Back to Civilization

Hello! Sorry for the break in posts, the Air B&B we stayed at in Sorrento had terrible internet. Like, horrible. I barely had a connection in the kitchen, then when I walked 3 steps into the bedroom, there was no signal at all. The strongest WiFi signal we got for that place was in the cafe below... needless to say it was irritating. But now we're in Rome and we have reliable WiFi again!

We had two full days in Sorrento and we used the first day to go to Naples to visit the Archaeological Museum and the second day we went to Pompeii. We didn't really see anything of Naples, we took the metro from the train station right to the museum, then right back again when we were done at the museum. They had windows open in the museum so the entire time we could hear all the traffic and honking horns, it sounded very chaotic and busy.

Pompeii was a lot of fun but it was also hot and tiring. We didn't expect Pompeii to be as big as it was. It's estimated that there were 20,000 residents in the city! We learned that the stepping stones in the streets let pedestrians cross without getting their feet wet because every day the streets were flooded in order to clean them. The direction traffic was to go was denoted by the amount of stepping stones across a road: A single stepping stone meant that the street was a one-way; two stepping stones meant an ordinary two-way; three stepping stones meant the road was a major thoroughfare.

Crossing a major thoroughfare

Crossing a one-way

Chariot ruts

 We saw public baths, fast-food places, bakeries and grand houses. It was amazing to see original frescos still on the walls today.

Original frescos

Flour mills

Fast-food joint, they kept jugs of food or drinks in those holes

A house with original mosaic floors

Mt. Vesuvius in the background

We are now in Rome! Our Air B&B is one block from the Colosseum (we don't have a view though)! We spent the afternoon walking around the outside of the Colosseum (we scouted out the meeting place for our Walks of Italy tour tomorrow), we saw the Arch of Constantine and we walked up by Trajan's Column and saw the backside of the Roman Forum.

Arch of Constantine

View from the Monument of Victor Emmanuel II

The traffic here is crazy too. Tomorrow our tour will take us inside the palace of the first Emperor of Rome (Augustus) and to the Colosseum, Roman Forum and Palatine Hill.

Dinner