Day 12: Pompeii & Sorrento

We drove about 3.5 hours to Pompeii.  Once we arrived, we took a 2 hour walking tour of the ruins of old Pompeii.  It is actually only ruins and still takes up all the room it once did.  It is unreal to see what was left behind and what they are still discovering.  

Our local guide did a wonderful job painting a picture of life in Pompeii before the eruption.  It was a city on a hill with a beautiful view of the Mediterranean Sea.  The people seemed fairly advanced - some even had running water in their homes - in 79AD!!

When Mount Vesuvio erupted in 79 A.D., the people were unprepared.  Most of them died by inhaling the combination of gases and smoke.  When the two combined with stomach liquids, it formed a rock which killed them instantly.  As the ashes blew over the city, it covered the people just as they died!  Because of this, there are now "body casts," which were made as the city was dug up, of all sorts of poses....a man sitting, a dog, children, a baby sleeping, etc.  We were able to see a few of these. The casts were actually made by pouring plaster into the "cavity" made once the skin and organs disintegrated leaving only the bones.

Titus and the emperors did not rebuild the city because they thought it was destroyed by the gods because of the sins of the people. That is why it is still in ruins today! Only 2/3 of the city has been excavated.  There are no plans to uncover the other third because of the expense of keeping up what has already been uncovered!

After a little shopping, we had lunch in a nice restaurant recommended by Simone.  We have enjoyed pizza, lasagna and spaghetti in Italy!!

After lunch, we drove in to Sorrento.  There is water all around -beautiful blues and aquas! We took some pictures by the sea, shopped for a few minutes and then got back on the bus to drive to our hotel. 

The hotel is beautiful with a view of both the Amalfi Coast and the Sorrento Coast - depending on which side of the building you are on!!  We just finished dinner looking over the water and are now hanging out in the hotel until bedtime!

Tomorrow, we take a ferry to the Isle of Capri!  We're still exploring, but home is looking nicer, and we are longing for our own beds and families!

Last Day in Italy

This is it!  We have completed our tour and are settling down in our last hotel.  We are on the side of a mountain looking down into Lago de albano (Lake Albano) in Rome.  We have a beautiful view, and our rooms are very nice (still small).

We woke up this morning in Sorrento. After breakfast at the hotel overlooking the Mediterranean, we loaded our suitcases on to the bus and walked down to the marina.  We took a ferry 30 minutes to the Isle of Capri.  A few of us had a difficult time with motion sickness, but after a 45 minute nap on the rocky beach, we were refreshed!  As we rested, the others took a boat ride around the island which they said was gorgeous!

Capri is the most beautiful place we have been!  15,000 residents live on the island, and more than 10,000 visit each day during the summer!  Our guide, Fabrizio, showed us around the island as he greeted all the locals.  He arranged a wonderful lunch for us and then took us to some beautiful gardens with a breathtaking view from the top of the mountain!

We had about an hour of free time which we used to play on the rocky beach and, of course, eat more gelato!

We then took another ferry back to Napoli (Naples) which allowed most of us an hour nap!  Paolo, the best bus driver ever, was waiting for us at the marina and ready to bring us back to Rome.

We had to hike up a mountain with our luggage to get to the hotel, but it was worth the work!  We are happy to rest tonight and really looking forward to seeing our families tomorrow!

Please remember that we have a short layover in Detroit where we will go through customs.  Then, we will fly into Houston. We are scheduled to arrive at 7:36 pm on Thursday.  The flight from Rome to Detroit is Delta 233, and from Detroit to IAH is Delta 5385.  I'm not sure what terminal, but I'm assuming A since we are coming in on a domestic flight!
Please be there waiting for your student/family so we can leave as quickly as possible!

This has been an amazing trip.  Thank you again for trusting us with your student. This was certainly the trip of a lifetime!  We have walked almost 150,000 steps which translates to about 75 miles!  We have learned, bought, slept, laughed, and even cried in awe of what we have experienced!  I hope you will see lots of pictures and learn about new places that you may want to visit!

Arrivederci!
Jacqueline Hughes

Pompeii and Sorrento

We started today earlier than most days.  About half of our group left for the airport and should be arriving at 7:30 this evening!

The other half of us went on to Pompeii.  We drove about 3.5 hours to Pompeii.  Once we arrived, we took a 2 hour walking tour of the ruins of old Pompeii.  It is actually only ruins and still takes up all the room it once did.  It is unreal to see what was left behind and what they are still discovering.  We even saw some people working to find hidden items! Our fabulous guide, Marco, was a great storyteller with constant dramatic pauses!

Marco told us all about life in Pompeii then. To sum it up, it was a city on a hill with a beautiful view of the Mediterranean Sea, but people were very corrupt.  He actually called it another Sodom and Gomorrah (from the Old Testament)-sin city.

When Mount Vesuvio erupted in 79 A.D., the people were unprepared.  Most of them died by inhaling the combination of gases and smoke.  When the two combined with stomach liquids, it formed a rock which killed them instantly.  As the lava flowed over the city, it covered the people just as they died!  Because of this, there are now "body casts," which were made as the city was dug up, of all sorts of poses....a man sitting, a dog, children, a baby sleeping, etc.  We were able to see a few of these. 

Titus and the emperors did not rebuild the city because they thought it was destroyed by the gods because of the sins of the people. That is why it is still in ruins today!

After a little shopping, we had lunch in a nice restaurant recommended by our driver.  We had not had spaghetti yet and did not feel we could leave Italy without having some!

After lunch, we drove in to Sorrento, which I believe is a peninsula.  There is water all around -beautiful blues and aquas!  We took some pictures by the sea, shopped for a few minutes and then went to our hotel. 

 The hotel is in a great location in the center of Sorrento and with a view of the sea (for some of us)!  We just finished dinner looking over the water and are now hanging out in the hotel until bedtime!

Tomorrow, we take a ferry to the Isle of Capri!  We're still exploring, but home is looking nicer, and we are longing for our own beds!

Oops...I forgot!  We also went to an inlaid wood factory and learned how they make this very fine furniture.  We looked around in the store for a while, but most everything was more than we wanted to spend today.  We also learned how cameo jewelry is made from conk shells AND we crashed a wedding in a 700 year old monastery!  We seriously walked in as the bride and groom were exchanging rings!  It was beautiful!