Travelling to London

I got to the airport in plenty of time. Though before I caught the shuttle I had to run back to the hostel since I had forgot my main pair of shoes. Still, I had left lots of time so I was alright. I got to the airport grateful that I had come early. The line was crazy. And for most of it I always seemed to be the last one in line. I had music in my head and I really just wanted to break out into song and dance. I imagined everyone in the airport joining in, and us having a great big musical number. With lyrics in both English and Italian, obviously.

I was able to check and I got through the security lines without a hitch. Actually I was a little worried cause I have two little jars of pesto, each is a little more than 100mL. But I arranged them in my liquids bag somewhat strategically, hoping it would get passed over. I acted confidant that it would all be alright as I went through. But the lady did pick it up and look at it. On the other side the security man asked where I was heading. Since I said England for a week, he let me keep them. Yay! Pesto in Canada I shall have. It won't be a problem again since I plan on checking my bag from London. I figured I had just enough time to buy two giant chocolate bars from the duty free store, since they were cheap. Then headed to my gate. Except there was a giant line there. It was a customs line, which I didn't account for, and they had at least five flights funnelling through there. This was the only time I maybe worried a little that I didn't have enough time. Maybe I shouldn't have gotten my giant chocolate bars. But they hadn't paged me yet, so I figured I was alright.

While I was waiting in line there was girl that tried to come back out the exit. Which is a bad idea when that exit is customs. She wanted to charge her cell phone and then come back through the line. She kept yelling at the workers, "I'm American! I need to go charge my phone. I'm going to Dublin and just want to charge my phone. Come on I'm American!"  Etc, etc. I realize that not all Americans are like that, in fact all the ones I know aren't. And I know there is people like that from everywhere, but if there is one way to get people to dislike you, speak that way to the very polite Italian workers. I don't get it, her flight left in half an hour anyways, so by the time she got out she would have to jump back in line cause it was so long. I just had to shake my head. Watch what you say people (aka the angry girl in the Napoli airport that wanted to exit customs just to charge her phone), others are watching. And maybe judging a little bit. And posting it on their blogs. That a handful of people read.

The flight was good. Then I hopped through customs super fast in London. Actually it was quite nice cause they had all UK/EU passport holders go in one line, and passports from everywhere else in another. I happened to be travelling with a lot of Europeans. Cause my line had maybe five of us in it, while there were hundreds in the other one. Win! Now I am back in the UK. I admit when I stepped off the plane I sang "Hail Britannia! Britannia rules the waves. We shall never, never, never be slaves!".

POMPEI

With a heavy heart I left Rome. I wanted to do more shopping, but alas my train was leaving at 11:45am. So off I went to Pompeii. Land immortalised by ash, until it was dug up for us to discover.

I got to the town and couldn't find any clues as to where this giant archeological site was. It looked like a normal town to me! Finally I asked someone and she was kind enough to point me in the right direction. Off I went to discover the ancient world. It was a ten minute walk from the train station and I could store my bags there. So boom, in no time I was off exploring old stuff. And loving it! The first part had hardly any people in it. I took a couple sweet pictures with my camera, thanks to the timer. You'll have to wait til I have computer access to see those!

I eventually made my way to main street. And that's where the really good stuff was. It was still another hot day in Italy, so I tried to stay in the shade when I could. I can't believe how well preserved this stuff is. It really is amazing. I watched some archeologists working, it was cool to see how much care they took. That's why we have what we have today. The walls were still painted, so well kept. About half way through my wandering I remembered I had a Rick Steves audio guide. So I pulled it out and listened from the beginning. I learned a lot of the peoples lives. I saw Mount Vesuvius itself, the volcano that started it all. Apparently its still active today.

The one part I especially wanted to see was the cast of the people that were caught unaware when the volcano exploded. I know that may sound a bit morbid, but I was really curious. I listened to the part where Rick explains where they are like a thousand times trying to find them. Alas, I came to the conclusion that they weren't there. Which is alright, there was so much else to see,  that though I was a bit disappointed I certainly didn't regret coming. Cause it was still really cool.

There were so many places I saw. Their main square, the bath houses, markets, and I even saw a brothel. Apparently there was a lot, maybe that's why the volcano erupted on them? I also saw some restaurants and gardens. Big houses and small houses. My favorite part was probably their theatre (surprised?). It was cool to see how even then they had cheap seats and the more expensive seats. I wonder if they did rush tickets back then? In the Colosseum I learned that their tickets were pieces of tile with the seat written on it. Pretty nifty I thought. I'm curious to known if they had a similar system there. They had a big theatre and a smaller one. The teatro piccolo<-I love the name!

This was near the end of my wanderings. I only had the amfiteatro left, aka amphitheatre. This was like their Colosseum. It was way on the other end, but I wanted to see everything. I'm sure glad I went. They (modern Pompei-ians) had a wooden pyramid right in the middle of it. Apparently there was a photography exhibit. In I went, and there were all the bodies they had cast and recovered. I got to see them after all. It literally took my breath away. Because all of the sudden, everything I just saw became real. These were real people with real lives. Lives that I got a glimpse of that day. There were adults and children and I stood and thought about their lives. I was alone in there for a while just thinking about them. It was a good way to close out my trip to Pompeii. After that I left.

Walking through the modern town of Pompeii I really enjoyed it. They are a super cute town, lots of locals out and about. I got yummy gelato, raspberry and peach, it was amazing. Almost tied with the Lindt store gelato. I'm going to miss this stuff. I caught my train to Napoli. The ride along the coast was quite pretty. I loved it. I would like to explore Sorrento next time I come, I hear its even prettier. Next time!

I navigated to a new hostel for the last time in Italy. It started out alright, but I still got lost near the end. I found it. I had enough time to grab pizza. The receptionist showed me on the map where her favorite place was. I decided to check it out. On the way I passed a nice quiet spot by a castle. I got to her fave pizzeria and there were tons of people there and no where to sit. So I turned around and went back to the quiet place. And it was wonderful. I got La Duchessa, a pizza with cream, mozzarella, ham, basil, and corn on. It was so so good. And it was huge! But since its been so hot, and I've been so cheap I've been skipping lunch just cause I'm not hungry. I eat a giant (free) hostel breakfast and then I'll eat dinner. So this made up for it, it was amazing! New life goal is to recreate it. When I get home its all Italian food experiments. I will learn how to cook!