May 3rd--Paestum and Orvieto

The Duomo in Orvieto.

View from Orvieto.

Walking to the lookout point.

Me in front of the Temple of Hera in Paestum.

The view in front of the beach at Salerno.

Well, it's another great day in the life of an American in Italy. I woke up in a hotel next to the beach, with the perfect weather, the wind blowing in my hair, and a sweet-a continental breakfast. We left Salerno this morning and started our trek back north. On our way, we stopped at Paestum, which is an archeological landmark with ancient temple ruins. If you think greek, that's what the temples look like. The bus we have been taking is pretty roomy, so people end up sleeping most of the way to our destinations. But even two seats aren't big enough for anyone. I ended up laying with my head towards the window, my legs draped over the armrest, and my feet either dangling or on the seat across from me. I bet God was laughing at all his BYU kids, sprawled out all over the bus like a battle just took place and we lost. Big time. Thinking about what God sees down here cracks me up, because I think a lot of things are funny that other people don't catch on to. I'm glad God understands.

Paestum is a teeny city kind of like Midway, Utah, where the houses are all kind of spread out on long roads. There is so much green once you get out of Rome and it makes me happy. There was a nice restaurant right at the ruins, with a big patio and tents to cover the tables while guests ate. The ruins were surrounded by green fields. I would love to have my wedding there! It was so picturesque but will probably never happen. Just think about pictures by a greek temple in the middle of a field of grass. Awesome.

There was a museum there also, and I took tons of pictures of the artifacts they found at Paestum for inspiration for future are projects. I find so much inspiration in the little things of life. I should start taking more pictures when I get back to normal life.

After Paestum, we drove for almost six hours to Orvieto, this picturesque little town up on a hilltop. We ate a yummy dinner at a surprisingly chic restaurant, and got lost on purpose. Amber and I have decided that we will take pictures of cool doors, gates, and tourists. There are thousands of cute doors in Italy! I find myself trying not to have my camera out at every second, because I end up missing the whole picture. The food in Italy is still not as impressive as I thought. The portions are way smaller, and not as tasty as in America. I think a lot of my dreams about Italy have been shattered by real life. But it's good, because nowhere is perfect. It's still cooler (for a short period of time) than America! I do have to say that I miss America a lot, though. Everything is comfortable, in any city, for the most part. There is barely any fast food here, the markets are fresh (that's actually nice), but have less options. There are no malls, no big gas stations, no corner stores like 7-11. It's good and bad.

I'm a day behind on blogging, but have to get off the internet. I will post later about our trip to Florence. We are finally in our apartments today and will go see the Duomo tomorrow. Ciao bella! Miss you!