POMPEI I

Wednesday, October 18th, 2000 Amalfi

Had a 7 am wakeup call but we were up and dressed long before. Breakfast by 7:30 and out to the bus for the trip to Pompeii by 8 am. It had been an interesting night as our Italian talkers had arrived on the patio sometime after we’d gone to bed, but heard them about 1:30 am. They were trying to be quiet so they weren’t nearly as disturbing as the bells every fifteen minutes.

But, we were fulfilling a lifelong dream of Jim’s to visit Pompeii. It was a great trip. The bus first took us back to Salerno and onto the autostrassa; which was great as we learned where we went wrong when we’d arrived on Monday! Our tour director, Lusica, was young but very knowledgeable about Pompeii. She also spoke excellent English which helped! The tour itself took about two and half hours. Saw all the major spots.

Original earthquake and volcano eruptions was in the year 78 AD

Pompeii was buried in ash and the gas fume killed may people.

Weight of the ash caved in the ceilings

Plaster was put into the cavities of the ash to fill in around the bones which allows for the facial expressions to be preserved

Saw the bath house, brothel, private homes, theater, etc.

Street had large stones for stepping on to cross the street. Wheels of the Chariots were big enough to go between the stones.

On the way home the bus had two accidents, once a car hit just below my window and probably lost a side mirror. But, he didn’t stop and neither did the bus. Then later the bus scrapped either the tire or side of the bus on the mountain. Even Jim has to admit it is a white-knuckle drive for passengers! He said it's not that bad when you are the driver!

Arrived home about 2:15 and then caught the 2:30 city bus to go see Positano. A well known beach resort up the coast a bit that Mary Frances had visited and raved about. He announced twice that we were stopping for Positano. But, since we were high above the beach on the mountain we kept waiting for the bus to get down to the beach. Opps….we were out of town and continuing on the mountain. Had to stay on the bus all the way to Sorrento. Got off and walked to the train station where we found a bus marked “Amalfi via Positano”. Got on and found our seats. Started talking to the American group in front of us. They’d been on the train all day from Rome and nearly had their luggage stolen in Naples. Really bad day. Joe and Rosemary and their friend Susan were on their way to Hotel Luna in Amalfi. We talked to them all the way there. New Yorkers on their second trip to Europe. Exchanged email address with them. Showed them what we could and left them at the bus stop. Later this evening, we found them again wandering about town. Talked for a while before bidding them goodnight.

We had our third great dinner in the hotel this evening. We’re so full that we’ve walked every evening after dinner. Tonight at dinner we talked with the next table. A father and daughter on a bike trip. They were from Copenhagen, Denmark. Spoke excellent English. We really enjoyed them. They bike all over and in fact did a trip from Seattle Washington to San Francisco one year. Also did a trip in Ecuador.

Off to bed, going to try to leave about 8 am tomorrow and head out of the Amalfi Coast and into easier driving! Hope to find a place for two nights in this general area as there really are lots of things to see.