We took a train from Florence to Naples to explore the city before we took another regional train to Sorrento where we decided to stay for three nights. When we got off the train in Naples, we were struck by the trash and graffiti that were everywhere. Some streets look like a bomb went off in a dumpster. In an overly crowded metro ride in the heart of the city, three guys were yelling, cussing, and pointing fingers in the shape of a pretend gun at each other throughout the duration of our ride. Those were the longest two metro stops yet, but luckily no punches were thrown.

Everywhere we go in Europe it just keeps getting hotter. And sometimes when it's hot, it's hard to stay happy. It also happened to be a Sunday in a time of day between meals, so no good pizza places were open. Needless to say, our first day in Naples wasn't that enjoyable, although we later came back a sort of redeemed our Naples experience at a good Pizza place called Gino Sorbillo's.

Next, we moved onto Sorrento where we were so grateful for a nice, clean, air conditioned place to stay. Sorrento is a great jumping off point for Pompei, Naples, and the Amalfi Coast. It's also a fun and interesting place in its own right. In Sorrento, we tried an ice-cold lemon liqueur called limoncello. We also hiked outside the old city walls to a place nearer to the water called Marina Grande. People in Sorrento look down on the people of Marina Grande both literally and figuratively. They view them the same way as people from Arlington view people from Darrington or people from Abbotsford view people from Mission. Because Marina Grande existed outside Sorrento's tall gate, it was more susceptible to raping and pillaging by pirates, while the folks in Sorrento stayed safe.

One of the highlights of this leg of our trip was visiting the Naples Archeological Museum and then Pompeii. Most of Pompeii's artifacts were moved to Naples, and so if someone visits the dig before the museum, it all looks sort of the same and it's hard to imagine what life was really like in the shadow of Mount Vesuvius before the volcano blew up and buried the town on a day in August of 79 AD. Going to the museum was well worth the extra effort, and it made our time in Pompeii more rewarding. The most chilling thing to view in Pompeii are the plaster casts of real human beings forever frozen in time in the position they assumed on their dying breath. One is praying, one is holding tight to their dog, and one is embracing another person.

Finally, we both are happy to report that we survived several treacherous bus rides along the Amalfi Coast. I forgot to bring Carly's motion sickness medicine on this particular outing, and that's probably the biggest mistake I've made yet. The road is long, curvy, narrow, and steep. Some switchbacks are nearly 360 degrees, and from the back of a bus that can turn a stomach inside out. Luckily, we both kept our food down and ended up really enjoying Positano, Amalfi Town, and Ravello. In Positano, we rented a paddle boat and took wonderful photos of the coastline and several pirate watch towers after we jumped in the refreshing water for a swim.