Napoli, Sorrento, Pompeii

(picture 1: view from where we hiked down to in order to see the shore
picture 2: the view outside the gates at Pompeii)

Tuesday after waking up and making our way via taxi to Victoria station and then to Gatwick via the Gatwick express, the Manzullo travel luck struck again. We got their the recommended 2 hours in advance, only to realize our gate wouldn't be broadcast until oh, 30 minutes prior to take off. Once the gate was finally announced, we found it and were bused out to the plane pretty quickly…only to find out that they had failed to detect the ice on the wings the night before. So de-icing set us back about 30 minutes. Aside from a scary “we’re going to be struck by lightning and/or land ON that mountain any second” sort of landing, the flight was smooth, baggage collection was easy, and customs was non existent. We waited for about 10 minutes to catch a bus to take us into Naples, and the bus ride was uneventful. From the bus station at Piazza Garibaldi, we walked to the train station, and after some confusion, found the Circumvesuviana train station, which is somewhat separate from the main station. We bought tickets, hauled our bags down to the platform, and jumped on what we took to be the 1:05 train to Sorrento (sign said: “Sorrento via Pompeii”). Well, as I’m scarfing down goldfish on the train (breakfast was oh, 7 hours ago), I realize our train is no longer going towards Sorrento, it’s going towards Salno. After panicking, I realized we’ll have to get out, change trains, go back ot Barra (a station a few stops prior) and get on the train to Sorrento. So we get off, get back on, and procede to wait nearly an hour at Barra for a train to Sorrento. The first few are going someplace else, the next one doesn’t even stop, and finally, a train pulls in and we’re assured it’s Sorrento by some locals. Finally, around 4 we end up in Sorrento, and luckily we found the hotel really easily. Thanks to Meredith (no really, we owe you big time), we were in a great hotel called Hotel Michelangelo—an adorable, medium sized hotel with beautiful decoration, big rooms, big bathrooms, terraces, and breakfast. The man at the check in desk gave us a map and we set out exploring. We walked for quite a while, doing some shopping for ourselves and people back home. We also walked down the shore, which involved a nice easy ramp on the way down and a crazy set of stairs on the way up—nevertheless, the views were worth it. We took our purchases back to the hotel, then ventured back towards the main square for dinner. We found a nice, relatively empty restaurant (we eat early, Italians do not) and proceeded to get a lot of attention from the wait staff, who were very friendly (maybe on account of our attempt to speak legit Italian). Following the London pattern, we gave into exhaustion and went to bed by 10, especially since we’d been up since 4am.

Today we slept in a little, then took advantage of the breakfast at the hotel before preparing to lug our bags all over Sorrento and Pompeii. We made it to the train station in time to catch the 10am train, so we got to Pompeii by 11. We got tickets and checked our luggage and began a 4 or 5 hour exploration. Mom and I had been before when I was about 16, but really liked it and wanted dad to see it. With a map and guidebook in hand, we decided to opt out of the expensive guided tours and made our own way around, mostly tripping on the ancient stone streets. Around 2 we finally gave up—there’s just no way to see everything—and went to a nearby restaurant for lunch. After lunch we reclaimed our bags and hopped back on the circumvesuviana train to Naples. I convinced the train ticket man to put us on an earlier train to Rome in the hopes of getting in before it gets too dark tonight, so I’m writing this from the seat of the Eurostar train whole hour earlier than planned. The view from the train is worth the 25 euro price—we’ve been speeding through the mountains, roughly following the coastline of western Italy. Aside from having a hard time stowing our massive bags on a train meant for what seems like baggage-free travel, things have gone smoothly and hopefully finding our hotel in Rome won’t be too difficult in the semi darkness!

ps-pictures coming soon
pps-if any of you are reading this, mr. manzullo's 5th grade class, he's definitely missing you guys and i know he's worried so you better be being good for your sub!