It is remarkable to think that we have been travelling for three weeks. It feels like three days, it feels like three months. Every mythical place in mythical Italy has now come alive and is a real place in a real country.
It is a weird feeling to see somewhere on a map, to pinpoint it, to talk about it, read about it, even watch videos of it and yet is so surreal. And then you get there and it all delight and wonder of it all is part of your collective memory and thoughts.
We left Rome today for what will be the last little leg of our journey, south to Naples, one hour by high speed train (300 km per hour), very cool. We did not stay in Naples at all, but went directly to spend the afternoon at the ruins of Pompeii. We have a driver booked here, who then took us to our apartment in Sorrento. He'll meet us again here tomorrow, and take us around the Amalfi coast area, and the coastal towns here.
Pompeii was awesome, you are driving along in the middle of a city, you turn into a side street, and there you are, buying a ticket into the ruins and you walk through the gate and you are smack in the middle of the ruins of a bustling town from over 2000 years ago. We could have stayed all day.
Houses and shops and theatres and gardens, sidewalks and public areas...truly an incredible place. Acres of ruins, so clearly laid out that the imagination is bursting with what it was like, to live near friends, to meet at the fountain, to stroll through the market place.
One of the shopkeepers gave the boys a lemon the size of a small soccer ball, which they carried all over Pompeii, throwing it back and forth, fighting over it. I suspect boys of the original Pompeii carried on with their lemons in much the same manner.
We arrived in Sorrento in time for the evening passieggata, families and couples were out in full regalia this evening, strolling and chatting. So beautiful. We chatted with a family in a small shop that carries locally made goods, baking and candy, olive oil and limoncello. They had a six year old daughter who would not look at or talk to Rosebud, the same as Rosebud would not look at or talk to her.
Lemon and orange trees line the sidewalks, and many are heavy with fruit. It looks so silly. As if orange trees are real. As if you pick them off a tree.
It is a weird feeling to see somewhere on a map, to pinpoint it, to talk about it, read about it, even watch videos of it and yet is so surreal. And then you get there and it all delight and wonder of it all is part of your collective memory and thoughts.
We left Rome today for what will be the last little leg of our journey, south to Naples, one hour by high speed train (300 km per hour), very cool. We did not stay in Naples at all, but went directly to spend the afternoon at the ruins of Pompeii. We have a driver booked here, who then took us to our apartment in Sorrento. He'll meet us again here tomorrow, and take us around the Amalfi coast area, and the coastal towns here.
Pompeii was awesome, you are driving along in the middle of a city, you turn into a side street, and there you are, buying a ticket into the ruins and you walk through the gate and you are smack in the middle of the ruins of a bustling town from over 2000 years ago. We could have stayed all day.
Houses and shops and theatres and gardens, sidewalks and public areas...truly an incredible place. Acres of ruins, so clearly laid out that the imagination is bursting with what it was like, to live near friends, to meet at the fountain, to stroll through the market place.
One of the shopkeepers gave the boys a lemon the size of a small soccer ball, which they carried all over Pompeii, throwing it back and forth, fighting over it. I suspect boys of the original Pompeii carried on with their lemons in much the same manner.
We arrived in Sorrento in time for the evening passieggata, families and couples were out in full regalia this evening, strolling and chatting. So beautiful. We chatted with a family in a small shop that carries locally made goods, baking and candy, olive oil and limoncello. They had a six year old daughter who would not look at or talk to Rosebud, the same as Rosebud would not look at or talk to her.
Lemon and orange trees line the sidewalks, and many are heavy with fruit. It looks so silly. As if orange trees are real. As if you pick them off a tree.
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