Do not enter ... or whatever!

Here we are at 4 am saying goodbye to Patrizia and starting out for home:

In Florence and Rome we found These sweet versions of graffiti on Do Not Enter signs:

And here we are, safe and sound, back in Winnipeg!!! (No blackberries were harmed in the posting of these blogs, they were however pretty annoying, and if I see one again I hope that it's along with some ice cream, so I can eat it rather than wonder where it came from.)

Capri

We Began the day bright and early with breakfast at 7. Then we got on the bus and headed for Sorrento to catch the water taxi to Capri.

Walking down the ramp-like road in Sorrento That leads to the waterfront. 

Sitting and waiting for the water taxi.

Heading over to board the boat.

Once we get to Capri we get on a smaller Boat That takes us on a mini-cruise to some of the sites of the island That can be best seen from sea.

The Villa Malaparte built by famous Italian writer Curzio Malaparte in 1938, Which is currently the property of Capri, and used for conferences and meetings and for important guests. 

The azure blue water.

The stunning rock formations.

The grottos, Which into our captain was very very adept at piloting the boat. 

More iconic rock formations.

Perhaps the most iconic formation, the Faraglioni.

Plenty of photo ops here!

After the boat tour we Began a walking tour of the island.

Where we found more photo ops

A final group picture (you have to admire Their consistency)!

Yet another fine dining experience lunch, cool.

Some of us found a beach! And got wet!

In the end it will be, for some of us, a tale of two shoe choices.

A chance to do something fun and cooperative while waiting for the ferry.

A chance to hear Italian dudes yelling at people to move on and make room for the ferry.

On the ferry headed back to the mainland.

Tomorrow morning we arise at 2:30 am to get to the airport in time for our flight to Frankfurt. We have an hour to make the connection there, so we hope things fall into place. As wonderful as it's been, we are all looking forward to seeing you soon!

Pompeii

Today's itinerary involved rising at 7, having breakfast at 7:45, boarding the bus at 8:30 to head south for about 3 hours through Naples, carry on (keep calm) for a tour of the ruins in Pompeii, drive to Sorrento for a short walk (freetime), and then on to our hotel (just outside Sorrento, but still on the coast). 

The first notable image of the journey was the old Roman road, the Appian Way, which stretches from north of Rome, through Rome, and down to the southern tip of Italy. The road is still lined by Mediterranean pines and their characteristic flat tops. They are beautiful trees and I'd love to have one or two on the yard back home. The needles as in twos like red pines, but are about twice as long.   

We arrived in Pompeii at just before 12 and sat down to a traditional Neapolitan pizza (Margarita pizza - tomato sauce topped mozzarella cheese).

This man rolled out the dough and applied the tomato sauce and cheese.

This man used to long paddle to put the pizza in the gas-fired brick oven.

When they came out they looked like this! And on Thomas Kanke's scales of pizza awesomeness they ranked the highest of the trip so far - 9.3!

After the pizza we met our local tour guide, Marco.

Marco's style was to use an ongoing story of daily life in Pompeii as a way to thread together the various parts of this massive site (It would take more than two days to fully explore the 170 acre site, which once was home to 20,000 people, Romans and slaves.) He began by taking us to the gladiator's training site. The gladiators were celebrities of a sort. Below are the cells the gladiators were housed in while they trained. Marco's story included the possibility that in ancient Pompeii, because of the very limited rights of women, some of them would have made ​​their way down to the gladiator's area in order find love and acceptance.

Next we were taken to the amphitheater in Pompeii where a couple might go to enjoy a night of entertainment (likely a play) in this wonderfully designed venue with fantastic acoustics.

After the play the couple might walk over to a restaurant along the street for something to eat. On the main streets vendors would sell prepared foods. If there was water running in the street because of rain, the couple could cross the street and keep dry by walking on the raised crosswalks regularly placed along all streets.

Above is one of the storefront places where food would be sold - it was served hot and quickly Likely, from large urns sets counters and heated by fires beneath them.

If the couple was thirsty they would be able to get a drink of water from the public fountains that were at many street corners.

Either at the beginning or at the end of the day a citizen could enjoy one of the free baths available too all. In the public baths there were separate men's and women's areas, where there were hot and cold baths. Citizens were very concerned about their health. The picture below shows one of the areas of the hot bath.

The picture below shows a plaster cast of one of Pompeii's citizens who suffocated and died in the bath area. The plaster casts were first made ​​in the 1860s when Guiseppe Fiorelli noticed, as they were excavating the site, that perhaps the empty cavaties in the lava and ash were where humans had died. He arranged to fill one with liquid plaster. When the plaster was the rock hard and cleared away, they found a shape like the one above. Since then many casts of people in the final throes of death have been made.

Finally at the end of the evening the couple would head home to well-designed multi-room dwellings. Life in Pompeii was civilized and included many of the same comforts we enjoy.

Below you see us standing in the forum area of the city, the place where public affairs were discussed. You can seen Mt Vesuvius looming in the background. Before the eruption in 79 AD the mountain was a third taller, with a single peak.

After the tour we got back on the bus to drive along the coast to Sorrento - a good opportunity to take pics from the bus window!

In Sorrento Patrizia treated us to gelati!

Then we took an hour to explore the town, to shop, and of course to take more pictures!

After this, and after a fine dinner, some decided that yoga on the patio outside their rooms was in order! 

Tomorrow we're off to take a boat to Capri! The temperature is supposed to be 22'C.

Rome - Day 2

We began the morning with breakfast at 7:45 am and the bus left for Rome at 8:30 am. Today's agenda was to have a guided tour of the Colosseum and the Forum, and then free time in Rome in the afternoon. Here's what to That Looked Like!

Walking up to the Colosseum and Constantine's gate

Group shot inside the Colosseum while we wait for the local tour guides to sort things out.

In the Colosseum listening to the tour guides.

Freetime to take pics.

The scope of the plan is astonishing!

I'm here! I can not believe it!

Sometimes all you can do is look on in awe.

We found this scratched on a brick in one of the supporting pillars! (WNO, we did not do this!)
Could it be someone else from Altona, MB Canada Has Been here? Who could it be?

This is the support pillar on the second level, on Which We found "Altona" inscribed.
(What are the chances we'd find it? Dennis? Chris?)

On our way over from the Colosseum to the Forum, the place where the Roman government worked,
and where people came for conversation and information.

During medieval times some of the ruins of the Forum were incorporated into new structures.
Erected Here a monument to an emperor and his wife Became the front facade for a church building. Much of the marble in the Forum, and from the Colosseum, was taken away by the Romans and repurposed Themselves as they built a new and different city. Much of the marble in the Vatican, for instance, comes from the the Colosseum and the Forum. Recycling!  

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Jocelyn and Anne take a break from listening and sit down beside the altar
commemorating the assassination of Julius Caesar.  

With so much of the structures Forum and columns gone, With so much of the

This shot Gives you some sense of the size of the 

After the tour of the Forum, we headed up to Michaelangelo's Square to have a look at the statues,
and to take another "group wins the cup!" picture.
  

From about 1 pm to 5:45 pm we had free time
in downtown Rome! This is all of us at about 5:40 after a great
time of exploring the city, and of course, buying more stuff! 
Tomorrow the American group flies home, so we get the whole bus to
ourselves for the rest of the trip to Pompeii, Sorrento, Capri (with a ferry ride over to Naples),
and then back to Rome to fly home.