Ruins, Ruins Everywhere…

This three day weekend, Chelsea and I decided to travel south and go to Pompei and Mount Vesuvius. This is our adventure:

On Friday, all of us girls had to get up early in order to catch the 8:13 train to Perugia. Our Italian professor, Chiara, wanted to show us the chocolate factory there. Needless to say I was in absolute heaven there. I do love chocolate so. I did feel bad for the workers though. When you take a tour of the factory, you basically just walk above it in this windowed walkway. I know I would feel like an absolute goldfish if people were watching me do my job.

Right after the chocolate factory, Chelsea and I went to the train station to catch a train to Arezzo. Ironically, even though Perugia is closer to Naples than Arezzo is, it’s cheaper to go there from Arezzo. It’s simply because from Arezzo, you can go through the mountains instead of around them from Perugia. Come to find out, there was going to be a train strike on Sunday. This was a major problem because if there was a strike, we would not be able to get back until Monday and that would mean missing classes which is not good. In the end, we decided to chance it because who knew if we would be able to go again. One of the best decision of my life. So we got to Arezzo and had to make a mad dash to the train. We got on and managed to find a couple of seats together. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to keep them. As it turns out this was a particularly crowded train and because we had bought our tickets from a kiosk, we didn’t have reserved seats. So we had to park ourselves in the hallway on these little (and uncomfortable) pull out seats from the wall. Then, when the ticket master came around, we found out that our tickets were not for the right train. So not only did we have to pay the extra money for the right ticket, we had to pay a fine for the mistake. Needless to say, when we finally reached Naples, we weren’t exactly happy campers. A five hour train ride and money just oozing out of my wallet. Not only that, but we had to take another train to get to the city where our B&B was. Luckily, that one was easy to find and cheap. Unluckily, I had managed to miscalculate the direction in which our B&B was on the map and we had no idea where we were. So we called Omar, the owner of the B&B and he very kindly came and got us:

Lauren: “Omar? It’s Lauren. I’m standing in front of SISA, the supermarket.”
Omar: “SISA?!? Oh no. Stay there. I come get you.”
(After we hung up)
Lauren: “That can’t be good.”
Chelsea: “No, I don’t think so.”

He found us. We walked to the B&B and he showed us our room. We got all of our stuff straightened out. We fell into bed. All was well.

The next day (Saturday) we went to Pompei (if you think I spelled that wrong, don’t. The Italians spell it with one i.). That was way bigger than I though it was going to be. We basically spent all morning there. We even ate our packed lunch in one of their gardens. It felt amazing. It is hard to imagine the city as it should have been, especially with a pizza parlor right in the middle of it. Ah, the power of tourism. After lunch, Chelsea and I got on a bus and did something I’ve never even dreamed I would get to do: we climbed Mt. Vesuvius. When I say climbed, I actually mean power walked because we had to make it back down the mountain fairly quickly in order to catch the last bus back down to Pompei. Anyway, the crater is crazy wild. It’s huge and intimidating and volcanic. Looking down into it, you wouldn’t have guessed that it was an active volcano because there was plant life growing inside. However, Let’s Go, our guide book, says that the next time Vesuvius erupts will be the worst eruption since Pompei. This is a devastating thought because so many people have made their homes right beneath the volcano and why shouldn’t they? It’s a booming tourist area any time of the year. Not only will they loose everything, historic places like Pompei and Ercolano will be lost all over again and may not survive a second time. The volcano is monitored very carefully and extensive evacuation plans have been made but in the end, many very important artifacts, history, and people will be lost. It’s a sad thought but an ever present one in the face of such a natural wonder.

After we got of the mountain, we decided to walk to the train station in Pompei because when we went to the tourist office to ask about bus schedules to Arezzo, they told us to take a train. Go figure. So we walked to the station and talked to the man at the window and he gave us tickets. Apparently there was not going to be a train strike. Awesome news!! So now we had tickets home, reserved seats on the train, and knew where the station was. Success!! We then took our tired selves back to the B&B, went to the supermarket for dinner that night and lunch for the next day, and went to bed early. It had been quite a day.

On Sunday, Chelsea and I spent the morning in Ercolano. This lesser known city is similar to Pompei. Instead of volcanic ash, it was covered in volcanic mud which apparently preserves much better. Ercolano was also better excavated so many of the buildings and their artifacts are in better shape. All in all, I enjoyed Ercolano more than Pompei. Pompei is over-run with tourists while Ercolano is not. It had a couple of tourists groups but nothing overwhelming. The art is more prevalent in Ercolano too. The floors had beautiful marble and geometric designs and the frescos on the walls were full of bright colors. So if you ever decide to go south, I definitely suggest this site as a stop. The weather was just perfect as well. Overcast skies without rain make for nice, cool weather. After our ruins exploration, we made our way back to Pompei and the train station. We made the mistake of getting on to the wrong train line but in the end it got us closer to the train station than originally expected. A blessing in disguise. We got on the train and had the whole car entirely to ourselves until we got to Rome. There we were joined by a young man who slept most of the time so no problem there. We had packed our lunch the nigh before with crackers, sandwich meat, cheese, grapes, nutella sandwiches, and two kinds of yogurt. A wonderful lunch and plenty of munchies to snack on. This is a major lesson I have learned while traveling. Always bring food. Always. You never know how long you are going to be on a train or a bus and find yourself almost passing out. It saves huge amount of money as well.

In the end, we made it safe and sound to Arezzo (where we met up with Amanda, who had just returned from Venice.) and then had an uneventful bus ride back to Sansepolcro. I love this place.