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..