Pompeii

Today's adventure was to hop the Circumvesuviana train and head out to Pompeii. I didn't know what would be out there or what the crowds might be like since it was Christmas Eve and all. So I packed some water, an apple and some delicious Neopolitan cookies that my sweet little Italian Grandpa gave me (if you are a facebook friend you know all about him already, but if you aren't here's the back story: The other night I popped into a store to buy some water andthe little man behind the counter kept calling me bella and gave me a cookie to try. It was amazing, so I bought one to go. A couple of nights later, I popped in for more water and another one of these cookies when he decided that I really should try them all. So I bought one of each and he gave me one to eat right away... um... these people make GOOD cookies!!).

Off I went, hopped the train and was away! When I got to the station (Scavi Pompeii), I hopped off and out into the street where there were signs pointing me to the excavation site. Pompeii is still an active archeological site and some of the streets are closed from time to time as things are dug up or restored so that tourists can safely walk through. Below are a few of the pictures that I took on my wanderings in the nearly empty site (winter is a great time to be in the region as there are few tourists and the sun is out... felt more like spring or fall than winter).






Pompeii is beautiful... the whole area is and I highly recommend seeing it. It was a treat to do that on a warm and sunny day and to have the whole site nearly to myself until the last 10 minutes when a couple of large Japanese tour groups arrived.