Today was supposed to be about Pompeii (which it was), but it also became a significant investment into the Sorento local economy day (which like all such moments was unplanned).

We were first to be collected by the tour bus, which picked up a mixture of Spanish, American, and British couples and families on the way to Pompeii. The journey is interesting on its own, with significant traffic jams getting from Sorrento along the peninsular to the plains below Mt Vesuvius, this despite some further marvels of Italian road engineering, with one of the longest road tunnels we have experienced, with plenty of curves in it as well. (One of the narrowest main roads I have seen - M). On the way back we saw some of the dangers of traffic jams in the tunnels where the Italian road etiquette of the last one in the queue holding back with their hazard lights on until the next driver arrives where this is then repeated. Very sensible in a dangerous situation, as we shortly saw trucks speeding into a danger zone around a tunnel corner; can only imagine what could happen without this practical approach.

Pompeii was visited over two hours (never enough to to fully appreciate the scale) with our tour guide Josephine. We each, in typical tour party fashion were wired up to hear her every word. We loved Pompeii, it's scale, it's legacy of buildings, roadways, restaurants, brothels, gardens, theatre, and above all a glimpse of Roman culture. For the first time we could see a glimpse of where our approach to living comes from, it was tangible and suddenly scary realising how far back our seemingly complex way of life comes from. The organisation of towns, the services provided for living (running water, bathing, ablutions, fast food shops etc), for learning and entertainment ( theatres, games etc) are all consistent with our lives today. The scale of this town and its engineering, when it was really only a small regional town by Roman standards, made the Roman Empire and achievements more meaningful. For what is considered a small town the walls, and infrastructure are impressive, rivalling anything we have seen to date, and to think there is still another 30% to be uncovered.

There is a massive restoration process underway along one of the main streets, where attempts to reconstruct the roofs of the buildings and some of the interior details. This must be an interesting archaeological challenge; at what point are you making it up and damaging the integrity of the original find, and perhaps creating a movie set or theme park; versus providing another level of insight to the millions of tourists that visit this site. We watched people leaning on precious wall frescos as they moved through restored homes, with no insight into what they were doing. Multiply this out over the thousands per day that move through these structures, and what subtle damage is being done? Tricky balance for a very important tourist destination. Having been, we would happily go again and recommend to others to visit. However it was hot enough there amongst the ruins in mid April, therefore it must be a form of historical tourist torture by July & August! Is curiosity and amazement going to destroy this interesting site for future generations. Let's hope not, it deserves to be seen. Maybe the last 30% will keep its integrity.

On returning to Sorrento, it was laundry time, with R spending over an hour wrangling the laundry machines (we really think laundromats have it in for us). We now are set for the next week.

Then the fateful shopping event which happened by accident. All we can say is we fell in love with some craftsmanship resulting in R now having a beautiful and special birthday present being shipped home. We leave Sorrento financially poorer but culturally enriched.

Our last act of the day was finding a fantastic restaurant with the best service and fun we have had for a while. We would recommend this place to anyone passing through Sorrento. It was reasonably priced, great food and service, with a guitarist strumming away below us. We enjoyed it, but maybe it was the complimentary Limoncello talking!

Now the task of packing up and navigating many transport options to get to Tuscany: via taxi, ferry, another taxi, train, on foot then our rental car...

One last footnote for today. Hotel Helios was a good internet find. There is a good walk up the hill from the town (which aided our post dinner recovery), and it does have slightly hard beds (which are enormous), but Roberta at reception was outstanding in her service and attention to our needs, never pushy and always engaged. The sea view from the rooms was lovely. M - It is a small boutique hotel, and done very well. Reminds me of The George Hotel in Christchurch.