We took a bus from Rome that drove up to Vesuvius and then on to Pompeii. You might wonder why we didn’t spend more time in Naples (the closest city to Pompeii, Pompeii is just outside of it.) Putting it simply, our friends who have visited said it was a dump. I’m sure my impression of it wasn’t improved in anyway when I researched how we might take public transit from Rome to Pompeii. According to Travel Advisor users the Naples bus station is flush with characters who are quite skilled at getting money from foolish tourists. We spoke a small amount of Italian, but still had that slack-jawed look about us that most people out of their element have.

When we were thinking about how we were going to spend our time, we didn’t feel that we wanted to sacrifice a night in Rome for a night in Naples to gain a full day in Pompeii. I can confirm all those days in Rome were worth it just for the Carbonara and Cacio e Pepe we had. We possibly missed excellent Neapolitan pizza, but we had already had stellar pizzas in Florence and Rome. How much better could it get? I felt like we were touching the face of God with the pizza already.

We were just trying to figure out who had what camera. Jeannine clearly had this camera, because there are pictures of me.