Uncovering a lost city

Today we took a train to Pompeii - the ancient city destroyed by Mount Vesuvius in 79. It was amazing that in 2005 they are still excavating the city - in fact only about 70% has been uncovered. The city is still pretty well preserved - many statues, mosaics, and paintings are still in great shape. A lot of the valuable statues and such are stored in the Museo Archeological Nationzionale in Naples (MANN) that we went to later in the afternoon. We had hoped to climb to the top of Mount Vesuvius but buses were not going there because of all the rain yesterday. Thankfully the rain cleared up and I was able to get some great pictures at Pompeii with a blue sky in the background.

We are amazed by the lack of regulations and such that are so common in the US. In order to lock our hotel room when we were inside sleeping, we had to use the key. I can't imagine the fire marshals would allow this back home. During the entire trip, we would have problems opening doors. The push to exit, pull to enter US method is opposite in Italy.

After we check out the MANN, we have dinner and of course drink some great wine. Amanda is drunk when she exclaims, "My lips are farther apart than I think they are". Good times. This picture is of a stand outside of Pompeii - look at the size of those lemons!

All the tour books I read said that Naples was crime ridden and very unsafe. We didn't get this feeling and enjoyed our time here. Naples was great - definitely a city I would revisit when I come back to Italy.