Mt. Versuvius

Happy 39th Birthday to me! What a way to spend a birthday. I woke up to the fresh smell of the ocean and the sound of the Vespa zooming down our street. I couldn't have asked for anything more. After breakfast, we packed up our things and headed for Pompeii. For some reason, our navigation system was not working, but I knew that Pompeii was just right outside of Naples, so we headed in that direction. One word you should know is Scavi if you are driving to Pompeii. It is the word for ruins. In Rome, they tend to use the word Antica. Since I don't speak Italian, I can't tell you why one word is used over the other, but I think they pretty much mean the same thing. I would suggest that if you want to go to Mt. Vesuvius you should do it in the morning while it can be a little foggy up there and there are fewer crowds. You can catch a bus outside of the Pompeii ruins for 20 Euros that will take you there and back that includes the admission price to the volcano. While you can drive there, I wouldn't suggest it because the road it a series of switch backs and with all the buses coming up and down it can be kind of dangerous. It takes about 45 minutes to drive there from Pompeii. Then it takes about 20 minutes up to the top and about 20 minutes down, and maybe a little longer if you need to stop. It is a little steep. The views are amazing when the clouds clear away. You can see all of Naples. The volcano is amazing too with the steam rising up out of it's deep hole. No worries, you can't see any lava. The hole has filled itself back in. Before, we left the states we watched this really cool documentary on Mt. Vesuvius which helped us to understand really what happened and what danger could take place today. Back to Pompeii!