Pompeii, Sorrento and Naples

Ciao everybody,

Last weekend we made it to Pompeii, Sorrento and Naples for our excursion as a big group. We had great weather for walking around. 

Saturday morning we hopped on a bus to Pompeii. As soon as we arrived in the tourist-y base of the ruins, we were greeted by our weekend tour guide.

I'm feeling pretty bad right now because I forgot his name. 

But, he knew a lot about the area and he spoke perfect English. 

We toured the ruins of Pompeii- a 2,000 year old city in ruins because of the neighboring volcano (Mount Vesuvius) erupted and covered the town almost instantly- preserving everything in the end moments. As they uncover it now, it's amazing how much they know about it. We walked through the Roman bath house, the city streets, "restaurants", homes, and gathering places. We saw some ancient Pompeii-ans preserved in the lava rock too. 

I really enjoyed it, and I loved that we were able to see Mount Vesuvius!

The "Piccola Teatro"- the little theater at Pompeii

One of the pillar holders

Mount Vesuvius! 

Some of the items found in the ruins

Preserved in the lava

The Marble/Rock flooring inside an ancient home

Way to brush! The real teeth and bones were still in tact. 

After staying out a little too late the night before, and walking around all day, I was beat. We arrived at our hotel in Sorrento (Which was gorgeous by the way), and my hotel-mates Kate and Ali and I just got to our rooms and passed out for a ridiculously long nap. 

Side note: I seriously need to stop napping. Athens did a number on my sleeping patterns, I feel like taking a siesta daily. 

Unfortunately, I woke up three hours later and it was already dark. Sorrento seemed like a really beautiful little coastal town, and I did go on a walk there later in the evening, but I missed my chance to see it during the daylight. 

Anyway, we had a delicious meal of chicken, rigatoni, and fresh green beans served to us at the hotel that evening. During dinner, we talked about games we used to play as kids, and after someone mentioned "Sardines" the nearly vacant hotel led to a pretty weak round of it. We had to try. I'd be lying if I said it wasn't fun though :) 

The next day we took our bus over to Naples. 

With all the places we've been visiting, I had some pretty high hopes for charm in Naples. And I have to admit, I wasn't super impressed. 

Talking about the ruins in Naples

Taylor and our program leader, Greg. If this doesn't represent the reason why we are late for everything, I don't know what does. We have a lot to see, and unlimited memory cards. 

Old and New

Checking out the famous nativity scenes on  the Christmas decor street

The guys playing Ninja tag- the new pastime

Nuovo Castle = New castle... looks pretty old to me though! 

Naples, Italy is the place that pizza was invented. So I'll give it that. 

But besides the pizza, it was cold, there were lots of shady people, full of business buildings, lots of busy traffic, not a lot to see, and no where to sit.

I'm happy that I can say that I had pizza in the land that it was invented, and that I finally saw a castle in Europe!

 But I'm not a fan. 

We made it back to Rome later that night and all in all, I'd say it was a pretty fun weekend. 

Arrevedierci! 

KP