Benvenuto in Italia (Welcome to Italy)

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We woke up on the high seas - or maybe it was the low seas - this morning. We had crossed the Ionian Sea and were on the Adriatic Sea. The rocking ferry finally calmed down enough to get some sleep last night but I had suffered all I could in that tiny cabin and had to get out. I went down to the reception area and found numerous people sleeping in the chairs and on the stair wells. Not sure if they just got a cheaper ticket by not selecting a room or did not like the tiny cabins either. After a brief walk on the outer deck a few of our group started to stir around. We all ate breakfast and waited for the ferry to arrive at port in Bari. At some point during the night we crossed another time zone and gained an hour of our lost time back. We needed that hour for it was going to be a long day.

We arrived at the port and disembarked the huge ferry catching our bus for the Italy portion of the trip. Everyone was glad to be off that ferry. All of the effort it took to get to the bus with all of our luggage, going through corridors, down long escalators, security, etc made everyone quite warm and tired and was anxious to be going on the bus. But the bus was having AC problems and the only air we could get was through the roof vent which we had to prop up using a water bottle. It truly was going to be a long day.

We had a 3 hour bus ride to Pompeii for our tour of the ancient city. We saw several windmill farms along the road and beautiful mountain ranges. The ride was uneventful except listening to our tour guide argue with people on the phone in Italian about our plans for the day. They were trying to move our plans around and we were having no part of that. So Mimmo worked it all out and we arrived in Pompeii for lunch and a tour of the ancient city.

We ate lunch in an italian eatery (of course) and they actually served French fries and had cokes and ICE! That is the first ice I have seen since arriving to Europe and it was wonderful. If only they had Dr. Pepper to go with it. We were also serenaded during our meal By an Italian musician. After some pizza and spaghetti, we started the trek up to the ruins of Pompeii. Mimmo had taught us a song in Italian he wanted us to sing for the the guide of the city tour and he had us sing it on the streets when walking to the starting point of the tour. Most people seemed to enjoy it. But when it came time to sing for the tour guide, the staff came out and stopped him from doing it. I believe it was a song they sing in the soccer stadiums. Maybe the staff was afraid we might start a riot in the street. Not sure.

We walked through the gate of old Pompeii and was immediately captivated by all that we saw. It was in fact a city. A very large city. Complete with bakeries, houses, wineries, massage parlors, temples, and so much more. We even found the red light district of old Pompeii. We avoided the red light district in Amsterdam, avoided most of it in Athens, but went right through the middle of it in ancient Pompeii. But it was not promiscuous as the areas are now. The city was amazing. It is so hard to fully comprehend how that large city was completely covered in ash after the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in the year 79 and how so much of it remained preserved under that ash until discovered in 1748. They are still uncovering portions of the city and find something new every day.

We finished up our tour, which was only a small section of the city and grabbed a slushie from the street vendors. They love to see bus loads of students coming. Those students try to help the local economy everywhere they go. Then we loaded on to the bus again and to our surprise the AC was working. Woohoo. We were all happy for it was unseasonably warm.

We rode the bus for another 3 hours toward Rome to find our hotel for the evening. We arrived very late, had a late dinner and found our rooms. A very welcome site for each and every one of us. Except I could not get the AC to come on. Someone inquired at the front desk and was told that it only blows heart and that if you are hot, open a window a little and it would be cold soon. Our window is a 4 foot square window with no screen, or anything preventing one from climbing or falling out of it and it is on a noisy street. So I guess I have to pick my battle - noise or heat. I do not like either.

Before we left on this trip, I researched our hotels and each one said they had AC. This is our fourth hotel and NONE of them have had it. These Europeans sure do like things warm which is not sitting well with this hot blooded American. I did purchase a tiny fan that charges by USB and it has been a lifesaver my new motto is - “Have fan, will travel“.

Tomorrow we are suppose to go into Rome and see some of the major hot spots. BUT this is Easter weekend and we are very concerned about the crowds and if and when some of the roads or areas will close for the festivities and the Pope. It will surely be an interesting day.

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