Travels with Josh -- Naples

Well, we've been a little slow about writing up the trip with Josh. So many things to do and so much say that it just seemed like we never got started. But our friend, Sandy, complained when we saw her this past week, so it seems we should do it ... if only for her!

Our trip with Josh started in Naples. We went there mostly because Josh was fascinated with Mt. Vesuvius and the eruption that destroyed Pompeii. Of course, it was also our first taste of Italy generally -- with its pizza and crowded streets and fast talking people. In the end Naples seemed a bit like a place out of time -- a bit of a throwback to a bygone era. We stayed at a wonderful hotel -- the Weekend a Napoli -- where our hosts made us feel at home. Indeed, it was a former home in a quiet residential section of Naples. A bit away from the downtown city center but we recommend it highly.

Our first excursion was to the top of Mt. Vesuvius. Pretty cool place -- you could actually see steam rising from the caldera and smell the sulfur. We had seen something similar when we were in Hawaii, but for Josh this was a new experience.

All of us saw something new the next day when we toured Herculaneum and Pompeii. Herculaneum was something like a suburb town. It wasn't covered in ash, like Pompeii. Instead the people there were all killed by the pyroclastic blast 2 or 3 days after the initial eruption and the buried in a mud slide. As a result, Herculaneum is very well preserved. We saw villas and a community pool. Perhaps one of the coolest things we saw, however, was the first fast food restaurant in history (maybe). Apparently, the Romans would keep food in round pots, set to stand out on the street in a stone and marble container. Busy Romans would stop by to purchase -- soups kept hot or olives kept cold. Pretty cool stuff and amazingly well-preserved.

Pompeii was equally interesting. Far larger than Herculaneum it had a large forum and public baths. The construction of the baths showed how advanced the Romans were, bringing steam heat up through the flooring, with cold running water in the adjacent cold plunge. Pompeii was a port city as well, with the attendant commercial enterprises. We saw an ancient wood-burning stove and, to our slight surprise, the remains of a house of ill-repute. Pompeii was more damaged than Herculaneum, but still the sights were overwhelming. As Katy said, "it was almost as if you could feel the history around you."

After a busy day touring, we hoped a late afternoon train for Rome. Trains in Italy are one of the highlights (lowlights include the crowds and the graffiti) -- all of them were clean and on-time, making transit easy as pie.