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Ummmmmmmmmmm.......*thinking*
Helen and I have decided we're getting very very old. On our first day in Naples we visited Pompei and did some not so strenuous walking around the ruins with a midday nap (in the 79AD old amphitheatre) we came home pretty damn exhausted. Pompei was an interesting day with lots of old lava damaged buildings, corpses and brothels. Firstly to note, pompei is huge, much bigger than expected and for being such a long time ago they seem to be very civilised...even with a token brothel. We also saw Gladiator barracks, (Helen hoped to see Russel Crowe....idiot), Gladiator training grounds, the big and little theatres, thermal baths, house of the surgeon (apparently), a bakery and some dogs...! Lots of pretty pictures, lots of time spent in the brothel, photographing dead bodies and being rudely awoken by dogs.
The following day was spent wondering around Napoli (Naples for the thick ones among you). Napoli is filthy, dirty, crime infested and home to some gooood pizza. Wondering around the city we attempted to find the sea, and after 30 minutes fruitless searching we arrived at the castle by the SEA! yay, time spent gazing out a the ever present shadow of Mount Vesuvious across the water. Fun fact, this may be our last blog as it last erupted in 1944 and is supposed to blow ever 30 years......humm a little overdue one thinks, nevermind.
From here we strolled through some backalleys aimlessly towards nothing but enjoying the lack of planning and bussle of the street markets. We slurped some coffee in the sun and headed back to the hostel exhausted again to crash and die.
We are now here...today. Oh today. Our plans included visiting the looming volcano and touching some burning hot lava. However obstacle number 1, apparently touching lava is bad, really bad. Obstacle number 2, trains were on strike. Obstacle number 3, Bus 255 doesnt exist. Obstacle number 4, attempting to walk approximately 6 hours up the volcano is tiring. Us being us managed to overcome all of these hardships, as we are amazing and caught a random bus that pretty much solved all of the above....bar lava.
After much trekking around Herculaneum (similar to Pompei but smaller and better preserved- like an old lady) we started our epic ascent of Vesuvious. The first stage involved jumping into a white van with a bunch of strangers and meandering up a series of delapidated roads. The actual summit attempt lasted all of 10 minutes and included the aid of a stick ("Tip for stick"). The top was suprisigly cold especially in shorts but authentic volcanic smoke made it all worth it and I gave Helen a guided tour in the persona of a 90 year old man, she loved it trust me.
Tomorrow we wind our way to somewhere near Florence to visit my cousin and to see the sights nearby. Now off to bed as yet again we feel uber tired and our bones ache (kidding, but kind of not at the same time).
xx
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