Julie and Jason take on Italy

James and Jason are friends from high school - Jason and his girlfriend decided not to miss this opportunity to hang out with the fabulous Keaton's while abroad (smart couple), so in September, they spent two weeks taking on Italy...

First stop, Pompeii:

The girls bathroom was out of TP. Thanks guys!

Then, of course for dinner we took them to our favorite pizzeria downtown!

Pizza ala L'antica Pizzeria da Michele. Mmmm.

And what's a night downtown without a little gelato!

The next day we were off to spend a weekend on the Amalfi coast! James and I had been wanting to stay the night in one of the costal cities, so we thought this was the perfect opportunity!

First things first, we had to take Jason and Julie out for a typical Italian Breakfast of fresh pastries and caffes!

Pitt stop on our drive down the coast...

The view from our hotel balcony:

Beautiful Capri in the background!

Goofing off at the cathedral in Amalfi.

Oh, and the reason we were all in gym-ish clothes is because our destination was "the Path of the Gods."
This map shows you the path you take- It starts at the top of one city and ends at the bottom of another.At a normal walking pace it should take about 3-3.5 hours. We parked our car in the city at the end of the path, Positano, and took local buses to the start of the path.

Can't wait to get started!

Beautiful views, as expected...



There were vineyards everywhere! I hope they don't mind...

 After walking the path for about an hour, we run into a dead end/main street still at the top of the path and realize we have no idea where to go from there. So, we walked back and forth looking for a path we might have missed and finally, the sun was setting and we decided we should just walk back to the beginning then try to take a bus back to our car, and maybe try the path again another day. But of course, as life would have it, the last bus left about five minutes before we got there so our only options were trying to walk the path again or catch a cab for way more money than we were willing to pay. The locals told us there were signs and if we followed them we should be ok... so we were off. Again. And it was getting late, so we had to hurry!

3-3.5 hour walk take two...
After about 30 seconds on the path we see our sign:

Funny thing is, the first time we missed the sign, and thus missed the first turn because of these little guys:

Now walking in the dark because of goats...

 But, Ah-hah! Another sign...


Notice how dark it is... Five minutes down... Uh...

Oh hey Positano.

 After our long walk in the dark, it was time for dinner:

This is actually the same restaurant we came to with Michelle and Stephen. Cute!

 The next day we had planned to rent a boat and enjoy the waters of the coast, but it was really windy and no one was renting boats, so we just hung out, ate and then headed back home.

During the week, James and I went back to work, and Jason and Julie spend some time in Venice. When they returned we turned around and were Tuscany bound.

You can't go wrong with Tuscany!

View from outside of the city.

The cute city center or Siena

Then we were off to one of our favorite Italian Cities; Florence!

Everbody needs a little Gangham Style...

After walking around the city, we decided that Piazzale Michelangelo was our favorite and we needed to see it at sunset.


Piazzale Michelangelo is a lookout point. It's pretty Magical...

I think Julie would agree... it's truly a magical place!

Congrats to the two love birds!



Celebratory dinner with Florentine steak! Well... not in the picture but that's what we ordered...

Adorable!

After our time in Florence we were headed back down to Naples, but on the way we stopped by one more Tuscan city... Chianti!

We picked Chianti because Jason and Julie really liked a local Chianti wine.

Excitment and relief...

Boys...

While there we decided to stop by a local vineyard.

Do you think anyone would notice if I moved in?

Us with the Owner.

And that wraps up our adventure with Jason and Julie. A few days later they were off. We had a blast with them - it's alway hard to say goodbye to a sense of home. But we'll be home soon enough and we can't wait to celebrate with them again later this year!

Having visitor's from home made me a little homesick... so to my family and friends, I truly WISH YOU WERE HERE!
XO