I’m going to start out by pointing out that Italy is HOT, and not in the pleasant, 78 degrees/low humidity way that Barcelona is hot. Italy is hot in the 90 degrees/high humidity sense, and being a tourist I’ve spent the last 5 days walking around outside, so I can now confidently report from firsthand experience that if you go to any of the following places during July, your face might possibly melt off: the streets of Naples and Pompeii, the top of Mt. Vesuvius, the streets of Rome, and basically any and all of the major monuments in Rome (the Colosseum, Roman Forum, Pantheon, Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain – you name it, it’s probably outside and lacking in shade). Crazy Italian uber-heat aside, Naples and Rome have been pretty amazing, due to the awesome food (pizza and gelato in Naples, cannolis and gnocchi in Civitavecchia/Rome, coffee everywhere), and to the fact that you can’t go anywhere without tripping over beautiful cathedrals, classic wind-y Italian streets, and the like. Anyway, I’m off to get some more coffee and make a (probably brief) attempt at putting a dent in my pile of schoolwork before heading out for more exploring; pictures below, as usual :)