Day 2: February 10

The day started 31,000 feet in the air, as our flight to Frankfurt cruised over the Atlantic.

While it may have seemed too late to do anything but sleep, personally my mind was still

adjusted to Evanston time, which would make it 5:00 pm. So, I took the time to catch up

on the latest Hollywood blockbusters featured on Lufthansa Airlines and waited until our landing.

Once we arrived in Frankfurt, we headed straight to our gate, all the while becoming 
engulfed in the magnificent scents of the numerous bakeries. We all seemed to end up eating at

the same stand, which featured a delicious (and affordable) selection of sandwiches,

pastries, and smoothies. Overall, the Frankfurt food selection earned a fantastic score of 8.8/10.

The flight from Frankfurt to Rome seemed to fly by. Not only was it just below two hours

in time, but I fell asleep as soon as I touched my seat. The highlight of the flight had to be

that we got to walk onto the plane from the tarmac, which gave a feeling like we were A-listers.

Immediately after reaching Rome, we loaded ourselves onto the bus for a four hour drive to

Sorrento. I know this may seem boring and energy-draining, but I felt it to be the opposite. I

spent a large part of the drive just observing the scenery around me, studying the beautiful

landscapes unlike any I’ve ever seen. I was especially astounded by the incredible sizes of

each mountain we passed. These peaks spiked into the clouds, which reminded me of Mount

Olympus in a way, because these mountains seemed like pathways to the Roman gods.

The rest-stop we stopped at was better than anything I had ever seen. Not only did it have

your classic chips, drinks and candy, but it also featured an entire fresh bakery full of pizza,

pastries, and sandwiches! I’m not talking 7-11 type food here, these were restaurant quality

meals that they made in front of you. It was a great energy boost and an awesome break away

from the van. Also, they had a sweet cowboy hat with the Italian flag as the design, I just couldn’t

get myself to spend that type of money.

Once we came close to Sorrento, we began to go further and further uphill, until we had

reached the top of the hill and were able to look down on Napoli. The view was stunning, one of

the coolest I have ever seen. So we all stopped to take photos to capture the beauty, as the sun

was also setting as we were doing this, adding to the beauty.

Finally, we were able to reach the hotel, and got settled into our rooms for a bit and got ready to

go to dinner.

In order to get to dinner, we walked through the streets of Sorrento, surrounded by shops and

light displays. I was extremely surprised to see the casual nature an Italian holds when walking

the streets, expecting cars to stop for them, even without much warning. It reminds me of India

to an extent because of the lack of fear people have in walking in front of cars. I have never been

to India, so I have never experienced this, but my dad goes often, and is always talking about

how strange the driving is there, because nobody seems to have any fear of getting in an accident.

So while Italy doesn’t seem to be to that extent, it still amazes me to see their lack of fear.

The dinner we had was delicious. First, they brought out baskets of bread and plates of freshly baked

pizza crust with olive oil on it, which were incredible. For something so simple, it surprised me

as to how much I liked it. When it was time to order our dinners, we each ordered a pasta dish, and

everyone assumed the ordering was over. Then, the waiter kept going, describing a second set of

entrees we could order, based around a meat dish or a soup. This dinner was incredible, and you could

tell by the look on everyone’s faces that this was a meal to remember.