- for photos of the trip and additional journal entries, please visit my personal website at www.abirdinthekitchen.com -

The first time I went to Rome it didn’t go so well. After some morning sightseeing around the ancient sights and a trip to the Vatican, I ate some lasagna from a cafeteria-style restaurant (which are über-popular in Europe) and quickly descended into a horrible few days of food-poisoning symptoms. Thankfully I was smart enough to pony up the cash to get a private doctor to my hotel room. After a shot of anti-nausea meds and some stuff to help keep my hydrated, I managed to recover within a couple days and continue my trip relatively unscathed. The other girl I was with didn’t call the doctor and was violently ill for nearly a week.

The second time I was in Rome I was stranded in the airport try to get to Civitanova in the middle of a ridiculous snow storm.

So, when I was contemplating a return to the “Eternal City,” you can understand that I was a little hesitant. I figured it was either “third time’s the charm” or “three strikes, you’re out” – either way, this trip would be decisive of my opinion on Rome.

That being said, after a lovely weekend in Rome I am incredibly happy I mustered up the gumption to return. I left Civitanova on Thursday afternoon after teaching and returned on Sunday night. All three days spent in the city were packed with sightseeing, eating, and general merriment. I was exhausted on Monday morning when I returned to school, but it was a great weekend.

I went with another language tutor from here in the Marche region, but she couldn’t make it out until Friday night. With all day Friday to myself, I decided it was time to finally venture down to the Amalfi Coast. I had been entertaining the idea of a trip to Naples and then trying to get to the Amalfi Coast from there, but it was becoming increasingly difficult to orchestrate another entire weekend of travel – plus it’s a lot more expensive. So when I saw a tour on Viator that departed from Rome and traveled to Pompeii, Positano, and Amalfi in a single day, I was excited to sign up. It was a little spendy, but far cheaper than the entire weekend in Naples.

I wasn’t really all that keen on returning to Pompeii, I’ve been there once before and wasn’t impressed. However, my first visit was the day after I had contracted aforementioned food poisoning, and was hardly walking on my own. After 45 minutes of the two-hour tour, I had to return to the bus to rest.

This tour was far more impressive, and not just because I wasn’t ill. There are three main tourist entrances to Pompeii. Apparently, last time my tour took the most boring entrance near the amphitheater. This time our guide took us through a different entrance near the Temple of Apollo and the main square. The ruins were much more complex and interesting – add to that the fact that I wasn’t shuffling along like an invalid and I had quite the enjoyable time.

Our first stop was at the Temple of Apollo, where our guide pointed out the altar for reading entrails to divine the future. Ancient civilizations routinely engaged in animal sacrifice. They would sometimes remove the intestines and lay them upon an altar or other structure. The composition of the entrails would somehow reveal to the reader the will of the gods. I’m sure it was accurate.

I think the most interesting part of standing in the temple, however, was seeing Vesuvius in the background. Kind of ominous, what with all the devastation surrounding us. Let’s just say warm, fuzzy feelings may have been sent the volcano’s way to remain dormant.

After that we checked out an old temple and went into the main square. There our guide, Guitano, insisted that I must have a picture with him because I was traveling alone. He has assumed that I was with another family in our group, and when he discovered I was traveling alone decided he need to take care of me. Italian men…

In the square my fellow tour-goers started seeing some of the many dogs who call Pompeii home. There were many stray dogs in the area, and eventually the people who maintain the ruins adopted them. There are 37 in total right now, and they are all collared, numbered, and well-cared for. In fact, every two months a veterinarian comes to the ruins to ensure they are healthy and to examine any new arrivals.

We wandered through a modest section of the ruins and went into many different buildings. My favorite parts of the ruins are the original tiles, mosaics, and paintings on the walls. It is fascinating to me how the color remains after all these millennia – plus a volcanic eruption.

The only truly disturbing part of the ruins was viewing the two intact skeletons excavated from the ruins. It’s difficult to think about the terror of dying in a volcanic eruption. Actually seeing the skeletons of two people who actually did really brings it home.

Our final stop was at the very famous Pompeii brothel, of course. It’s a rather benign looking building, but it’s paintings are a little more risqué.

All in all, Pompeii was far more interesting the second time around. I don’t think I’ll ever return – there are far too many interesting things to see in Italy to divert any more attention to this area – but I’m glad I finally got to see it without feeling like I was dying.

Because my weekend trip was so long, I’ll post the other parts later. Next up, Positano and the Amalfi Coast!