Naples

When I was a kid I was fascinated by the idea of Pompeii, a city buried in time. Today we went to visit the Pompeii archaeological site. Duke and I have been there once before but I think I could go back again and again. It still fascinates me.

One of the things I love about Pompeii is the signs of everyday life you see there, like the stepping stones to cross the road and the ruts in the rocks from the chariot wheels.

We took the train to and from Pompeii

When we got back to Naples after our visit to Pompeii we rested a bit then took a taxi to the Archaeological Museum of Naples. The museum is where much of what was discovered in the excavation of Pompeii is displayed.

Getting to and from the Museum We got to experience Naples taxi drivers arguing when two drivers both thought they should be driving us. We got to experience the crazy drivers, traffic and horns on the two taxi rides. And we got to experience each taxi driver try to rip us off.

After Duke insisted that the second driver use the meter not just name a price and the driver finally agreed, the driver asked Duke if he was French, Duke said “no I’m American”. The driver said “You no American. Americans tranquillo! (Easy going)”. I guess they don’t get many Americans who don’t want to be ripped off. What an adventure!

The museum was wonderful. Many of the statues, mosaics and murals found in Pompeii are there. The mosaics were so detailed and fine.

They also had the Farnese collection of statues taken from the Baths of Caraclla in Rome. Next time we go to Rome I definitely want to visit the baths. They cover 60 acres and were built about 1800 years ago. The main hall was surrounded by these enormous statues. When Rome fell they were covered up and not rediscovered until the 1500’s

For dinner we ate at a great restaurant near our hotel, da Donato.