Day one with the folks.

My next grand adventure began when my parents arrived! They spent two nights in Florence (where we wine and dined with no regard for waistlines...) and on Friday we rented a car and set off along the coast of Italy). Our Plan was to head straight to Sorrento but after a couple wrong turns we decided to head along the coast and take the slow road (hoping for some spectacular views). Our fist stop was in Civitaveccia where we swerved into the first restaurant that seemed to have a good view. The place itself looked pretty drab, and we couldn't understand anything on the menu but the view was great. After asking the waiter what he recomended we figured out that not only did the place have a spectacular view, but the house special (seafood spaghetti) was one of the best meals we had the whole trip!

We got back on the road hoping to make it to Sorrento with enough time to check into a hotel but unfortunately this wasn't happening. I had heard that Napoli (Napels) was a cool place so we decided to get off the highway there not realizing that Naples is a HUGE city and impossible to navigate if you don't know where your going. After a somewhat frustrating drive around Napoli we finally found a hotel off some side road (I don't even know where we were). Hotel Blanc was true to its name, blank. But it was comfortable, clean, and the staff was really nice. Plus you can;t say anything bad about a place that gives you complementary cappuccino and chocolate croissants in the morning!