Drove out of Rome. Stopped to do some shopping, including trying to tell shampoo from conditioner , a task when you cannot read the language. Each veggie also had to be self-weighed, bagged and labeled- difficult to do if you do not know the Italian for carrot or capsicum. Planned to visit Montecasino Abbey, site of a battle that held up the Allied advance on Rome in 1944. Beware the dreaded siesta! It was closed for lunch from 12.30 to 3.30, but we had already climbed hairpins worthy of a James Bond movie, in a hail storm.

Arrived at Pompeii . Immediately felt it was rip off when we paid 7 Euro ($12) for 2 coffees! Booked into Camp Spartacus - campsite that has been in Pompeii the longest and looks it! Watched our first movie on the lap top - Bonny and Clyde. 7 degrees on waking.

Next day, we were at the gate into ruins at 8.30 a.m. Great - no tours buses yet. Leisurely look at site, awe inspiring until it started to rain, but we had had a good look , seen the best, and walked miles.

Quick back to camp, then took local train to Herculaneum. This town suffered the same fate as Pompeii but was covered in mud and lava rather than hot ash, so much better preserved, several storey high buildings, bones, ancient baths, statues and frescoes, right on the sea at modern day Ercolano.

Some advantage in being "old"! With my being over 65 and holding an EU passport, I get entry to "ruins" in Italy for free!!

We did our best but the cold and rain beat us and we came home, to cook up the calamari we had bought( and frozen) in France. Talked to a German couple who had come south for the warmer weather-ha-ha, actually warmer in Hamburg. They told us again how expensive Norway is, but also that there is tax on beer bottles in Germany so best to buy beer in Austria.
Tomorrow another day , maybe Amalfi coast but not in the rain and it is forecast to rain until Saturday (we sail to Greece on Thursday).