6:30AM wake up call, left at 7:30AM for the 2.5, nearly 3hr bus ride to Pompeii. On the bright side, despite having to wake up before the sun had barely risen, it was a super gorgeous day. Clear blue skies, sunshine, and very, very warm.
On our way to Pompeii our travel director played a hilarious documentary about Pompeii that tried, very ridiculously, to focus it's narration of events on a couple that had been found preserved holding hands to their death. One moment the narrator would be talking about how bread was baked and sold on the streets, and then suddenly he would randomly say things like "perhaps the couple had shared bread in this very spot as well", or "perhaps the couple shared their first kiss here". It was ridiculous. Hilarious, but so very much not-needed. It was a fascinating documentary though, even if I did fall asleep near the end. But alas, I am not here to talk about the documentary - but Pompeii itself.
To be honest all I really want to talk about were how cute and amazingly healthy the stray dogs looked. Like I said, it was an absolutely beautiful and warm day - warm enough to warrant taking of ones jacket it was that warm - and of course the stray dogs took advantage of this by simply lying down in the sun patches like cats. They were adorable and so tame. It was hard to believe they were strays at first, but it was true they had no collars and clearly no owners if they were just lazing around the ruins like this.
I should really talk about the ruins though.
What can I say? The ruins were fascinating. How could you not be? This was truly a city that had been perfectly preserved by layers and layers of volcanic rock. We were literally stepping on history. We walked through the streets, saw the areas where the restaurants and shops were, as well as the two theatres. We also went through one of the brothels where the murals were still almost perfectly preserved (but those beds definitely did not look comfortable - I would not want to do anything on those beds). We walked through a house, which was honestly amazing in its size and the murals that lined the wall were unbelievable. These guys clearly knew how to live in style. Of course, how can I not mention the random penis signs everywhere. It was hilarious because the group spotted one small one on the wall, and then suddenly someone found a very, very clear penis engraving on the street and of course everyone began to huddle around it to take a photo. It really was a very clear and obvious penis engraving though - apparently they were meant for good luck (and not just to point out where the nearest brothel was, although getting laid was probably seen as a sign of luck for many).
We finished the tour of the ruins quite late, it wast almost 2PM by then, and mind you - we had breakfast at 7AM, so I was absolutely starving. Sadly, there wasn't much to eat near the ruins except for this one self-serve cafeteria and it was there that I had experienced eating the most disgusting lasagna ever. I didn't think that I would ever get such bad pasta in Italy, how could you? I have honestly never tasted anything so vile before. It was like eating soft but solid salt with salty sauce. It was horrid. My brother had decided to opt for the pasta, and I don't think that had been any better. Thank god me and my parents had only shared two among the three of us, I don't think I could have eaten one on my own. The struggle was very real for this meal. It wasn't like I was struggling to swallow anything, it was so soft and mushy it was quite easy to swallow - the problem was just putting the food in to my mouth.
But moving on from that traumatizing experience, we got to try free alcohol. The store beside the cafeteria was selling alcohol and they allowed people to taste what they sold so with my mom we tried some limoncello, cream limoncello, and melon limoncello. Apparently there was a chocolate one too, but I missed out on that. I'm not much of an alcohol drinker and limoncello is 37% so, not my most favourite drink but interesting. Cream was a bit too sweet, for something so strong that was already making me cough, adding something to sweet would only make me more sick. Melon was a bit lighter, but still, the sweetness was a bit much - but I will admit that they were all very flavourful. My dad, unsurprisingly, bought a bottle.
Back on the bus, our travel director also gave us shots of limoncello and cream-cello. I drank one shot, and then just gave the rest to my brother. I didn't feel like throwing up on the bus, but one shot was enough to make me want to pass out (one shot plus the taste-tester shots). Our bus drove through Naples, sadly we didn't actually get a chance to get off the bus. My sister didn't come with us because she had already been to Pompeii but she kept talking about how Naples pizza was amazing and I was looking so forward to trying it, but we didn't get the chance. Instead our travel director bought us rum buns (which were literally dripping with rum) and buns filled with ricotta cheese. I took a bite of both, but after the traumatizing lunch and the alcohol I wasn't in much mood for such heavy foods and so, spent the rest of the ride sleeping.
We arrived back at 6PM, took a small break before heading out at 6:30 to go get some dinner. My sister knew some other restaurants, and so we walked to an area that was close to the Castle of Angels, another small cozy local place. We had arrived at 7PM, clearly a bit too early by Italian standards for the place was empty, but more and more people arrived as the night went on. I ordered a plate of veal I believe, and nothing else because I was afraid the sizes would be too big. It was a good decision on my part because I was barely able to finish my plate. I did have a couple of bites of my brothers spaghetti though.
After that dinner, we took a slow walk home - a very slow walk where my parents spent a lot of time taking photos, and eventually after reading the borders of the Vatican me and my brother just decided to rush home ourselves. It was 10PM. Time to sleep!
Tomorrow at 8:30 AM we would be heading to the wonderful area of Tuscany and staying in Florence, home to the statue of David and head base of the powerful Medic family.
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