On Tuesday, we woke up a little earlier and took the 9:27am (can you believe that we were up that early!!) train to Naples and then from there to Pompeii. The train left right on time, exactly at 9:27. Taking the train was a fun way to travel. We were in a small compartment (though it offered much more room than plane ride over to Rome) with six seats. Two other Italians were in our cabin for the trip to Naples. One of the ladies was getting something from her bag, which was above us, when the train jerked around a curve. This caught her by surprise and she fell onto Travis’ lap (who was sleeping). Travis woke up, with a slightly puzzled look on his face and she patted him on his cheek. We arrived in Pompeii around 12:30. Pompeii ruins were massive – a much bigger city than expected. We saw several human and animal bodies that were completely encased in ash. The stadium was probably the coolest part of the ruins. Travis used his announcer voice and it echoed around the stadium – it sounded very impressive. On our way back we got into Naples around 6:00 and immediately found a train to Rome it was not the train that we were scheduled to take (it left a couple of hours earlier). We had a quick conversation with the conductor before we got on the train to make sure that we could make the switch. We weren’t entirely sure based upon our conversation, but it seemed like a good idea so we went for it. The conductor/ticket checker placed us in the cabin reserved for him and went off wandering around the train. He later came back, retrieved his belongs (which he had left in the cabin) and we did not see him again until he came to check our tickets. In the end it worked out great and was a good use of the 8 euros it cost to change our ticket. We got to Rome in time for dinner and didn’t have to find something to occupy our time in Naples.
Also, check-out our other pages (with additional pics) from the trip:
