July 6 - Pompeii

The next day after visiting the Coliseum and Vatican City, the group was now ready to leave the hotel and go see the site of the most famous natural disaster in human history - the city of Pompeii.

Everyone got the luggage out and checked out of the hotel at 6 a.m. and made their way out to the bus. With everyone loaded, the bus departed on a two-hourventure south to Pompeii, which is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea and is 15 miles southeast of the modern city Naples. Hovering north of Pompeii is the volcano - Mount Vesuvius - which destroyed Pompeii in 79 AD.

The drive over to Pompeii was mostly sunny, giving the surrounding wheat fields a bright golden color. I guess this is part of the reason why it is called Sunny Italy. We drove through Naples, which our tour guide David said wasalso the home of the Camorra, the largest crime organization in Italy.

David noted though Naples was known for its friendly atmosphere, it is also known for its pickpockets as well as other crimes. We finally arrived in the shadow of Mount Vesuvius, which was a very impressive looking mountain. Currently around 4,200 feet high, David informed us that experts believe it was much higher before the big eruption of 79 A.D. He also mentioned thatVesuvius was still an active volcano and is overdue for an eruption since its last one back in 1944. Vesuvius erupts on average every 60 years.

We finally arrived at 8 a.m. at the modern city of Pompei, a small city on a Mediterranean bay, where the Pompeii ruins are located. In the parking lot we met our Pompeii tour guide, whose name was Marco. Marco grew up around the Pompeii ruins, and had extensive knowledge for the tour. We then made our way to the entrance of the site.

Entertainment, Pages 17 on 11/08/2012