Gone in the blink of an eye - 10/17/15

Another long day, but on this type of trip, I wouldn't want it any other way. Today was the day we'd planned to visit Pompeii and to explore Sorrento a little bit more. The train ride to and from Sorrento was more grueling than expected and we spent longer at Pompeii than expected leaving less time and a whole lot less energy to explore Sorrento.

It was overcast and rainy when we woke up so after breakfast we decided it was a good time to check out more of our hotel. The architecture of the hotel is kind of confounding. There's no rhyme or reason to the numbering of the floors. I think it's just a bunch of interconnected buildings built into the side of the mountain.

The pool and the view from the pool

 

The solarium? I expected something classier.

A spot of autumn seen from the solarium

This was a tunnel connecting floor 5 where the reception hall is (as opposed to floor 5 where our room is - to the 6th floor where the pool is.

By the time we got back to the lobby, the rain was gone. We'd never walked as far as the train station, not that it was far.

Remember the Giada show I'd watched that sent us to Capri? On that show, Giada had an old fellow in Anacapri make her a pair of sandals. (I took his photo but haven't downloaded it yet.) I've been looking at sandals since. There are this sandal makers everywhere. I've had a top price in mind and until this morning, I hadn't found a pair I liked in a price range I'd consider. Walking to the train this morning, I found the pair. Lou encouraged me to get them right on the spot... so I did!

Lou and the shoemaker talked while the sandals were being made. It was a common conversation. He told Lou how hard it is to scrape together a living here. The tax rate is about 50%, with no deductions, paid twice a year.

Beside encouraging me to buy the sandals, Lou offered to carry the sandals for me all day. What a guy! Remember, we were going to Pompeii.

We bought our train tickets and waited for the train in the midst of a very large crowd of mostly teenagers. The train had a malfunctioning signal to indicate what the next stop was. We needed to be extra vigilant in following where we were in order to know when to get off.

I was all tour guided out so I downloaded the Rick Steves app which included an audio walking tour of Pompeii and map to follow. (If you ever go to Pompeii, request the free map from the ticket counter. We learned this after the fact. After we were already in the site. After we'd already spent €2 on a map we purchased in the book shop.)

Pompeii is huge. Rick Steves told us his walking tour would take about 3 hours. That was what we'd planned for. We were going fine at first. But Rick Steves' previously recorded audio tour had no idea what would be under renovation and Rick Steves doesn't know me! I don't do well on uneven surfaces.

Look at these roads! And this one was in good shape despite the grooves from the chariot wheels.

Our first disappointment was the plaster casts of victims being out for renovation. Really?

Time to move on to the next spot. I think our favorite two spots were the bath and the fast food place across the road.

Part of the baths' locker room

 

Time for a quick bite?

We were a little more than halfway through the walking tour when an exit was closed, then a road was blocked, then another road. We were sort of lost. Just sort of us Lou could locate us on our purchased map but we couldn't figure out "how to get there from here." Good old Rick Steves said it was a 15 minute walk from where we were to the amphitheater. Okay... so the way I walk we were more than half hour away and then nearly an hour back to the exit. I'm hoping it's true that if you've seen several well-preserved amphitheaters you've seen them all. We headed for the exit. By the time we left, we'd been there over 4 hours and had walked nearly 13,000 steps, many of them with great difficulty for me.

Five years ago, in Cinque Terra, we got fined for not validating our ticket before getting on the train. I wasn't going to make that mistake again.

 

 

Back in Sorrento, we had a quick snack and then did some shopping. Lou wanted a Neapolitan coffee maker. We walked to a store where we'd seen several earlier in the week.

After last night's lackluster dinner, I suggested we go back to the place we'd eaten the first night. It opened early and I wanted to try their burrata. Good choice.

On our walk back to the hotel, we stopped to buy an extra suitcase for all our purchases that we've been carrying around loose in the trunk of our car. We'll have to get that stuff home somehow.

It's only 10pm and Lou has been sleeping for more than half hour. I'm not ready for sleep but it will feel good to get my feet up. Today's 17,000 plus steps were the most difficult of the trip. Even more difficult than the 21,409 I walked on the day of my Val d'Orcia hike!

When you next year from me, we'll be in a beach resort city that foreigners rarely travel to and that most Italians have never heard of. Buona notte.