Well, all that's happened since I last talked to you was running some errands, using my mediocre Italian skills, and...what was it? Oh yeah, GOING TO POMPEII!!!!
That's right my friends, today Elizabeth, Melinda, and I visited the City of Ruins, destroyed by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD (For all you people who don't know what happened (hint hint)).
Our day started at 6:00 am so that we could pack our bags to be moved and grab some breakfast before heading to the train station at 7:15. All we brought was what we could fit in our day bag, so we didn't have much to carry. Which is bene.
So we hopped on our train at 7:35 am and headed to Naples (with a nice 35 minute layover in Roma Termini (*pouts*)). The first train was actually pretty nice.
Unfortunately, the train we took from Naples to Pompeii was actually more like a metro (or subway above ground) and therefore, extremely crowded. None of us actually had a seat and it was burning hot and these people kept pushing us and, and...it wasn't very nice.
But finally, we arrived in Pompeii, checked our backpacks and headed off into the ruins.
Now here is a list of things that people seem to care about in Pompeii, at least according to their bookshop and gift shop:
- Sex
- Mount Vesuvius
- Sex
- Frescos and Pottery
- and have I mentioned sex?
Seriously, almost all the their books were entitled things like, "Pompeii Prohibited" and "Erotica of Pompeii." It was really disturbing, to say the least. Luckily for us, we didn't have a tour guide or audio tour thing. Instead, we had Melinda and other people's tour guides, who we sometimes overheard as we walked. But enough of that. Here are some pictures of the really cool awesome things that I saw while we were there.
Do ALL the Renovations!
It is odd to think that these men and women, children and elderly, were all wiped out within just a day of the eruption. Tragic as well, especially when you walk through their houses and see their tables or pottery and most obviously when you see the casts of the people who died, some instantaneously. Though it was previously though that ash suffocation had killed the people of Pompeii, a new theory suggests that it was actually the pure heat that came immediately following the eruption. They didn't even know what hit them as they slept in their beds or went about their business. But they are now immortalized in history, and as true Romans, they would have appreciated that more than anything else.
After we finished up walking through the ruins, we headed out to try and find the museum that Elizabeth had heard about, but were unable to do so. Giving up on that, we bought our metro tickets and took a 30 minute train ride to Sorrento. And let me tell you, it is just awful here.
The view is terrible.
Nah, it's really legit. Our hotel is located up on the mountain side, fairly far away from the actual town. That's alright though because they provide us with a shuttle to get down and back, which is very convenient. So we dropped our bags off at the hotel and took the shuttle to the historical center of Sorrento to have some dinner (cheese ravioli with tomato sauce) and gelato!
We're extremely exhausted, but I'll update again tomorrow to let you know that I got back to Arezzo safely and about how cool Sorrento was during the day.
Interesting Stories of the Day:
- At the train station in Arezzo, some other girls from our program were having a problem finding out if their tickets were right, and when they tried to ask at the ticket counter, they guy didn't speak English. So I translated for them. And he understood me. ^_^
- In Pompeii, they have a ton of stray dogs that live in the ruins, and we kept seeing them around. But what was weird was that they had collars on. When we headed down at the end of the day, we found a sign that explained the situation. The Italian equivalent of the Humane Society has undertaken this project to microchip all the dogs living in Pompeii so that they will be able to be taken care of. Which made me think of my Aunt Dee Dee. (Shout out!)
- Then in Sorrento, we took a lovely taxi ride up the mountain to get to our hotel. And you know what they say about Italian drivers? Well, it's not a stereotype if it's true.
- There was this random band playing in the town square of Sorrento and they were called "The Franciscan Youth" in Italian. And they played contemporary Christian music and stuff and were just really legit.
- We were also offered a complementary shot of Limoncello after dinner. And now I can safely say, "Ew."
A domani!
I can tell you about the places you weren't sure about. You know how you walk through any Italian town and every third shop is a locally run eatery of some kind? It seems the tradition is over two-thousand years old. Those places you see all over Pompeii with round dips in an l-shaped counter were lunch bars. At least that's what Kirk Duclaux told me! :)
ReplyDelete