End of the trip.. and back home..

So I guess it's time for the summary post..

My last 2 days in Rome were lovely. My last day in Italy was a holiday- Immaculate conception day.. (only in Italy..), and not expecting to meet any more people to hang out with, I was delightfully surprised to meet 2 canadian girls who were just in Israel on Birthright and loved it so much that they are coming back for more. We had a great talk about Israel, being Jewish and so much more. As it turns out, the travelling hostel community is pretting small. After talking for a while we realized we have a mutual friend (I met him in Florence and Michelle met him somewhere else.. I forget where..). We made plans to get together in Israel, and I think it's such a fine ending to the trip, meeting people that can tie over the trip to coming back home..

My flight home was wonderful, and everything went well leaving the city, so I won't go into that.. I guess now my next few days and weeks will be telling the stories, and that means I have to think about how to sum it all up myself, before I tell it someone else. I can honestly say that I tasted Europe- Italy the most. I tasted it, smelled it and enjoyed it with every sense. Florence, Tuscany, Napoli and Positano were absolutely my favorite parts of this trip. One of the funniest moments was when I went to the cheese guy (don't know the technical term..), asked for Buffalo mozarella in my lame english. The following day I came back and didn't even have to ask, he already knew what I wanted and we smiled at each other.. I realized that the Italians are very similar to Israelis, and in that sense I felt very close and comfortable with them. So many great moments to tell, and I hope to tell them in person rather than here. Italy was as apiritual a place for me as anything else, and I know I will return..

I'm so glad I took the time, made this a priority in my life and went. The purpose of this trip wasn't to "find myself", sort out my life or anything like that, but to explore these places, see new things and meet new people, see how I do with one bag and no privacy for 8 weeks, I must say I did very well. People are asking me what now-- not sure. I'm still taking my time, bcause now I'm building a new life and there's no need to rush. I'm happy to be back with my family and friends, and I'm very excited to see what this next stage in my life brings- new people, new realizations and hopefully only good things.

every person I have met throughout this trip has been precious to me, whether I met them for one night or for several days. they all made this trip what it turned out to be- fantastic!! I'm sure there's more to say, much more. Right now I'm content.. eating popcorn with my parents, watching "Under the Tuscan Sun" (how fitting..), and in the next few days I get to see all my friends- the ones who helped send me off and wait for me to return from all my little adventures. They are the real true friends that are always there, which is why I'm glad to be home. There's so much, and so many, to come back to..

Thank you all for joining me on this ride, reading up on my stories and sharing your thoughts. Don't know if anything will come out of writing this blog one day (maybe collecting it all and making something of it..), I'm so glad I made it a priority to write something every few days because I now have it forever.. I promise to put pictures up in the coming days and then you can see the pictures that match my stories, and how the pictures tell their own stories as well..

So this has been me- Tasting Europe.. and I did..

Let me tell you about the last 2 days..

I arrived in Naples yesterday, only to find it a little dirty, pissing down rain and not that friendly, and absolutely crazy drivers. We immediately went to the original pizzeria, established in 1870, that only has 2 kinds of pizza- double mozarella or margarita. Naturally we ordered both and had a fantastic lunch. I decided that going to Pompei for the day and walk around in the rain is not something I want to do, so instead I left my new found Australians and went to my hostel.

This is by far the best hostel I have stayed at this whole trip. It was originally an old monestary, the old structure is still there on the outside but theinside is new and has an amazing vibe to it. A beautiful kitchen, a couch with books and a DVD collection and wonderful people working at the desk who smile at you right away and help you with anything you might want or need. Valerio- a guy who works here, offered to make us dinner if we bought the ingridients. He wrote everything out in Italian and sent us off to the butcher and market to find everything. It was a funny challenge- basically going up to vendures, showing them the list of what we need and communicating with mostly hand gestures and smiles. Valerio made us proper, pure pasta with bolognese (spelling?), I made a salad to go along with it with the freshest vegetables and it was a fantastic meal and so fun talking to him about the difference between north and south Italian food and cooking.

Today we went to Positano, in the Amalfi coast. A 2 hour journey from Naples, and worth every minute!! Part of the trip includedabus ride along the hilly coast, really high up, all you can seebelow you are rocks and the water. Absolutely stunning. The sun was shining, not a cloud in the sky and pure happiness. We decided to have a picnic on the beach so we stop at a little market, bought some bread, cheeses, including buffalo mozarella (AMAZING) and sandwich toppings, clemetines and lemon gelato for dessert. Just a peaceful, sunny afternoon, absolutely perfect. I took so many pictures (to be shared when I get back home), just kept finding another amazing view or something beautiful I wanted to capture and want everyone else to see whatI am seeing. This is absolutely a place I plan to return to.

More in a couple of days, right now I'm just happy..

Rome

I arrived in Rome from Florence via train. As the train was rolling in I saw the intense rain I was about to encounter outside the station. Without an umbrella, and knowing that my hostel is only 6 blocks away I decided to NOT buy an umbrella from one the 20 guys right outside the station selling them, and walk. The wetter I got, the better I felt actually, it's funny when you know that you can't get any wetter after a certain point. I arrived at the hostel, and immediately felt that the cold and cough I have been dealing with since London is back..:( So I spent my first day in Rome cooped up in bed in my hostel room.

I managed to venture out for dinner and met a couple of really nice Australian girls, had dinner with them and decided to join them in sightseeing for the next day. We spent 10 hours walking the city. Luckily the rain went away, the sun was out and it was hot and absolutely lovely. We saw all the major sights today, Pantheon, Coloseum, Vatican city, Piazza Nevona (where we had really good pizza and gelato of course..). An absolutely lovely and memorable day. I can't really believe that in 6 days my trip is over and I'm going back home. I'm starting to look back at the different places I've been and the people I've met, and I feel so blessed..

More to follow in a few days, Naomi