Day of many travels

May 25th

Today we left the isle of Capri by ferry and headed to Napoli. The trip was incredibly easy, clear signs marked the way to the ticket terminal and 45 minutes later we arrived in Naples…where the fun began…

I had done a lot of research in preparation for our trip and knew that their were buses to Pompeii from the ferry terminal, but we had our luggage and no hotel, so we had to get to the train station to store our bags before heading out to Pompeii. So naturally I thought we could take a bus, and there was a tabacci stand across the street, I stayed with the bags and sent Richard to buy the tickets. He came back with two bus tickets and NO idea which bus to get on in which direction or where the central train station was located. Guess what happened? We got in a fight that ended with us taking a 20euro taxi ride to the station with the world pushiest cab driver who tried to get us to pay him 70euro to take us to Pompeii and back.

Once we arrived to the station things cleared up nicely. Signs clearly marked the way to the luggage drop, and after the bags were secure we were free to figure out how to get to Pompeii. We asked at the tourist office and a less than friendly Tabacci vendor, and finally made our way to the Circumvesusian (regional) train line, where we found the bus tickets we had purchased earlier would also function to get us to Pompeii via train. We decided we better get some lunch before heading to the ruins and stopped in a pizzeria for some quick pannini’s, where we learned that even ready made sandwiches take 45 minutes in Italy.

After we ate we took a 45 minute train ride to Pompeii Scavi (the ruins). This was the highlight of the day, and well worth all the trouble it took us to get here. I have been fascinated with Mt. Vesuvius and the Pompeian ruins since my 8th grade Latin class, where the entire curriculum of the class was derived from the history and culture of this lost city. So for me it was really amazing to finally get to see and experience it for myself, I was also surprised at the facts I was able to recall and share with Richard. It was exhausting, I had no concept of how large the city was, it was much larger than I had anticipated. The highlights for me were the Amphitheatre, the forum, the house of Cornelium (it was a rather intact structure with both frescoes and mosaics that remained intact). The entire experience was really beyond what I could have imagined!

This is for those of you who know about Richard's Monumental Tradition

We returned to Naples, which only took us 30 minutes this time, and struck out down the sketchy boulevards in search of some affordable shopping. We found it, between a tiny China townish area and the street vendors, we were able to find some good deals. In the meantime we had been trying to find some quick, inexpensive food, and based on our experience at lunch determined eating at the McDonald’s in the train station would be the wisest bet, so begrudgingly we ate a McDonald’s in Italy, but thouroghly enjoyed it and were surprised at its authenticity. We met our goal of fast and cheap, had our bags and tickets waiting on the platform by 1940 for our 2030 trip to Rome.

Once on board we chatted with some nice American girls (currently living in DC, small world). Unfortunately at the conclusion of their vacation they will be moving to NC…go figure. We sent Luca a text message once in route, so hopefully he will be at the train station to pick us up? We will see.