Because I didn’t have any activities and most of my friends were signed up for an SAS trip, I ventured out with Dan, Calvin, and Shane (whose real name is Shannon I discovered) to find Mount Vesuvius. Armed with a map and some vague directions we headed toward the train station looking to hike up to this great volcano. We got the train station and found the ticket booth easily. The streets are not pretty here in Naples and the stench is pretty awful. So we got a ticket to Ercolano where we would then take the bus to the base of Vesuvius. So far this trip was pretty smooth and we made it to Ercolano easily. Once we were there we asked for directions to the bus station. We followed another vague gesture and asked many times along the way. Finally we found a man who spoke English in a barber shop. He told us to go to the main square and take a bus from there. So we found the main plaza and saw a bus stop but we didn’t know which bus to take or how far to take it. The list of stops was only a list of streets, not locations, so it was no help. We asked a taxi driver how much it would be to take us up but he was trying to rip us off and asked us to pay 60 Euros for four people. We weren’t even sure if we would be going to the right place because when we asked to go to Vesuvius no one was really sure what we were talking about. Instead we asked how to get to Pompei and then people started catching on.
We hopped back on the train and went a few stops further to Pompei. After wondering for a bit we found a travel agency and asked for directions to the ruins. It was nice to find someone who knew the town really well and also knew English. After a lunch of linguini and pesto we headed to the ruins. There is no information posted about what the ruins are or what used to be where so we just wandered around the town. We saw many interesting places and kept wondering aloud what life must have been like before the whole place was destroyed by the volcano. There are preserved bodies on display that shows how the people in Pompei must not have been prepared for the destruction and chaos.
Since we didn’t really know what we were looking at we tried to jump on a tour that was full of SAS kids. We were immediately found out because the boy to girl ratio changed dramatically as we walked up. The tour guide, Sasha, kicked us out but as I walked by he said I could stay if I wanted. I think he flirts with every girl he sees. I bet you can get a better tip that way. On the way back to train station we grabbed some gelato to cool off. Once back in Naples we headed back towards the port but got distracted by a pet shop that had animals, knives, nun chucks (sp?), and ninja stars in the display windows. We ventured inside to see if they really had a monkey like they advertised on the sign. There was not a monkey and the owner kicked us out saying they were closed. However, there was a man and his son in there so we are thinking the pets were a front for the mafia and they didn’t want any stupid American snooping in their business.
Back on the ship we discovered that there was free internet available from somewhere nearby if you sat on the back deck. I jumped on that for a bit and finally checked my gmail that hasn’t been forwarding properly. I had 80 emails that were backed up. I sent a few and checked out a little fbook. Nothing interesting happening there so I ended up going back to the room and watching an interesting documentary about the Knights of Malta who do humanitarian missions in Afghanistan.
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I got a nice little tan today walking around the ruins in Pompei.
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I might have run into the mafia.
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