Thanks to the great Italian rail service, Pompeii was only a two hour trip away from our digs in Rome - a bit over an hour by fast train to Naples, then 45 minutes on the slower, local Circumvesuviana line to Pompeii Scavi (the Pompeii ruins). We set off to walk many miles again today, but this time at a more leisurely pace. The weather remained perfect and, although the tourists were there, the sheer size of this vast archeological site shrank them so that at times we felt like we were the only ones present.

We had an excellent day, apart from the disgusting, not hot chips we had as our only food during the long day (note to future visitors - don't eat at the snack bar inside the site). Vesuvius looms over the remains of Pompeii which it wiped out in a massive eruption in A.D. 79. The peace and tranquility of the area today provides a wonderful atmosphere in which to explore the remains of this once grand Roman city. We wandered up and down the paved streets, marvelling at the ruts in the cobblestones made by the constant traffic of chariots, the stepping stones across the streets to allow pedestrians the cross when the streets were flooded each day with sea water to wash out the trash, the fast food joints with their serving pots still set into the counters, the baths, the bars, the brothels, the bakeries, the houses, the hotels, the shops, the vineyards, the theatres, and most eerily of all, the plaster casts of human forms frozen in time as the ash trapped them 2,000 years ago. It truly is an amazing snapshot of life in a bustling, ancient, trading city. It had a population of 20,000 when it was buried under 30 feet of volcanic ash and was not rediscovered until the 1600s. Excavations began in 1748, but there is still much yet to uncover.

We eventually dragged ourselves away from this incredible place, drank the bar on the train dry on the way back to Rome as we marvelled at the memories we are making, and rounded off the day with another meal of pasta, vino and much laughter.