Where Is Joey Today?

Walking through Pompei is an unforgettable experience.

To get there, Melvin and I took the early train to Napoli and then a commuter to Pompei Scavi. The entrance is very small but offers a great view of an imposing Vesuvius. Inside is the story of a civilization buried under lava and ash from a nearly 2000 year old eruption. Unlike much of Roman history, the lifestyle of the average person is preserved (not just the wealthy)

Pompei was quite a surprise for me. One, I thought it was pretty small. WRONG. The arena where gladiators fought was more than a mile and a half from the entrance which is why they offer a two day ticket so you can see it all. Ironically, it was the first time that the audio guide was of little use.







After touring we headed towards a Naples pizza joint, which was great but it should be as that is the birthplace of pizza.

Back in Rome I hit the sack (perhaps a poor choice of words for this city) to prepare for my last day, where the only must visit place was the Pantheon.

While I have heard than the Pantheon at night is incredible, during the day it is quite the impressive building. For the most part is it is also almost 2000 years old when it was a temple to Roman gods (it later was coopted by the Catholic church and houses the tomb of Raphael among others)

Melvin overslept so I headed back to St Peter´s Basilica to take a look around. He told me he would meet me inside. I got to see John Paul´s tomb and Peter´s (at eye level). Really worthwhile. Then something sort of embarassing happened. Melvin calls me while I am inside, which if that was not bad enough, my (default mind you) ringtone happened to be "Losing my religion" by REM.

Whoops!

So after leaving we headed toward a few other monuments (Sant Angelos etc). Today really cemented it as my favorite city. So taking Dads advice from the previous post I threw three coins into the fountain for three wishes, good luck on my trip, a safe return to the US, and the ability to return to Rome. A River Dare Chi ;)



That night I went to Termini to arrange my trip to Munich, only to find out that I would again have to change train stations to Rome Tiburini. A real 2nd rate place without anyone to ask for information. I am looking frantically (though I arrived 25 minutes early) for my 21:55 train to Munich. No dice. There is only one 21:55 train so I decided to go there. The destination was Monaco but I figured it was possible to go to Monaco first, then to Munich.

I wish I spoke Italian.

Apparently, Monaco is Italian for Munich. Are you kidding me? That is insane to think of. This is not the first time a train has gone to Munich, would you not think they would at least put it in German below? Oh and the train was an hour late arriving...

Despite all that goofiness, Rome is firmly planted in the number 1 slot. With Italy and Spain both clipping Norway, something I thought would not be possible due to my quixotic love of the Nordic culture.

I also noticed something interesting about the languages here. In the US, we give out our Thanks in greater quanitities. 1000 seems to be the standard unit of thanks over here. In Spain they say mil gracias, in Italy gratzie mile, and in Norwegian Tusen Takk, German they say Danke Schoen. We say thanks a million. So think about it, in Germany, if you say a girl is looking schoen, she is looking like a thousand bucks. Again, English wins. She looks like a million bucks.

Off to Munich...

--Joey