Long time, no post...

Hello all,

Sorry for the lack of posts in the last week or so, as I have been packing my schedule with things to see and not with hours at internet cafes. But, as it is pouring out, I shall try to catch up as much a possible in a few posts...so here we go...

Last time I left off, I had completed 3 full intinerary days in Rome, so I decided to take a day trip to Pompeii to get out of the city. I fully expected to start off alone, see some ruins, and then come back alone...but this was not to be the case. In fact, I met many interesting people alone the way, including some stone people...but we shall get to that in a second. While I was trying to figure out what train to get on and dealing with unhelpful information people, I meet two sisters who are also going to Pompeii, so we bonded together to figure it all out. After getting on the train and talking to them for awhile, I realize that they have a very different view of how to travel. Beaches and shopping. They were in Rome for about 24 hours and decided that they were bored (they went only to the Campo di Fiori and met some guys there who wanted them to met them in Naples or Sorrento later that day...I was quite confused with their train of thought...but they were done with seeing Rome...), so they wanted to go to Pompeii of all places in Italy for a day before jetting off to Nice and Cannes. No museums...no ancient city...no Vatican...but Pompeii is on their list. Fine, at least they remember 7th grade history class. Anyway, the older one said that they had to cut their travels short because she had to do a photo shoot at a farm in Normandy. OK. She said that she was living in Paris until Fashion Week, when she hoped to find work, and then live in Barcelona. I asked what she did. She models. Oh. Got it. In fact, it became a very interesting and intriguing discussion about the modelling world and the pressures and joys that go along with it. I still don't completely understand it, nor fully appreciate it, but I found out some very interesting things about the life of an aspiring top model. Again, travelling bonds together people who probably would never cross paths in real life.

Anyway, we met 4 guys on the train from MD and join up with them to find the ruins, as there are no signs when one gets off the train in Pompeii to direct one to that part of the city. In fact, when we got off the train, there was no one around and nothing was open. Basically, it was like walking into a ghost town. Did Vesuvius go off again and no one told us? We meander and find our way to the ruins, which are actually really cool. Trying to understand the Forum and the Colisseum might be a stretch of the imagination, but Pompeii is a snapshot of a past time. You walk down streets lined with buildings that still retain their mosaics, frescoes, fountains, structures, and in some cases, their people. I really enjoyed seeing Pompeii, and I would recommend it as a day trip for anyone who ever studied Pompeii back in the day. (Again, pictures are coming, but there seems to be an issue with hooking up the card reader to the computer...eventually they will be posted.) So without pictures, I will retain more comment on the place, but you should go to Pompeii when in Rome.

As we get out of the Forum there, we see fireworks, randomly going off in the middle of the day. When we get out of the ruins, there is traffic everywhere! Horns are honking. Flags are waving. Drunk people are falling out of car windows and off mopeds. Completely insanity! Where'd they all come from. From the flags, we figured out that potentially Napoli had won a football (soccer) match, but this was more intense than when the Red Sox won the pendant! We cheer right along with the crowd all the way back to the train station where we are serenaded by soccer fans singing every Napoli song they know. (Don't worry, Fran, the British still have the best sports chants! Oh, who did eat all the pies?) We finally find out that Napoli had just beat Genoa, a huge rival whom they haven't beaten in years, and thus, they moved from B Class to A Class. Ah ha! So everyone who follows Napoli, which is everyone in the area, was out in the streets in full force cheering and celebrating. Really fun if you ask me! We find out this information from two middle-aged navy guys who start chatting with us. They had just been to the ruins to after being docked at the base in Naples before going home. One of them turned out to be...in their words...the ship's clown. All of a sudden he turns to me and asks, "Do you like teddy bears?" Um, yes... And he pulls out balloons and starts twisting them into a teddy bear with a heart and gives it to me! So random! He then started making them for everyone in the station. His philosophy...the bag of balloons costs me next to nothing, and it keeps me from being bored! The Navy...bringing smiles all over the world one balloon at a time. Amazing.

Unfortunately, when we get on the train in Naples to go to Rome, we have to stand because it is overbooked...kind of annoying, but we met Francesco, Francesco, and Ivan, three random guys who start asking us what we Americans think of Italy, sports, and Italian food. They laughed at us when we said that we've only eaten pasta and pizza the entire time. Ivan was translating between the two groups, and we all ended up laughing the whole way back. So overall, a great day. Met lots of new friends and had a great time!

OK, and for my last trick in Rome...I wandered all over the city to catch all the churches I hadn't seen in the first few days. Started with S. Maria Maggiore, which was just beautiful. Headed down south for S. Giovanni the Lateran...also gorgeous. It was funny because they were setting up for a papal visit that night, so this guy is taping down microphone and video cords to the nice marble and mosaic floor with duct tape... So in this silent church all you can here is the sounds of duct tape being unrolled with a priest looking on questioningly about whether or not the duct tape will ruin the floor. It was really amusing to watch. Duct tape? I guess so. Decided to just relax and walk around some more. Found myself at the Trevi fountain again and sat there for a long time watching the flow of tourists taking pictures, eating gelatto, and throwing money into the fountain (not hitting people in the process...not one hit person). Decided that the fountain was a good way to end my trip to Rome and headed back to the hostel. Hung out with my roommates a bit...two girls from New Orleans (one girl was the sister of a guy from Mather who graduated in 04...anyone know Chadwell Potts, on the sailing team?) and a girl from Australia. Rome is very big and very neat. I highly recommend it...but I also highly recommend getting out of the big cities to the smaller ones...which I will talk about in the next post.

Ciao!