February 6

Today is our last day in Napoli. We packed up our things and left the hostel around 9am to head for Pompeii where we would spend most of the day. We walked the long walk to the train station where we caught the 10am train and our adventure began! There were many Roma people on the train and a young child begging for money. We all gave him some. Later we gave him and his older brother a pack of crackers. They were appreciative and shared with each other. They seemed like good boys.
We arrived in Pompeii about 45 minutes later. As we walked in the first thing we saw were cafes and bars selling gelato, fresh orange and lemon juice and pizza. We kept walked, bought our tickets and headed in. There were a few dogs running around and sunbathing. They were all very nice and we fed them crackers!

We entered Pompeii and it was like traveling back in time. The structures were still in relatively good shape and it was easy to imagine how these ancient people lived their daily lives. The forum, homes, offices, and so on were still intact and if you closed your eyes you could almost see exactly how the town looked before it was destroyed. The architecture was immaculate.

We walked from the forum to the smaller of the two amphitheaters. This was my favorite place in Pompeii. The perfection of the architecture and the marble was so beautiful. The weather today was incredible so we took this opportunity to sunbathe and watch the wild dogs play for a little while. The dogs were all so friendly and at the end of the tour we discovered that they were all up for adoption! After the amphitheater we looked at our map and realized how huge Pompeii was! ...We decided to walk all the way to the other side of the town to the Colosseum. This was a true sight to see. It was much smaller than the Colosseum in Rome but brought just as much excitement and entertainment to the community of Pompeii.

After the Colosseum we walked to the Garden of the Fugitives. The Garden of the Fugitives is the final resting place for many of the victims taken by the volcanic eruption in 79 AD. Resting here are bodies of men, women and children preserved in ash, just as they were the day they died. You can even make out some of the facial expressions of these ancient people.

After the Garden we made our way out Pompeii and headed back to Napoli to grab our bags and a snack before catching the train back to [our much missed] Roma. When we got off the train from Pompeii the group split up – half going back to the hostel to eat and the other half to get pizza where we had eaten the night before. When we got to the pizza place, starving, we found out it was closed – just as EVERYTHING is on Sunday in Napoli. By this point many of us were ready to cry and act like babies – homesick (from Roma), very hungry, so tired of walking, and just ready to crash. The walk back to the hostel seemed to take hours, but we finally made it...and in good cheer!

A few of us grabbed a small pizza and headed into the hostel to get our bags. When we got to the top of the stairs at the hostel we found little J crying and saying her bag was stolen! Everyone was freaked out and confused. I thought it was stolen from the hostel but it was worse: she had been mugged on the street by a man on a moped. He rode up, grabbed the strap to her purse (that was across her chest) and drove off at full speed. There was absolutely nothing she could have done to prevent the robbery or to get her things back. A man working at the hostel advised her to make a police report, which she did with Natalie and Brittany. 

Some of us went to get a quick bite a block from the hostel while the girls were at the police station. I ordered an octopus salad and some greens that are native and very particular to Napoli, Alex had told us about them previously. They are delicious and taste exactly like a mix of broccoli, asparagus, and spinach. Kelsey ordered cuttlefish pasta and it was wonderful.(refer to sites and bites)

After dinner we got our things and caught a cab to the train station. There was only standing room left on the train back to Rome so some of us paid 7 more euro to get first class seats so we could sit and have a nap. I was one of those people. We sat in a little room with 6 seats, 3 seats facing 3. There was a door and curtains and it was like the movies! There was also a man selling cookies and soda! 

Despite some of the rough patches, our last day in Napoli was great. Also, I feel I bonded with some of the group members who I previously didn't know :) Thanks to Julie and Manka for taking us to Napoli!!