Pompeii, 10 Tins of Dog food, a Large Bottle of Olive Oil - and a Dog - UPDATED

Just another day in Napoli. I was going to go to Capri today but decided that finding Seymour dog food was a higher priority. Since I was going to stay in Napoli, I might as well go to the train station to get my ticket to Roma. I bought a 1 day ticket for the public transportation here and decided to take the tram that stops across from my apartment. I kept watching the stops and was pretty sure I missed the one to the train station but decided to just ride the tram all the way around again. Not!

The tram stopped and the driver came back and asked what I was still doing on it. He also pointed to Seymour and I think he said dogs aren't allowed. I said I was going to the train station and long scary story later, he pointed for me to get off of the tram and get on one in front. So, I was riding on the next tram, very worried that I wouldn't find the stop to the train station again - when it stopped. There was a bus in front and lots of police and people started exiting the tram. So I got off, not sure where I was.

But I did see a small supermarket and found that they sold dog food. So I purchased 10 tins, and a large bottle of olive oil - and some chocolate. Then I started walking. After about 30 minutes, I recognized the area around the train station. Actually I hardly recognized it because in the 2 days since I had been there, they started construction there and it looked totally different. But I was happy to find it.

I went inside and bought my ticket to Roma from one of the machines without a problem. Then I decided that since I was there, I would check on the trains to Pompeii. For 6,20 euro, I got a round trip ticket to Pompeii.

When I got to Pompeii, I found that it was OK to bring Seymour in, in his "sack", which was great. But for 3 hours, I walked around Pompeii carrying 10 tins of dog food, a large bottle of olive oil, some chocolate, and Seymour. I am very glad I have a few of those expensive aspirins they sell here, left.

Pompeii was another place that was very different from what I thought. It is a whole city. UPDATE: 25,000 people lived here. It is vast. It is 66 hectacres of which 44 have been excavated I know a hectacre is bigger than an acre, but you can look it up if you are curious. I was awed and impressed with all of the restoration they have done. You can get a feel for how people lived. Here are some pictures:

The road and sidewalks were built around 200 BC. I AM NOT SURE OF THAT DATE - SORRY!









Some of the original frescos are on the walls. They were painted in layers by different people, depending on their expertise.





These are some of the buildings:









This is pretty cool. This is a temple as it is now, and after that is a picture of what it was probably like back then:







These are like the Roman baths. There are about 8 in this room. Friendly folks!




This is actually like a restaurant. The holes are where they put the food bowls.




They are in the process of renovating this house:



I took lots of pictures but don't want to bore you. Here is the first picture of me and Seymour I asked someone to take. So we are in the theater of Pompeii:




They grow grapes here, just like they did back when Pompeii was a living city. The wine is called Villa de Misteri. I may see if I can find a bottle of that wine. But I would need to drink it here since I really can't carry anything back home. Sorry, folks.


Here a a picture of Mt Vesuvius behind Pompeii - no words to describe it:





UPDATE: This is what I get from trying to understand what a nice Italian man is saying to me about Pompeii! Here is what the tour books say: The total population of Pompeii was about 25,000. An earthquake hit in 63 AD and much of the population left. Most of the people hadn't returned when the volcano erupted in 79 AD so there were about 2,000 people who died due to the volcano. The book also talks about the occasional "stray dog" - we say two sleeping there, and the noticeable lack of signs. THANK YOU! I was hopelessly lost in this maze of buildings. That is why I started talking to the man who works there - who I obviously didn't understand!

visiting here does makes me want to read more about Pompeii. I didn't buy any tourist books - again, no room. How nice it would be to have someone who just carried my stuff, and didn't tell me it was too much. Maybe I'll buy a few lottery tickets when I get home!. Actually they sell lottery tickets here and I've thought about buying a couple but wondered if someone from outside of Italy could win the big prize? What a dreamer I am!

If all goes as planned, and as you know that doesn't happen very often, tomorrow will be Capri!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Montepulciano

This will be short. There is no wifi at the place I'm staying - or no fan! I am waiting for my first class to start. So much to tell!. This is a beautiful town but all hills. I am exhausted from dragging my bag and Seymour up the hills to find my room.
This is where part of New Moon was filmed. I will post pictures later. We just finished our placement test for class and I could not answer one question. I have never turned in a blank test before!

My host family is very nice but speaks no English. She has a dog and Seymour kinda gets along with him. He does growl and bark some. We'll see if that works out. Since there seems to be no A/C here, people leave their windows open all the time so it is very noisy. I am definitely outside of my comfort zone, but that is good for me.

Somehow I left my jeans at the hotel in Rome. How does one not see a pair of jeans? I will probably have to buy some clothes for summer because long sleeves won't cut it. Did I say it is HOT?? caldo ??

OK, we have a break now so I am going to find a grocery store to get Seymour some food.
More later

Hot Springs Arkansas

I have fallen in love with this place and with the National Park. This is out second night here in the park. At Hot Springs National Park, you just drive in, find a spot and go to their automated machine to pay. Their are spaces with electric and water and spaces with no electric. If you have a National Park Pass or Senior Pass you only pay 1/2 price for the spots. The discounted rate is $5.00 for the non-electric spots and $12.00 for the ones with hook-ups. Although I could use battery power for my lights and fan, it was too warm here to not use the A/C so I got the space with the hook ups. Many people have dogs here and there are great hiking trails. They have restrooms but no showers. There is also a creek running on one side of the campground but those spots either have no hook ups or the ones that do are already taken. The only other problem here is the the campground is right beside a busy park road but I got used to the noises. Overall, it's a great place to camp.

The town of Hot Springs is about 5 miles away and we spent about 4 hours there. I took Seymour into many of the shops and found that he was allowed to go with me on the Duck Tour. That's a vehicle that goes on land and in the water. It was only $18 for a 1 hour and 15 minute tour. Well worth it. There is also a place in the center of town where you can fill water jugs with hot spring water. It is cooled a little but it's still very warm. It would have been great to have bathed in it but I think I might have drawn a crowd. Seymour again opened doors of conversation that would probably not have happened, otherwise. I love traveling with him - except for his occasional gas problem :)

I will definitely come back and feel very comfortable bringing Seymour.