One famous place in Italy that I hadn't seen yet was Pompeii. This is the ancient Roman city that was literally covered in ash by the eruption of Mt. Vesuvious in the year 79 a.d. It was rediscovered in the 16th century and they began to uncover it around 1750. It is literally a Roman city frozen in time, from the paved roads and raised sidewalks to the storefronts, houses and temples. I didn't know what to expect when we got there since I've never really seen any pictures, and I was just blown away by what is there.
You walk down streets lined with buildings and really get to feel what it was like to be in a Roman city over 2000 years ago. There were streets with shops that had marble counter tops with big holes for wine and red painted signs on the outside written in Latin. 
We went inside houses that obviously belonged to rich people because they had amazing paintings on the walls and elaborate mosaic tile floors, all still in pretty good condition. It was just incredible to see these things all so well preserved. The only thing missing was the rooves since they were caved in by the stone and ash, but most of the stone walls remain standing and even many rooves were recently reconstructed. There were two enclosed amphitheaters and even a large arena that could still be used today, it looked nearly perfect on the outside. 
And then there are the people of Pompeii. Apparently when they were uncovering the city they discovered open spaces in the solid ash that were left by bodies after they decomposed, so they pumped in plaster and filled the void. When they uncovered it the plaster was in the form of the person who died there, lying exactly as they died. It's a little spooky to see the expressions on their faces and the way they met their fate as the ash just stopped them in their tracks.
We spent the entire day walking around following our map and seeing most of the important buildings and monuments, but it would take another day to see everything since it's a pretty big city. Everything was pretty amazing and showed an incredibly modern way of life that they had even then. An interesting thing you notice when looking around is that the city is at least a few miles from the sea. This is was interesting because Pompeii was a port city, sitting right on the water before the time of the eruption when the lava flow actually extended the land several miles into the sea. That should give you some idea of the extent of the disaster. I'm glad I finally made it to Pompeii, and after seeing it I can't believe it took me this long to go there, but now I add it to the list of amazing places I've seen. The next day we decided to go to Napoli, Naples. It's about an hour from Sorrento by train and just up the road from Pompeii. You might recall I was there on the last trip with another German friend, Susann. However, it was a short trip and I felt like I needed to give Napoli some more time before I decide how I like it, not to mention the taste of the food I got last time was still in the back of my mind and calling me to eat. 
Napoli is Italian at it's most extreme. It was inhabited even when Pompeii was a bustling metropolis and continues to thrive today. Geographically it's not really big, but there are a LOT of people living there. The city has a reputation as being one of the more crime ridden cities in Italy as well as being congested and dirty, and it's all of those things, but it's also known as the birthplace of pizza and it sits in a beautiful location right on the sea. When you're there it feels like the city is stuck in a time from long ago. Women lean out of windows on the fourth floor to lower baskets on ropes down to their friend on the street who puts a loaf of bread or a fish in it for her to retrieve. Clothes lines are stretched from building to building with clean sheets and underwear blowing in the wind. Everything seems to happen in the streets, conversations, kids playing, buying bread, fish markets, and driving, all in the same space. Christine and I found our way into one of the old neighborhoods and just walked around for about an hour, sampling food from various shops and stands (everything I ate was amazing) and just watching everything go by.
(notice the guy in the wheelchair, and yes that's a steep hill)The streets are very narrow and there are constantly cars and scooters going by and the fumes are actually pretty bad at times. It was noisy and a bit chaotic, but people don't seem to notice since it's always like that. We eventually found our way out and onto one of the bigger main streets and with nice shops and even a Disney store . I told Christine it felt like we just walked out of a jungle and into civilization, and she agreed with me. I'm glad she was up to seeing everything, even if it was a bit dodgy.
We passed by a chocolate shop and noticed they also had gelato so we decided to try it. They had about 5 different chocolate flavors and I couldn't decide so I had the girl behind the counter choose for me. I got that along with Stracciatella (vanilla w/ choc. chips), which I always get as a benchmark, and I can say without a doubt that it was the best gelato I've ever had by far, and I've had a lot. Wow. I really wanted to go back for more but I had to save myself for dinner. We had a nice time exploring the city, but it was now time for pizza. Christine's guidebook had told of a place that was supposed to be the best in Napoli, and when we were in Rome an Italian man also recommended the same place so we went there. It was small and they only had two items on the menu, Pizza Margherita and Pizza Marinara. Marghertia is always tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese and a spot of basil to represent the colors of the Italian flag. The marinara was just sauce, finely chopped basil and garlic, to represent what I call smelly pizza. We ordered one of each (you know which was mine) and watched as a few guys behind the counter were flipping dough, pouring sauce and adding cheese before tossing it into a large wood fired oven, then removing finished pizzas at a rapid pace. Dough, oven, plate, table and we had pizza in about 10 minutes despite the place being crowded. 
Yes, it was delicious. Different than the Roman pizza in that the crust is a little thicker and softer when Roman pizza is extremely thin and crispy on the edges. It was very good, just like everything we ate that day. We finished off the day by finding a large bakery and buying a bag of sfogliatelle, wonderful creme filled pastries, to eat on the train back to Sorrento. Well, they didn't all make it on the train but that's why we bought a bag full. I'm glad I got to spend another day in Napoli, and I can now put it on my list of favorite Italian cities. I'm definitely looking forward to going back to spend a few days eating and dodging traffic. I haven't even tried the fish yet. Anybody hungry?
Si, we're open, come on in!
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