Mt. Vesuvius from Pompeii
Brendan and I went on a day trip today out to Naples and Pompeii. Upon arriving to the Naples train station Brendan got the tickets we needed for a train to Pompeii. We walked down a set of stairs where an older gentleman with one eye gestured us to follow him so Brendan started following him. I said, "what? Do you know him? ("no...") Then why are we following him?!?! ("he said Pompeii!") We need to go find our platform!" We left the old man but then he came and found us and tried to take us back down the hallway before we lost him. We found our train and he was indeed taking us toward it but I'm guessing he'd have asked for money for taking us there so it's probably good that we ditched him... The train ride didn't reveal anything particularly promising about Naples so we figured we wouldn't spend much time there after Pompeii.
Pompeii was really impressive. Despite the rain and long train ride out there, it was a really good time. Apparently the volcano erupted forming a cloud of ash 20,000 meters into the sky laying 3 meters of ash on top of Pompeii. Then a pyroclastic flow traveling around 50 mph hit the town followed by a second one. Then an earthquake ensured the final destruction of all life in the area. Before I thought it was just covered in ash but when I learned all of this I was incredibly impressed to find that they were able to recover so much of the city! Most roofs collapsed but some arches survived and a lot of walls, mosaic tiled floors, and marble counters seem to have lasted. 20,000 people lived in Pompeii, some of which were discovered as they were 2,000 years ago. It started thundering just a bit while we were there so I suppose that kind of set the mood...
After Pompeii we went back to Naples to walk around for a bit but decided to sit in McDonalds after a lap to the Duomo and back. For those of you who don't know, Naples is a not-so-great city. It's by far the worst city we have seen yet. We couldn't even make it to the Duomo because there was a crazy celebration of sorts going on but other than that it was simply depressing. We encountered our first gypsy there and felt incredibly uncomfortable everywhere. People sell the usual crap on the streets (glasses, watches, tripods) but they were also selling iPads and iPhones...? However, Naples is the third largest city in Italy so maybe there is a nice place and we just couldn't find it. It is also the birthplace of pizza so we split a 1 euro (that's right, 1 euro) pizza. I got to use my Italian skills, "quanto costa?" (How much does it cost?)
We headed back to Rome and bought some groceries. For dinner we had pasta with seafood (mostly calamari) broccoli, and Pigno Grigio (white wine). Our new roommates in the hostel are more American study abroad students and I met another WWOOF girl (a 30 year old former English teacher from california). This hostel is a nice place to stay. Anyways, we have one day left in Rome. Thanks for reading!
An old Basilica in Pompeii
Preserved artifacts and a person from Pompeii
The ampitheater in Pompeii
Naples had some crazy party going on outside the Duomo (left) and this is the delicious meal we made (right)
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