Today, we left Rome early in the morning to begin our two day journey to Greece. After a quick breakfast, we boarded the bus and began our three hour drive to Pompeii-the city buried in ash after the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 A.D. I had been facinated with Pompeii and its story my whole life, but I don't think I ever really understood the actual size of the damage. Pompeii was one of three cities buried by the ash, and was by far the largest. We had a two hour walking tour throughout the grounds and were able to see Fresco paintings, bath-houses, and bodies that were perfectly preserved when they were encased by the ash over 1900 years ago. The old city has been about 80% excavated, and the hills surrounding it show how high the ash actually got. It has been estimated that 20,000 individuals lived in Pompeii at the time of the eruption, but 2,000 didn't make it out alive.
After this, we had another three hour drive to Bari, the port town where we were to meet our overnight cruise. After saying a sad goodbye to Rocco, our driver of nearly three weeks, we went through a checkpoint and boarded the boat. After checking into our tiny rooms, we had some dinner, watched the opening World Cup Game, and hung out on the balcony of the boat, listening to the waves, and watching the sunset. After this, we all gathered around on one of the decks to watch France play Uraguay. World Cup excitment is contagious in Europe, and since South Africa is so close, it seems everyone is excited.
After a while, I came upstairs to get on the internet, and the man wouldn't sell it to me. I have no idea what he said to me since he spoke Greek and there is no way I can recognize any of it. Dissapointed because I haven't talked to my parents, Daniel, updated my blog or checked any email, I went to bed.
It was a long day of driving and not much else, but tomorrow we will exit the boat around noon, get in another bus for four hours, and then finally arrive on our Greek Island this evening. I am praying for internet so I can stay caught up!
Hope everyone is doing okay. I can't wait to be home!
kate
PS. The picture of me is in an excavated part of Pompeii
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