Frozen in time

This weekend I went to Pompeii, Sorrento, and Ercolano with two of my guy friends Geoff and Spencer. We left on Friday, which turned out to be a day full of a comedy of errors. We had an early train, so none of us had a lot of sleep. We had to take a train to Naples, and then get on a smaller regional train to go to Sorrento (that's where our hostel was). Once we get on the regional train, we see that Ercolano is a stop on the way to Sorrento, so we decide to stop off at Ercolano before we arrive in Sorrento.

Ercolano (Herculaneum) is the city that was covered in ash by the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 AD. Since it was not covered in smoldering hot rock, the buildings and especially paintings are much more preserved than those in Pompeii. It's about 1/5 in size of Pompeii too, so we were able to cover it in about 2 hours.

Ercolano




Ancient Snack Bar



Floor mosaic




Me in Ercolano


Geoff and Spencer





After Ercolano, we wanted to head to our hostel to check in, then eat, and sleep. Because of our lack of sleep, we dozed off on the train and were wakened by an old man telling us the train was finished. We weren't in Sorrento. Luckily, he was extremely nice and showed us the way to get to where we needed to be. Despiste that good fortune, we arrived in Sorrento about an hour later than we wanted to.

We checked into our hostel, which was surprisingly nice. Then we wanted a nice, long dinner, and that's precisely what we did. Upon heading home, we are all looking forward to a bed and shower. Unfortunately, Geoff used the wrong key to get into the door, so the key broke off inside the lock. We weren't able to get into our room! Geoff and Spencer tried to get the key out, but nothing worked. I called the man at the front desk, but he was rude and not helpful at all. We had no place to go, so we decided to sleep on the floor outside our room for the night. We would have to wait until the next day to fix anything.

I had dozed off, so I guess it was about an hour later when our neighbors came home. They were Americans too and invited us to stay in their room for the night. One of the guys had a pocket knife and offered it to Geoff. Spencer and I were talking to the guys when miraculously Geoff got the key out of the lock, and we were able to open our door with the correct key! Few times in my life have I been happier than in that moment. It was hands down the best night's sleep I've had.

We woke up the next morning and headed to Pompeii. We spent all day there. It was huge and absolutely overwhelming. Seeing Mt. Vesuvius looming in the background was constantly daunting. It's hard to imagine that an entire city was preserved so well. It was the perfect time to go too since it wasn't very crowded.

Mt. Vesuvius in the background at Pompeii









Mt. Vesuvius



Amphitheater



Taking a break inside the Amphitheater


Dad: Deer hunting for you


Mom: A warthog/javelina thing for you



Sorrento & the Mediterranean





All in all, it was a great weekend. Sorrento is absolutely beautiful. Many things were closed because it's low season, but we still enjoyed ourselves. Mom, I found Vueve Rosè there. Some convenient stores even have champagne in little bottles.

Tiny champagne


Naples is pretty gross though. After talking to a woman in Sorrento, I think the trash strike is over, but rubbage still remains on the street. Money was paid to open up dump sites, but somewhere along the line, the money disappeared (a.k.a. the Mafia took it). Now that the workers are back, there literally is no place to put the trash. In Ercolano and Naples, this sadly disgusting castrophe was very apparent.


Naples was a scary city. I don't know if it was because I knew beforehand that it is a major place for Mafia activity, but I didn't feel very safe walking around. Luckily I had two huge boys looking out for me, so that made me feel a bit better.