PART 2--
Part 2- Pre-day #2: I was so happy to wake up in Rome. Before I begin, a quick note about food: I am NOT a foodie, so you will not see much food description, discussion, but when you do, it's because it's fantastic! Or really really awful
Now, pre-day 2 started with a trip to the hotel buffet for breakfast. I slept
in and went down. I had eaten breakfast the prior day after arriving (because I missed my first night, it was included). It's a typical continental buffet, nothing to write home about, but served in a very
lovely location. The Grand Melia is a
beautiful place.
On today's agenda, I had a car coming to take me to Pompeii, where I would meet my guide, and tour Pompeii and Herculaneum. The car
was on time, very comfortable, and after a short 2.5 hrs, we were there. I booked through Livitaly. com, and the driver, Alessandro, spoke enough
English that he pointed out a few
neat things on the way.
At Pompeii, I met my guide, Maria. She was a very lovely young guide, who showed me all the highlights of Pompeii, and I had such a wonderful time exploring the city with her.
Pompeii is huge, and a guide really makes things easier. Fortunately, the weather was fantastic, cool and almost rainy (it had rained the night before) and it was not unbearable hot, which I gather must often be a
big issue there.
After about 2.5 hours of touring, we made our way back to the car to head to Herculaneum. I chose to do this tour over Pompeii/Vesuvius, and I was SO glad I did! The weather was
so cloudy you could barely see the
top of Vesuvius, so I'm betting if I had a tour up there it would either have not gone due to fog/mist, or been too cloudy for a good view anyway. But more important, I am glad I did this tour cause Herculaneum is AWESOME!
It is a town devastated by Vesuvius like Pompeii, but it is better preserved, and prettier, imo. It is set almost in the ground, and really cool. Maria showed me all the sights, and I enjoyed conversing with her and
learning all the historic information she shared. After Herculaneum, it was back to Rome, and I arrived at the hotel in time for room service for dinner. A great second day.
Part 3 will be soon-. I'm back now, so the review will come faster.