We arrived under sunshine to Venice in early afternoon. The top photo is of our approach, with the Grand Canal on the right. The lower photo is the entrance to Piazza San Marco, with the Doge's Palace on the far right and the Basilica San Marco next to, and behind, it. Just a few people milling about :-). This piazza is the most famous and most visited in Venice. We came back to it much later in the evening.

Naples is crazy crazy, traffic-wise that is. Cars, buses, motorcycles going every which way - sometimes passing in a lane with vehicles coming in the opposite direction. This is in heavy traffic IN the city. It's hard to see how they keep from crashing into one another. It is a beautiful port however. And here we are at a fort in the Bay of Naples, locally referred to as the "egg".

Outside of the great views from the top and the massive destruction it caused long ago, Mt. Vesuvius was not all that impressive to us who have seen and experienced the eruption of Mt. St. Helens. However, it is still active and expected to erupt again at some point. You cannot climb to the very top but we went up as far as they allow. Here's a small collection of pics, one from the ship in the morning with Vesuvius looming in the background.

We can't leave Pompeii without showing one or two of the deceased (re-casted) corpses and some of the excavated artifacts. This scratches the surface of Pompeii, as there was a lot more to see and understand, including more personal details such as their communal cold, warm, and hot bathing system (and toilet areas).

Here is a mostly complete fresco from the Mystery Villa, one of the larger villas in Pompeii. Most of the fresco's and other art we're removed by earlier archeologists ("diggers" as Patricia put it). The decorations and artistry contained within the houses (and city) must have been something to behold. Us, we just slap a few cheap paintings and photos on the walls and call it good ;-). Also, here are the four of us standing in what used to be the temple to Apoll...