Pompeii

Oh Pompeii! I have always wanted to go see the ruins from when Mt Vesuvius erupted but never did. The thought of going to Naples is sort of scary as it is seedy and known for street crimes if you know what I mean. This time I knew we had to go; no excuses. We left Rome around 8am for the 2.5 hour drive. The weather was slated to rain and it did off and on the entire drive. Thankfully when we arrived it had stopped.

Since we really had no clue how to get to the top we found a tour place and bought tickets for a tour which basically turned out to be someone driving you about half way to the top and dropping you off to hike the rest of the way up; which is what we wanted. I won't even complain about what a mess it was to actually get them moving and us to the drop-off point . . . let's just say they said we would leave at 12:30 and did not leave until 1:15 . . . only to be dropped off at another place to wait for the bus below to take us up . . . I was not to happy getting the run around as I had other things to see! Here is our ride which Colin called the Volcano Monster Truck . . .
. . . it was a rough ride but we got there and were given about 75 minutes to get up and back down to the bus. It was not such a great day as it was cloudy but I did snap a few on the way up of the city of Naples . . .
. . . and looking down inside
It became cold and windy so glad we had jackets . . . Colin loved running up and down the volcano . . . oh to have all that energy!
Once we got back to ground level, we explored the ruins and destruction caused by Mt Vesuvius. It totally amazed me at how a total city was lost and people basically cast to stone. Now I must do more reading since we have been there . . . I know totally backwards.

More ruins with Mt Vesuvius in the background . . .
After we exited the ruins there was a tourist stand that was selling freshly squeeze orange and lemon juice . . . I had orange first and was it good. I was curious about lemon but thought it might be too sour. So I got it too and it was yummy. I mean look at the size of these lemons . . . hard to tell just how big they are but look at the orange in the background for comparison.
The drive back to Rome was long as we got back to the hotel around 1115pm! It will be a super early morning as we must be out of the B&B by 5:00am to get to the airport. I am so glad we went!

Colin's Photos of the Day
So Colin did a nice job in Pompeii taking photos! This photo shows a person who was caught in the lava and turned to stone . . . sad knowing he/she was probably thinking they were safe and hiding looking at the position but well guess there really wasn't much you could do to escape death.
. . . and he captures me looking oh so very tired! Thanks Colin for cutting off my bottom half . . . seriously nice job son!
His photo of inside Mt. Vesuvius is much better than mine!
. . . and yet another good photo of the ruins; I like the two pots . . .