Pompeii

 January 13th, 2010

Today was our last day in Italy, and most of it was spent on a bus! I am saddened to leave Italy, because I am even more in love with the beauty of it’s culture, people, landscape, and food than I had been before this trip; and I had been very much in love with it before. I am glad to be able to visit Greece, because I don’t think it would have been a country that I would have visited on my own.

We did visit Pompeii today, and it was very marvelous to be a part of such a historical site; to be able to walk along the ancient city that I had read about from my childhood history classes. To see the devastation and plaster casts from the excavations, and the mountain in the distance that destroyed them. The city is incredibly preserved, and the paintings and frescos are very much intact. I am very impressed by the fact that the city was so organized and modern, and that they were so open with their sexuality. 

After visiting Pompeii, which had tons of stray dogs wandering around the ancient site (I did not particularly like this because they were digging around in Pompeii, which definitely does not help to preserve it) we shopped at some street vendors, and I bought some playing cards and a ring.

We had lunch in a restaurant near Pompeii, which had a drink, pasta or pizza, and gelato for 12Euro. It was a tad expensive for the amount provided, and they did not give a lot of pasta so I ended up eating some of my friend’s pizza as well. At the restaurant’s gift shop, my friends and I all bought a small bottle of wine that can only be found here. The grapes are grown on the side of Mt. Vesuvius and is supposed to have a very unique flavor. 

Once done with Pompeii, we made our way on the bus to Bari, watching Gladiator and stopping at a little shop along the way. After passing through the security check in Bari, we boarded the ferry, in which I shared a room with Alyssa, Kait, and Taylor. The rooms were very tiny, but I was content because I enjoy boats immensely. 

For dinner, I definitely got the lucky end of the stick by being a vegetarian. I had stuffed tomatoes with rice that were absolutely delicious, while everyone else had Pork and french fries. We walked around the outside of the boat after dinner, and then basically went to bed because there was nothing to do and we were tired.