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Carissa's Dream Vacation

- Ok, so we didnt go to Sicily. We both got sick, and the Amalfi coast was just too beautiful too leave. We stayed with Martine and Gianni Irace, family friends in a roundabout sort of way. They own a wonderful restaurant in Praiano called la Brace, which we ate at 7 nights in a row. Their specialties were fresh seafood, homemade pasta, cakes, pizzas, and an amazing view overlooking the ocean. Many famous people, such as Michelle Pfieffer have eaten at their restaurant. Martine was the best hostess ever, and she always made us feel welcome. While staying there, we visited Amalfi, a small town with a gorgeous Duomo (church) and amazing gelati. Our travel there was perilous by bus, with a driver who raced around the turns, honking quickly to alert oncoming traffic. The roads are narrow and windy, on the edge of cliffs, much like Highway 1 by Big Sur. We took these buses everywhere we went on the Amalfi coast, daily cheating death by putting our lives in the hands of insane bus drivers. The Amalfi coast is known for their ginormous lemons, and these lemons help them to make some awesome gelati and limoncello (lemon flavored liqueur). On another day, we travelled to Positano, where the bikini was invented, and The Talented Mr. Ripley was filmed. We layed out on the beach, and while waiting in line for gelati, ran into girls from UCSB. Another day, we journeyed back in time to Pompeii, the site of a tremendous volcanic eruption of Mt. Vesuvious in 62 AD, where the entire city was covered in many feet of volcanic ash, leaving the best preserved roman ruins known to modern man. It was pretty cool. We spent 5 hours with the 4 hour audio guide tour, and learned just about everything there is to know about Pompeii, for eg., their sheep industry, plumbing, cult of the dead, and others...We are now experts on the subject. Kind of. On yet another day in Praiano, we found our way down some stairs covered in vines, and rotting through with rust. We followed a man who macheted the vines away from the trail with a branch he pulle

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