Synchronized Skating Summer Update
7/17/2009 12:00:00 AM | Synchronized Skating
KRISTI KING AND MARY HALLING PHOTO GALLERY
Kristi King and Mary Halling -- July 17, 2009
(Kristi King) Upon arriving in Rome, I was surprised by how easy it was to navigate my way around Italy because so many people actually speak English. From the Rome airport, I took the Leonardo Express that travels directly to the main train station, Rome Termini, where I met up right away with Mary Halling and a few other Miami students who are studying in Italy.
(Kristi King and Mary Halling) We took a train from Rome to Naples, but we only stayed the one night in Naples because it was just a stop along the way to our true destination, Sorrento. Bright and early in the morning, we set off for Sorrento, where our second hostel was located. The train we took was far from five-star, especially with its lack of air-conditioning, however, at this point we were all used to constantly being hot. The longer we were on the train, the deeper into the mountains we went, sometimes even traveling through the mountain itself. We could tell we were getting closer to Sorrento because, as we looked out the window, the scenes became more breathtaking by the minute. We began to see blue ocean and colorful flowers so we knew we had reached our stop. Our hostel was located conveniently close to the train station and just a short walk into town. After we got settled in our small, cozy room, our first stop was gelato!
On July 3, we headed to Pompeii, which is a ruined and partially buried Roman town-city. Pompeii was destroyed and completely buried during a long, catastrophic eruption of the volcano Mount Vesuvius.
Later that night, after we rested up from a long day at Pompeii, we decided to go down to the marina to walk around. We walked down about 150 steps, which we had to later walk back up, to get to the marina. To our surprise, just about five minutes till midnight fireworks started going off. We happened to come across another group of Americans by the marina as well, so we all enjoyed the fireworks together. What a great way to kick off what would be our celebrations of the 4th of July in Italy.
Happy 4th of July!!! We woke up and began our journey to Capri, one of the most gorgeous places in all of Italy. This island consisted of amazing sights such as the Blue Grotto and beaches that you never want to leave. We took a ferry to reach the island, and once we were there we were excited to enjoy the beautiful weather. Our first goal of the day was to kayak to the Blue Grotto; however, after seeing how much that would have cost, some of us opted to go by boat tour while the others stayed back at the beach.
Kristi and three other Miami students decided to take a boat to the Blue Grotto. While journeying over to the Grotto, we were happy we decided not to try and kayak. The water was really choppy and that would have been one rough adventure. Once we reached the Grotto, we waited for a little boat to come and retrieve us from our tour boat. Transferring from one boat to another while they were both rocking back and forth took a great deal of skill. In order to get in the Grotto, we had to lie on the bottom of the boat because the opening was very small and we would have hit our heads if we sat up. Once inside, we saw this incredible shade of blue reflected out of the water and listened to our guide sing.
After our day at Capri we went back to Sorrento to clean up before going into town to celebrate the 4th. Downtown Sorrento was very active and had colorful lights everywhere. Ironically, the lights were red, white and blue, which we thought was very fitting for celebrating America's birthday.
July 5th brought our weekend vacation to an end since Mary and the rest of the group had to head back to Urbino for school the next day.
(Kristi King) I headed back to Rome because I had a hotel booked near the airport so I could catch my early morning flight July 7. However, I had the entire day on July 6 to explore Rome. During my one day in Rome, I woke up early so I could see everything I could. I recently finished reading "Angles and Demons," so I decided to start my day at Vatican City to get a feel for where certain scenes in the book took place. After paying an expensive fee to get in the Vatican Museum, I was able to see the Sistine Chapel, which was very cool, but smaller than I had expected. I was also able to go in St. Peter's Basilica. Travel warning for those who plan on going: make sure your shoulders are covered and your shorts or skirt goes to your knees, or you are not getting in. I made a few more stops along the way, but my last main stop was at the Coliseum. That was incredible and definitely lived up to what I had imagined it to be.
As my travels overseas have come to a conclusion, my summer is just about half way over. I left for California on the morning of July 8 and I will get to see Stephanie Andrews. Then I will be in Oxford to work/coach two weeks of skating camps in late July/early August. Even though I won't quite be home in Chicago right away, I am excited to head back to the States after being away for 7.5 weeks. I truly appreciate where I come from much more.
Next stop for me ... California.
This is a continuation in a series of updates from the Miami University synchronized skaters throughout the summer.
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