I'm a Little Bit History, You're a Little Bit Shop n' Stroll

We've realized that Hannah and I enjoy some of the same things in travel, as well as some very different things.  For example, we are both enjoying the food, the people, the weather, etc.  I also enjoy the historical aspect of travel, while Hannah enjoys visiting the shops.  It's definitely helpful to know this kind of thing so that we can ensure that each of us has a chance to enjoy what is important to us.  Know your travel buddy!

Today's excursion of the day was intended to be visiting the Isle of Capri, which lies off the tip of the Amalfi Coast/Sorrento peninsula.  So we had our usual breakfast, got our stuff together, and headed to the shacks on the beach that sell tickets to various ports around the area.  

Apparently today (Sunday), the dock workers on Capri decided that they did not want to work on Sunday, so they went on strike.  Well, they may have had other reasons but that sounds as good as any other reason when you don't get to go on your day excursion.  We could have boarded a boat, but we  couldn't have gotten off the boat.

Instead, we chose another pre-planned day trip to Pompeii, the ancient city that was buried when Mt. Vesuvius erupted in the first century AD.

In order to get to Pompeii, we had to backtrack a bit.  We bought tickets and waited to board a SITA bus (the bus line that serves the towns in the area) on the main road in Positano.  While there, a rather severe looking woman with three other people (another severe woman and two men) walked up to me and started asking me questions in Italian.  The cool thing was, I understood almost 20% of what she said!  I sort of pretended I understood 85%.  I answered her questions - this was the bus stop, we were going to Sorrento ... and that I really didn't know when the bus was coming.  She may have been asking where I got my shoes (doubtfully), but I really don't have any idea.  I just shrugged and said, "non lo so."  Yay me!

When the bus arrived we took our seats and held on for the trip.  I may have described this bus ride before -- very windey roads, taken at a very high speed, with a lot of breaking and speeding up along the way. Oh, and honking.  This time around, it didn't sit quite so well with Hannah.  After 30 minutes of that carnival ride, she was ready to get off.  Or else.

Luckily, we arrived at our destination 5 minutes before she lost her pears and nutella. 

We took a little breather, stretched our legs, ate some of our picnic lunch, and then took the city train to Pompeii.

The regular city train (kind of like MAX in Portland) stops right at Pompeii's city gate.  Literally.  We bought tickets and walked up the large cobblestones into the ancient city.

Pompeii is 1600 acres of incredibly preserved city.  It is one of our best examples of ancient culture.  When Vesuvius blew, it buried Pompeii -- as well as nearby Herculeum -- in dust, small rocks and mud.  It did so very quickly so that even the unfortunates who lost their lives were preserved very well over the centuries.  They've been rebuilding the city since its discovery so that visitors can understand how people lived.

We spent a good three hours going through our guidebook and seeing a lot of the sights -- a gladiator barracks, amphitheaters, typical roman homes, a brothel (probably the most visited attraction there), and temples.  One of my favorite views is in the forum (the center of city government/religion) where you can see Vesuvius still looming -- although very quietly -- so close above the Temple of Apollo.

When it was time to leave, it was time for gelato!  Hannah got a really good limone gelato cone from a Polish fella trying to strike up a conversation with her in Italian about Alaska.  

Our train ride back dropped us off at Sorrento, so we decided to do a little shoppin'!  John Huff and I stayed in Sorrento a few years back and had a great time, but it seems we spent more time at the laundromat and getting the worst haircut of my life (I looked like a dirty q-tip) than we did seeing the historical parts of town.  This time Hannah took the lead, so she sniffed out some beautiful streets that had a multitude of beautiful shops and very few cars (a rarity here).

Before we got back on the bus, we picked up some seasick pills and some Italian cheetos which are called TamTams.  Sorry, Italy, Cheetos are better.

This time around the seasick meds made us REALLY sleepy.  So rather than getting fancy and going out to dinner, we got takeout pizza, hamburger and a bottle of wine.  When we returned to the hotel room to watch a movie and eat, we realized that the hamburger was JUST A HAMBURGER.  No bread, nothing else.  Just the meat pattie.  WHICH WAS DELICIOUS.  So was the pizza.  And the wine.  And the limoncello.  You get the picture.  It was all good, people.

That's it for today.  Until next time!  Muah!