Adventure 7: Adventure time!!!

Destination: Ostia Antica

Expectations: Have an Adventure

Status upon arrival: Stoked

Hello,

Welcome to another post from me, Sherann Johnson, today's adventure will take place in Ostia Antica. Please find a comfy chair/bed/couch, settle in and relax....with a snack possibly. I would like to have you as comfortable as possible as we take off on another adventure, but first please enjoy this first picture of a dog as your host goes through a short history lesson of our destination.

Ostia Antica was once a major trade center of food and supplies in Rome which lies 20 miles away, it has some of the best preserved ancient buildings, mosaics, and frescoes. The oldest remains date back to 4th Century BC. Ostia was first established as a military based colony to protect against seaborne invasions. It later became the main landing spot for cargo boats and soon became a successful commercial center for a 100,000 populace. It later became a suburban getaway for rich Roman aristocrats. Unfortunately, the city began to decay due to silting from the sea, the problem was mentioned by St. Augustine, who passed away there in the late 4th Century. At the end of the Roman Empire the city's population began to decline greatly and the buildings decay even more. Ostia Antica was finally fully deserted during the 9th century because of repeated invasions from pirates.

This concludes our history lecture of the day...now please relax and enjoy this epic adventure! :) What remains of Ostia is a goldmine of ancient history. The historic city is now a massive city of ruins....which made for fun explorative adventures when we visited. The child was brought to life in all of us as we climbed and hiked through the ruins. Luckily it was very interactive and tourist friendly. I had so much fun exploring! It was like bringing my childhood dream of being on Legends of the Hidden Temple to life....but 100 times better! 

What a spectacular adventure we had! Ostia was definitely one of my favorite activities done while in Italy. My high spirits and thrill for adventure was fueled immensely in Ostia Antica, with it's jungle gym like ruins and maze like pathways.

   

Striking a pose! <3 Great pic we took with Bobbi's Ipad. I don't have much commentary for these photos because since I gave you said history lesson you just need to look at these pictures and enjoy the ruins as we did knowing the history of it. 

So, I felt like pictures weren't enough to get the full effect of this place, so I carried around the camera with me a few times and took video. It's nothing fancy but I think it's pretty cool to actually show what this place was really like as best I can on video. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwdXUt7fILc

Bobbi, Cody, Lara, Jazz, Adrien, and I decided to go to the beach after our Ostia adventure. We were all tired from our epic venture around the ruins but we were all in agreement of getting the most out of each day, so we pressed forward and journeyed to the beach. 

I was trying to get a picture of the stylish girl and guy in this picture. I was trying to be sneaky about it also though so that's why the picture isn't a direct shot. There is a little bit of Jazz to the right. 

Cool castle we saw on the way.

Bobbi! <3

So there you go. We were exhausted by the time we reached the hotel but everything was worthwhile. We had a great time in Ostia and a great time at the beach. Thanks for reading! Ciao!

Adventure 6: Let's Go To the Beach!

Destination: Capri

Status: Stoked!

Goal: Have a great adventure

On our last day of travel week the group took a day trip to the island Capri. What a place to go on a day off, all the images seen on Google are even better experienced in person....except for the spending element...not a good place to do souvenir shopping. It's like escaping to a magical, surreal, getaway island that looks like a definite form of someones paradise. Capri being an island we of course traveled there by boat. I did get sea sick during our sail around the island for about 30minutes so Cody took some amazing pictures while I closed my eyes and tried to imagine the boat not rocking, so credit goes to him for some of the pictures in this post. The pictures below are on the boat we took to the island...which I did not get sick on.

Cody and I on the boat. We're on a boat! Whoo! The rocking of the boat was actually quite soothing...like being rocked in a cradle. Haha We wore our backpacks on the front of us when we were walking through train/bus stations to avoid pick pocket's.

We have arrived!

And it's beautiful!!! Fantastico!

Kimi! <3 Cody, Kimi, Bobbi, Jazz, and I decided to take a boat ride around the island and look at the Blue Grotto. 

One of the boats that was docked while we waited for our boat. I love the name Valerie so it was a nice little surprise to see a boat with the Italian version Valeria. 

Here we are. Back on a boat! To the right is Kimi and Lara. 

Off we go! 

Sea sickness aside, the boat ride was definitely worthwhile. I felt like I was in a location that people only see in movies or on postcards, and I never thought I would get to feel the pure bliss of riding in a boat around a beautiful island with the wind and mist from the sea to keep me cool on a sunny day. 

Bobbi, Kimi, Lara, and stranger. 

This whole trip has been even better and more well balanced with one of my best friends. I'm really glad I had him along to experience this superb adventure with.

Then we arrived at the Blue Grotto....and the rocking and the bobbing and the swaying took it's toll on me. I had never experienced sea sickness until then....and never again I hope. We had to wait about 30 minutes for our turn to get inside the Blue Grotto...it was the longest wait of my life. Thank you to my wonderful new friends and Cody for trying to distract me and make it easier in anyway they could <3

Boats squeezing under the rock. When it was finally our turn I opened my hazy eyes and walked my wobbly legs onto the yellow boat to go see the Blue Grotto. I did not want to miss this experience. 

At that point I couldn't take pictures because I felt dizzy so the next few pictures of the Blue Grotto are from Cody. His sea sickness kicked in about 10 minutes before also. So, while he snapped picture I stared down at the beautiful site around me. We had to lay down flat in our boat as we went under the rock and then we sat up and saw this.....

The bright light is the outside light coming inside. So beautiful. The surreal feeling of it was enhanced even more as the men steering the boats started singing in Italian, their voices echoing inside the blue illuminated cave. It was like being in one of those dreams when it feels like your weightless and off the ground.....especially when you have sea sickness. Haha I was able to push through and enjoy this experience though :) Definitely worthwhile. 

I think this picture shows how we were feeling....Haha

Once we were back outside, on our boat and moving again we started to feel better.The rest of the boat ride was like "postcard" perfect. 

We were feeling better at this point :)

So that's it! Capri in a heartbeat! See you tomorrow! Ciao!