Rob’s European Vacation 2009

Sorrento is beautiful but all of Italy is really bella chaos.  The way people drive and the mass of mopeds zooming up and down streets is crazy.  I have always loved Italy though…and always will.

So I arrived in Sorrento after another crazy nine hours of trains.  I think the next time I plan a European holiday I’ll plan a bit better and stay longer than two nights somewhere after travelling for so long.  It’s funny how sitting on a train and changing trains takes it out of you, but it sure does.

So I got to Sorrento, and wow is this hostel awesome!  It’s basically a hotel with bunk beds instead of a king sized bed in it.  The place is brand new, tile and fancy decorations everywhere.  Seriously it rates up there as one of the nicest places I’ve stayed and at 30 USD a night, it’s a good deal too.

So I went to Pompeii today and thanks to some advice from my hostel roommate and Kristy, I decided to grab a tourguide instead of the audioguide which I heard was a huge waste of money.  For ten euro I got an Italian that had been giving tours for 50 years (or so he said) and actually was quite good.  For two hours he took us all around, showed us the baths, the main shopping areas, the areas of ill repute and some of the design of the city.  First off, Pompeii is HUGE.  MASSIVE even.  25000 people used to live there and it was big.  It took me 30 minutes at a brisk walk to walk from one end to the other so imagine how big it actually was…

The site itself is awesome.  Some really well preserved  “mummies” with their bones still in them since the plaster was poured in to form their shapes, some great mosaics that say things like “HAVE” which means welcome and another one of a dog that acts as a warning saying, “Beware of dog”, lol.  Great stuff…and they also had the baths open and had recently recreated the famous mosaic of Alexander the Great on the original floor it was found on.  Amazing site and I highly suggest taking a tour guide!!

After Pompeii I was pretty sun beat and tired.  I took the train back to the hostel and on the way I grabbed some bread and proscuitto and some cookies and made myself a little lunch.  After lunch I got really tired and ended up taking a bit of a nap and even after I woke up I was still just wasted.  I didn’t want to waste too much time though and just as the sun started to get low I grabbed another quick train to Sorrento harbor and took some great shots of the harbor and the Bay of Naples.  It’s amazing how big Vesuvius looms over Naples and the area and how at any moment it could blow again.  This whole area would be devestated if it did though!

So I just repacked my bag and got all my stuff ready for my trip back to Roma tomorrow.  About three hours of trains which is actually a light day, lol.  I’m looking forward to being in my second to last place and to know that on Sunday I’m flying back to London and then back to SFO on Monday.  I’ve quite enjoyed my time in Europe but I’m ready to be home too.  It’s really hit me this week that I’m ready for it.

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