We woke up bright and early today, excited for our excursion to Pompei, only to find out it was supposed to be cold and raining :(

Nevertheless, we got ourselves ready and headed out to the train station. Along the way we grabbed our Italian breakfast of pastry and coffee (Robyn has now become addicted to espresso). Coffee and pastry in hand we crammed onto the train, like a bunch of sardines, for the 30 minute trip to Pompei.

Having been there before I knew what to expect, but it was impressive nonetheless. We saw many temples and houses that had been excavated, as well as public markets and forums, etc. Although the weather wasn't the greatest, it wasn't too bad as the rain would come and go, only staying for 10 minutes at a time. Some of the highlights included (1) the Thermolium, (2) Lupanare, and (3) the Terme Stabiane.

(1) The Thermolium was one of the 89 fast food stores in the city. Apparently not many people in Pompei had kitchens or cooked. Instead, you could buy cooked food from the Thermolium, where the food was on display in jugs set into the counter and the sales person would re-heat it using a thermal heating system (circulating hot water around pots).

(2) The Lupanare was the main brothel in the city. Although there were approximately 25 brothels in the city, this was the only building built specifically for a brothel (apparently all of the others were only a room in a house or at the back of a tavern, etc.). The brothel was 2 stories with 10 tiny rooms, each with a stone bed, (5 on each floor) with a "menu" of services (in picture form) plastered along the walls. The cost of each service was the equivalent of 2 glasses of mediocre wine, and apprently only the lower to middle class frequented the Lupanare (the upper class would have had private slaves).

(3) Terme Stabiane was the main baths of the city, as most of the residents didn't have baths in their own houses. For a small fee the people could go to the baths and use the pool and hot, cold and warm tubs, as well as the gymnasium. They could also pay a little more for services like massages and body scrubs (so really the same as our current spas). There were obviously separate girls and guy change rooms and baths, but the men's was significantly larger than the women's. Apparenlty even back then women had to wait in line for the bathroom.

After spending more than a few hours at Pompei, we hopped on the train back to Sorrento, where we were greeted with lots and lots of rain. With absolutely nothing else we could do in the city, we did what we do best...shopping :)

For dinner I had a fabulous Italian dinner with the girls, which included bolognese, risotto and Tiramisu.

Tomorrow we head to Possitano.....