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ITALY - DAY 9
Angelique's birthday today. She woke bright and eager for her special day to start. Once dressed we gave her her present. She was every excited to see it. We had pretended that it was for Pasqual and when she saw it, she said that it looked exactly like Daddy's. Silly cookie.
After breakfast we boarded the bus for our excursion. Once on board, everyone sang happy birthday to Angelique and she received a doll from the tour director. She loved it. It was dutifully named Angela Collina (a very Italian name) and quickly became her companion during the long day of travel.
Our excursion this morning was to Pompeii. This was fascinating. The guide was very informative and we saw some amazing things. It was sad to think that so many people died because they didn't know what to do when Mount Vesuvius erupted. They know the exact time and day that the mountain erupted due to letters and documents written by people who lived on the other side of the bay and watched in horror as the events unfolded. We learned that 17 years before the eruption, there was an earthquake and Pompeii was partially destroyed. We saw several bodies discovered when they excavated. The archeologist were very clever because as they where digging down through the ruins and came to a hollow in the rock they drilled three holes into it and poured plaster into it and let it set for several days. They were then able to remove the body intact. Inside each of these plaster bodies are the bones of the victims.
After leaving Pompeii we climbed aboard and settled down for a five hour drive to Assisi our port of call from tonight. After dropping our luggage at the hotel we headed up the hill/mountain to the huge Franciscan Monastery. Due to the girls not wearing clothing appropriate to enter a church (shoulders and knees covered) I opted to stay outside with another person while Pasqual and Grandad went inside.
Shelley, the girls and I wandered around the quant town. It was beautiful. Exactly what you expected, narrow streets, not a lot of traffic, light and airy and very beautiful. Most, if not all the building were made from a pink, white stone. We wanted to see the square and were informed that we needed to head up from the church so we started to climb. Up and up we went until we decided we must have gone wrong as we were in a civilian street at the top of the hill. We turned around and headed back to the bus.
That night we had a special cake for Angelique. She was very happy. All in all a great birthday for her.
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