Blogs from Pompei, Campania, Italy, Europe - page 4

Geo: 40.7492, 14.5007 We had lovely breakfast in the balcony and I could linger in the balcony whole day for the amazing views of Capri but we had to leave today. We really enjoyed our stay at Gocce de Capri and Claudia made us feel like home. We walked to Termini and bought the tickets from the shop for the bus which is on the same side as the shop, opposite the supermarket to go to Sorrento station. We were relieved that the strike was called off and the trains were running but with delays at the Circumvesuviana Train at Sorrento. We waited in the dilapidated grubby train for half hour due to the delays before the train started and it stopped at few stops before reaching Pompeii Scavi which took about 30 minutes.On reaching the ... read more

The work we are doing in Pompeii has been so much fun. When Katie invited me to join the team I simply assumed we would be volunteers, but in actuality, Katie and David are working to create a field school to work here in Pompeii. So while we are helping out as volunteers, the importance is really on educating us in technique and post excavation processing. We are their first group of students for this and hopefully attributing to them blazing a trail with a new field school organization. The house we are working on is the Casa delle Vestali (the House of the Vestals) and was originally one smaller house that eventually bought out many of the surrounding shops and houses and renovated into a larger house, probably owned by a wealthy family. The house ... read more

Greg: After our series of buses and trains to arrive late at Pompei, we were content with some serious relaxing before tacking the next day. Greeted with a cold beer on arrival, free map for the local ruin site and a seat on the poolside sunlounger - we figured we had found the place to do just that. A quick cooldown swim later and all we had to do was wrap a towel around ourselves before sitting down at one of the small tables overlooking the water. We were in for a treat for dinner too, as it was put on by Giuseppe who ran the B&B (Italian chef who has trained in France) alongside his dad Domenico and all topped off with home made red wine from his grandfather - perfect! Given we had fufilled ... read more

My mother's name was Katherine and here I am at the warm and welcoming Santa Caterina hotel (www.hotelsantacaterinapompei.it)- coincidence? I think not. Yesterday when I was scouting out a new place I spotted this one on my way to the ruins of Pompei and was welcomed by a vivacious and stunning young woman named- are you ready for this- 'Juicy'! Not only did she assure me the hotel had heat but she printed out the codes for their wi-fi and pointed out the computer in the lobby (which I am now using) as mine to use anytime I wanted for free. Then she showed me my future room- king size bed, huge bathroom with actual fluffly towels (and lots of them)-even little bitty ones for the bidet. I almost cried. Did I mention it was warm? ... read more

Francesca and I started the day really early. We said our goodbye's to Ricco & Gia hoping to meet again in Paris, France! Oui, Oui! A cab was waiting for us and Francesca opted to get in the front seat ... what a mistake!! She was introduced to a near death experience as the taxi driver drove fast, ran red lights, had several near misses with other cars, was texting & driving, & seemed to be sniffling with a cold. Phew we made it to Piazza del Popolo in one piece and a little early. We found a coffee place and had cappuccino & crescents. The tour guides were at the center part of the Piazza and we got checked it. Our group was smaller than the Tuscany Wine tour so we stickered up and headed ... read more