Bari/Pompeii/Naples

 We didn't actually do a whole lot the last two days. When we arrived in Bari from our interesting ferry ride, we were so exhausted we literally had coffee on the way to the train station, and then sat in McDonalds and drank tea and played cards until our train left in the late afternoon.

Hot tub ruins

Our experience in the train station, however, was less than ideal. We were just sitting on the ground in the train station uploading pictures to my laptop and three cops come up and start telling us all this stuff in Italian and we had no idea what was going on. Anyways then we try to get some train time table information from the counter and the man was completely useless. So anyway we have decided to use self serve machines from now on because they speak better English.

In ancient Pompeii, everyone would eat at cafes
like this for lunch. They were all over the place,
and some of them still had amazing marble
mosaic tiles. This one had a really great fresco.

On the way to Pompeii we sat across from this Italian man who was downing beers like there was no tomorrow. He did not speak very much English but he told us we were beautiful and we practiced saying the days of the week in Italian. 

Cool frescoes!

We lucked out and had a room to ourselves in Pompeii, and they had an adorable dog which was a bonus! When we left to go to the Pompeii ruins, we walked right into a random festival so that was cheery!

Plaster cast of a person who died from toxic gases from the volcano. He
was trying to protect himself, but it didn't really help... Surrounding him
are artifacts found in various parts of Pompeii.

Turns out Pompeii (the city buried in ash, not the Pompeii where people live now) is absolutely massive and is home to quite the population of stray dogs. There were a lot of really amazing things there. I really enjoyed their version of cross walks and the crazy amount of frescos (wall paintings basically) that have survived. Sarah was intrigued by the amphitheater and how through one door the gladiators walk in and through the other door they haul the dead ones out. It was really cool how they heated the floor of the bath houses to warm the water and make everything so steamy. Even the people of ancient Pompeii couldn't resist graffiti in locker rooms...

Tiny doorways!

On the way to pick up our backpacks and leave Pompeii, we stopped and tried some real pizza (you fold it in half and eat it. Works really good). It was so delicious, probably because I was starving! And then we stumbled upon a place that serves real gelato and fancy desserts and I decided that there is nothing in the world that can beat a legitimate Italian gelato. It was unbelievable.

We had a little stop in Naples before going on to Rome, so we decided to wander the streets for a few minutes. Literally every guy we passed in Naples asked us where we were from and told us how beautiful we were. Sarah and I will have so much self confidence by the time we leave Italy!