so this is kind of overdue. but here it comes. Oct. 20-22.

Pompeii is incredible. I didn't think the city is as big as it is, but it is pretty big. I really enjoyed it. There is so much history there. Unfortunately, I only had three hours at Pompeii, but you could definitely spend an entire day there.

The next morning we went to Naples. Interesting experience, that is for sure. I had a three year old girl try to pickpocket me. She didn't get anything because I didn't have anything in my pockets. But still. She's three. Napoli is dirty and grungy. I loved the bright colors of the buildings, and the Spanish influence on the city is noticeable. I could definitely tell that it is much different from Central and Northern Italy. It is much poorer. The people are different, too, but I couldn't get a good grasp of them because I wasn't there long enough.

Then we climbed the Vesuvio, which was the best part of the trip. The bus took us most of the way up, thankfully. Then we climbed the rest of the way. It was quite a hike, especially since it was cold, cloudy, and windy. So basically, the weather sucked. But it was worth it. Katie said it best for all of us when she said, "I think it says something when we would all rather climb a volcano than go to another museum." The funniest part was that while we were climbing down the volcano, the weather, well at least the clouds, started to clear. But it was a nice hike. So much better than going to a museum. I have discovered that I now have an aversion to museums. Haha. Oh well.

Then Sunday the weather was terrible. The weather was pretty bad the whole entire weekend, but Sunday was really bad. It was pouring rain, so we didn't get to go to Capri. I was so disappointed. I was really looking forward to Capri, but the weather just wouldn't permit it. So we went to a royal palace in Caserta, which is north of Napoli. The palace reminded me of the Governor's Palace in Williamsburg except bigger, much bigger. I was in a bad mood the whole day. At that point, I couldn't take another museum and I just wanted to go home. And most of us did. So the tour around the palace was kind of boring. But then we got to go to the gardens. They were beautiful. They weren't Capri, but they were worth touring the palace. The waterfall and fountain at the top are spectacular. We had a nice stroll through there. But I was glad to go home to Rome.

I'm glad I got to experience a little bit of Southern Italy, even if it was for just a weekend. It is such a contrast to the rest of Italy. It's dirty, the trash isn't collected, and there are stray dogs everywhere. It was good to see.