Some more pictures....

Melanie and I outside our Chalet in Rome


A nice picture of Saint Peters


Inside the Sistine Chapel (notice the God and Man painting in the middle)


The Hall of Maps inside the Vatican Museum - there were paintings along the entire corridor ceiling, which must have been 300ft long



A view of Mt.Vesuvius from Pompeii



A restaurant counter in Pompeii, the holes in the couters held soups and olives


One of the Ash People frozen in time


A view of Greece caught during our 16-hour ferry ride


The Parthenon


A view of Athens


A view of Athens

Naples and a ferry to Athens

Quick Note, we were in Naples Wednesday and Thursday. Went to see Pompeii, it was awesome. There are so many things that are still intact, like paintings, restaurant counters and writing/paintings on the walls. We even saw a few skeletons and even though we thought we wouldn't see any of the ash people, we went to a large roofed area just before we left and saw some of them. It was really strange seeing people frozen in time like that, you could distinguish the clothes they were wearing (like short sleeves), and and other fine details.

After Naples, we had to take a 16 hour ferry ride from Bari to Athens. We had a hard time finding the correct place to buy tickets, but a couple of Aussies pointed us in the right direction. The ride wasn't that bad, the seas were calm and the food was good. The boat was really nice as well, had 10 levels, a couple of restaurants, a bar, and a casino. We spent the ride hanging out with a Korean guy we met looking for the ticket counter, was nice to meet someone new and share experiences. He had just gotten out of two years mandatory service with the military and was heading back to Korea in three days.

First impressions of Athens are good, it seems fairly clean and well organized, which is nice after the chaos of Naples. Our train to Athens was late arriving so that caused a minor headache, but nothing we aren't used to coping with. Don't worry about the heat it has subsided a bit, it is only supposed to reach 34C/90F today.

Mount Vesuvius !!

Well the other day I was reading an article on Mount Vesuvius and realized that it isn't that far out of the way, almost on the travel path actually, and I was stoked. I am sure you all know the story of Mount Vesuvus and its famous explosion that covered the town of Pompeii and Herculaneum and has since become legend, especially since the towns were rediscovered in the 1700's and excavation revealed the tragedy of it all. The fragile ash casts of people hiding and belongings left where the stood, there was a movie on the discovery channel a few years ago about it. You can read more by click on the links in the previous sentances. Anyway, it is a pretty cool place to go as much of the towns have been uncovered from the ash and debris that covered them. I guess it is one of those places that is so traggic and morbid that you have to go see it for yourself, kinda like when you are watching something disturbing on TV but can't look away.

The ironic part is that the current city of Naples is not that far away from Vesuvius which is still an active volcano and has erupted as recently as 1944, though not to the magnitude of 79AD. There are many sensors around the volcano and experts believe they can predict an eruption up to two weeks in advance, so there isn't a whold lot to worry about, but evacuation plans are in place. Maybe there will be an eruption when we are over there that would be cool, as long as we are at a safe distance.

A view from Pompeii

The Crater ..

Mount Vesuvius with Naples in the Background