Today was a lot of fun. We got up early, the ship docked on time, and the four of us made our way via bus and train to Pompeii. We arrived five minutes before they opened the gate to the ruins. It couldn't have been more perfect from a timing stand point. We bade David and Linda goodbye, and started our audio tour (again a free Rick Steves thing). The place was practically empty, and our tour led us through some of the back streets, so we didn't really see any crowds for an hour and a half.

The city of Pompeii is quite impressive . It differs from the ruins we've seen up to this point both in scale and detail. There is literally an entire city to explore. And you almost don't need the commentary of a guide to recognize that this was someone's brick oven, courtyard, or living room. We saw public baths, walked down streets lined with shops, and toured houses complete with shrines and frescos. There were many mosaics to enjoy, but the ones that Bryan got the most amusement out of were the "Cave Canem" (beware of dog) mosaics at the entrance of a couple of the houses.

We wandered through the streets, listening to info about something here, peeking in to discover our own sights there. It was a great way to spend the morning. And with a little cloud cover, I was feeling up to exploring! I was impressed with the ingenuity of the Romans. The city was destroyed when Mt. Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD, but the technology they were using was pretty good. I was most taken with their ability to use water. The streets were sunken (or the sidewalks raised, depending on how you look at it) to allow water to flow through them so that they could clean them. The "crosswalks" were stepping stones that would allow pedestrians to cross the streets even when they were flooded. They also used water tanks hidden in arches to help pressurize the water flowing through the (lead) pipes to the individual residences.

Anyway, we had a really good time . And we occasionally would see little lizards skittering over the stones. :) We ended our tour in the auditorium they used for the gladiators. Then we walked back out to the main entrance and caught the metro back to the part of town we'd started in.

We found a McDonald's to try and post to the blog. Imagine if McDs got full of itself and decided to be a food court. That is where we were. But the Internet would only work if you had an Italian cell phone. :( So we kept looking. Now, I am told that there is a nice part of Naples. You couldn't really prove it by me. It felt like we were near the underbelly of this big city. There were beggars, pick pockets, vendors with their wares spread on the ground... and nothing smelled very good. So we decided to just hop on a bus and go back to the ship. Lunch time and a nap were in order, after all. :)

We didn't do much before dinner. Kinda wandered around the ship drinking Sprite. Then we had "the last supper" as we were calling it. (Soon we will be back to baguettes and peanut butter, after all.) Our table mates swapped email addresses with us, and after the Baked Alaska, we went our separate ways.

The evening was spent by alternating walks on the promenade with packing our bags. We are ready to leave the ship behind and continue our trip. :)

Tomorrow: Rome!

I had really enjoyed Pompeii on my previous trip and found that I enjoyed it even more this time around. Our audio guide was good and informative and it is just fun to explore the streets and alleys of an ancient city. Getting there early was a real bonus as the streets were pretty empty for most of our explorations. It was quite a bit more crowded as we walked out as the site was really starting to fill up. Visiting Pompeii is definitely a good thing for your bucket list.