Last month, we pulled Arwen out of school for three weeks and flew to Italy. It is so difficult to put into words all that we saw and did, so I'll just share some photos from our first of what I hope to be many trips to Europe.
We spent our first full day in Italy exploring Pompeii. Arriving shortly before the gates opened, we decided to grab some breakfast in the neighborhood. It turns out that breakfast (or at least eating breakfast out) isn't big in Italy. Most restaurants don't open until lunch. The one place opened was a little coffee shop attached to the train station across the street. Thankfully cappuccino and espresso were two words we did have in our tiny little italian vocabulary bank. A few finger points to pastries in the glass case, and we were in business. Italians know coffee. This was delicious.
Pompeii was absolutely amazing. We spent a good time of our visit simply awestruck by our surroundings. Here we were walking about ruins - an entire city! - from the 1st century.
Arwen's biggest fascination seemed to be the castings of the human and dog remains found buried in the ash.
Rob pointed out the cryptonite effect the italian sun was having on our adventure. While in the shade, we felt as though we could do this all day. The second we were exposed to that hot afternoon sun, we found ourselves scanning the map for the nearest exit.
We survived a full day of exploration and rewarded ourselves with our first taste of authentic gelato. After this, how will we ever enjoy the stuff they try to pass off as gelato at home?
We also managed to successfully find our way to downtown Naples via the regional train when we were done. Go us.
More of my Pompeii & Naples pictures are loaded to flickr. Click here for the slideshow.
