Day 12: Sorrento & Pompeii...

We were very sad to check out of our great hotel. Before doing so that morning, we had some time to sit out on the balconies and admire the beautiful view.

This is the view from our room when we woke up this morning. I am taking the picture while sitting on the bed. Gorgeous!

Nathan was a bit worried that Mt. Vesuvius might blow again!


We loved seeing the lemon & orange orchards below our hotel.


The kids, trying to spot the ships sailing the sea.

How about this for the most stunning view from your hotel parking spot? (Please ignore Andrew who was sitting in the back without a seat-belt. It saved $1,000. I feel bad, but I am cheap. We all lived without seatbelts, right?)

We decided to go back into the downtown area of Sorrento to see if the shops were open (a lot of them were closed when we arrived late the night before).

I love walking by fruit stands and seeing these yummy lemons. There is just something about lemons that I love.

Janessa got to meet Jasmine. She is the owner of the jewelry box store where I purchased her wooden jewelry box when I visited last time. Jasmine is a wonderful, sweet lady that owns the shop. Every box is hand-made upstairs. They use tiny strips of colored wood to make designs on the boxes. Everything is hand-laid to make the design (although they look like they are painted). It is an art that Sorrento is known for.

Jasmine sells to all of the missionaries and has for years. Her favorite thing is when the missionaries come to purchase a jewelry box from her for their "future wives." They might not even have someone at home, but when they do find that right girl, they want to have a special gift for her. She says she always loves it when they come back to visit, to introduce their wives to her. This is just what we did with Janessa, we wanted her to see the shop where her box was made and see for herself how sweet Jasmine is.

Nathan was enamored by these tiny little trucks we saw all over Italy. He thought that maybe he was big enough to drive one!


We drove to Pompeii after our shopping trip in Sorrento. While driving along the roads, we were able to see so much beauty around us. Including these orange trees that line the streets of the city (even in January!).



Pompeii was fabulous. It is truly one of the most amazing things I have ever seen in my life. I am in awe of everything in Pompeii. I will just post these pictures without explanation. If you want to see more pictures of Pompeii, look at my post from 2008. I am trying to pretend I'm not sad about "misplacing" some of our Pompeii pictures. I have faith that they will show up on a card sometime and if they do, I will post them.