept thinking, I would have never dreamed in 8th grade that I would actually get the chance to visit this city. It really was amazing. To realize the buildings and frescoes and tile floors were created 2,000 years ago is mind boggling. I mean, Christ was around when Pompeii was prosperous...how cool is that? The boys once again loved exploring all the ruined houses. They looked at the city as one giant maze that needed to be solved and they were determined to look in every corner and through every door.

The streets of Pompeii were flooded every morning to wash away the grime of the city. These stones were placed as crosswalks for pedestrians when the streets were wet. The boys loved these stones and hopped across each set we came upon.

Some of the victims of Mt. Vesuvius's eruption were preserved in the moment of death. These casts were simply amazing to see, to imagine what their final moments and thoughts were before the ash engulfed them completely.

Food vendors would display and sell their food in bowls which they placed in the holes on these counters, sort of an ancient type of fast food...would you like fries with that?

The frescoes were probably the most fantastic part of Pompeii. To see something that old completely preserved was wonderful and awe inspiring.

After Pompeii we headed over to Mt. Vesuvius, the volcano whose ashes and pyroclastic flow sealed and preserved Pompeii so wonderfully. It was a short hike to the top of the volcano where we could look down into the crater and ooh and ahh over the steam rising up from the center.

Daddy, Townsend and Julian at the top of Mt. Vesuvius

Can you see the steam rising from the crater?

Family photo on top of Mt. Vesuvius. The boys kept hoping they would see lava flowing out of the volcano but we just weren't that "lucky" I guess!

Day 8: We packed up and made the four hour drive back to Rome to drop off our car and catch our airplane. What a fun and memorable vacation but at the same time we were happy to be on our way home. Thanks for the memories Italy!

At the airport, all tired out and ready to go home:)