15 minutes late to the end of the world

That's what we will be, when it happens.

Yesterday was our trip down past Naples, to the coast. I wanted to drive to Salerno, then bus toRavello, see the town, the Mediterranean(sp) and have a nice day. *LOL* Didn't I say that after the fiascos in Rome that I would only take tours of places, not try to do it on our own?? Yes, yes, you can call me all those names you are thinking of.

We were supposed to leave at 6 am, but there was no way I could crawl out of bed that early, so we ended up leaving about 9. It is about a 5 hour drive to where we were going, but I figured with the way speeds are on the autostrade, we could make good time.

Those of you who know Jess and I well are probably laughing. Driving anywhere always takes at least a couple hours longer than it should for us, we like to stop to see things, etc.

First stop, gas for the car. I was on half empty, and diesel cost me about 33 euros for that half tank, about $41 US dollars for 1/2 tank on the tiniest car known to man! (be glad you are only paying $2.40 a gallon, it costs at least $4.8 for diesel here, though the cars go WAAAY farther than American cars go on a tank of gas.) I grabbed a cafe (espresso) also, and water.

As we were passing Naples, I said to Jess, "wow, look at that mountain, that looks like a volcano!" "No, no, no, that's not a volcano." she says.

"YES! I remember reading that Naples lies in the shadow of MT Vesuvius(sp)".

After almost passing it, she agreed that maybe it looked like a volcano.

We managed to get lost getting to Salerno, and by then were bickering. We ended up taking a windy road down into some town, and parking on a hill and walking to the beach below.

It wasn't sunny, and you couldn' see too far out, and being grumpy, we weren't too impressed, which is bad, because I usually love everything about Italy. Either way, we went in and did some splashing in the water. We didn't have suits, but got our feet wet. Still, at this point we were pretty grumpy.

We started driving in the direction of Salerno, hoping to come across a sign to Ravello, but nothing. My first complaint about Italy, it can be so hard to find places. Even tourist spots, there is like one tiny sign on some side street, and that's it. Minimal advertising of some of the wonders of the world. *G*


We ended up giving up, and finally found our way back onto the autostrade, and back towards Naples. It was only about 4 pm, so I stopped to take a look at the map we had. I thought we could go to Pompeii, we should still have enough time.

I found the general direction to go, and off we went. The way we went ended up going north and the west around what we now knew was Mt Vesuvius.

Trying to find Pompeii, I noticed a sign pointing to the volcano. No way that I was going to pass up driving up a volcano! Of we went, with Jess mentioning that she really didn't like volcanoes too much, and when we started up the side of it, along twisty turny roads, she was NOT thrilled.

Before we had started up, we had noticed that there was a pretty big cloud (or fog) starting to cover the top of it, but figured that as long as we were there we'd keep going.

After probably 15-20 minutes of driving in second gear most of the time, and first around the corners, we got as far up as the road would allow us. This was like a major tourist trap area, figures of tiny volcanoes made out of what looked like lava and spray painted luminous colors of green, orange, red. Books, calendars, you name it. Preeeetttty tacky.

Even an ashtray made out of what looked like volcanic ash or rock, with a marijuana leave painted on it he inside in glow in the dark green paint. (Sorry Nick, I was going to get it for you, but I was pretty sure that you had outgrown that phase.) :-)

After parking, we could see that there was a path leading up to what we figured was the mouth of the volcano. You couldn't really see anything unless you went up there, so we went to buy tickets.

"Sorry, the man at the gate says.. We're closed."

"What time is it?" I ask him.

"6:15." he says.

"What time do you close?" I ask?

"6:00" he answers.

Groaning, we head back to the car, by way of a gift shop where Jess buys a book about Pompeii that has clear sheets that go over pictures of the now ruins, that would show what Pompeii looked like before it was covered with volcanic ash.

Did I mention that we paid 2.5 euros to park? UGH!

Anyway, driving back down the road there were a couple of spots where you could pull off the road and see where the volcanic ash/mud/ whatever you called it was, which was pretty cool as the clouds/fog was moving down into the valley. Also driving down you could catch glimpses of the lava fields, but I was really dissapointed that I didn't get to go up to the mouth of the volcano and look in.

Anyway, again, I should know by now to book tours to these types of things.

After stopping along the road, we noticed a tour bus coming down that said Pompeii on it.

"Follow that bus!" said Jess..... and we did.

It ended up stopping in the middle of some suburban street where we almost hit the back end of it, and were forced to pull back, and keep going down the street. We finally gave up trying to find Pompeii... no signs anywhere, and went to get back on the autostrade. While paying our 15th 1.40 euro toll of the day, we asked the man at the booth where Pompeii was. He said to head back towards Salerno... UGH....

So back again we went, and low and behold, a SIGN that said here was the exit to Pompeii. YES!

I had heard somewhere that it was open until 1/2 hour after dusk, so I knew we had time.

We actually found Pompeii! We parked along another really touristy road of souveniers(sp) and walked up to the entrance. They had audio tours you could rent, and I figured that would be the way to go. We went up and I asked the man in the booth how much for the audio tour, and he said 6.50 euro, 10 for the both of us. Great! I asked Jess if she wanted one too, because at first she said she didn't want one, and she said "sure, why not."
"We'll take two!" I told the man.

At which point he says. "Oh, but the site is closed for the evening."

"Excuse me?" i said.

"Yes, can't you see the ticket office is closed?"

I said. "Ok, but I know for a fact that you are open until 1/2 hour after dusk."

"Sure," he said but the entrance is closed at 6 pm and everyone has to be out of the site by 7:30.

With a sigh I ask: "What time is it now?"

"6:15" he says.

I figured it would be.

Off we went, to drive the 5 hours back to Perugia.

Did I mention that we would only go places with a tour guide from now on?

Did I also mention that we are driving 6 hours up to the border of Italy and France tomorrow to ride up on a cable car thingy to the top of Mont Blanc which is on the border, and you can see the Alps from there?

Wish us luck...............

One thing that happened in Perugia while we were gone. I guess about 6 police came into the internet place we used, were checking what was on the computers, asking people for papers etc. I would have been pretty scared if I had been there. They had their big uzi(sp) type guns out and everything. They want the owner to copy down the name and address of everyone who used a computer, but I don't know if he will be doing that. Can you imagine what a headache that would be and how it could drive business away. But then again, the police have a very legitimate reason for doing this. My guess is that many internet places have been where people involved in terrorism have gone. It would make sense.

We also have some pretty big news about us. It looks like we will be heading to Germany to live next. I don't see anyway of staying here after our 90 days are up on Oct 3rd. The questura (police) says no to extending our tourist visas, plus I see no job in sight and our money is starting to run out fast.

Our sources tell us Germany is a good place to be able to stay, looks like we can get a one year visa. Also, both Germany and Austria allow you into the country first, and then you can apply for a visa, so we won't have to go back to the US like we would if we wanted to stay in Italy. There is some sort of agreement that we can do it from within the country, so that rocks.

I really wanted to go to Austria, but I kept reading about the muggings in Vienna, and the crime etc, it made me nervous. We have gotten REALLY used to being able to pretty much walk around Perugia any time day or night and feel pretty safe.

I don't think Salzburg will be a big enough place for me to be able to get a job in IT. So Germany it is, at least as of today! :-)

Heidelberg Germany has two huge companies that hire IT people, I THINK at least one of them American, one a huge software company.. I put in my resume there yesterday. I just started reseachign the whole Heidelburg thing a day ago, so things could change, but as of now, that is where we are planning to go.

I know Heidelberg has a big US military presence there, which does not thrill me in the least, but I really need somewhere we can settle for a bit and replenish our funds. Plus the rent here Perugia is killing me, about $750 US a month, I know we can get places for much less.

Anyway......

Here is the picture of my snail from dinner a few nights ago:

Now this is a slow trav meal

Some other odds and ends of pictures we've taken:

Kitty - AKA "Devil Cat" (note mom, she is in the fountain that is up in our bedroom of the apt.)


A now demure, unpossessed(sp) Kitty in the fountain.

Gizzy, only half possessed in the fountain.

We finally got back to the cemetary with cameras this time. Jess took some in black and white that need to be developed, these are some I took with the digital. Have I ever said how much I love that little camera? It takes great pictures.
Please make sure you double click on these pictures to see larger views, they are beautiful.

One of the walls of tombs. Notice all the flowers, both fresh and silk. People come every week and replace flowers, clean graves etc... Pretty amazing.

A row of above ground tombs. Again, notice all the flowers!


An example of the statues all over the cemetery.


An example of one of the family crypts or mausoleums(sp)Many have figures carved into it or statues outside, in the middle is the gated door into it. There is usually an alter for candles, pictures of the deceased, flowers etc. I have seen praying benches inside also.

the inside of the previous picture

One of the beautiful carvings.

A closer loook.

The view along one of the walkways.

Inside another, to show that many of the tombs have pictures of the deceased, obviously before they died.

Some of the plainer graves that are in the center of the cemetery. In the background you see part of one of the long covered walkways that have some of the ornate tombs.


Some of the carvings, though beautiful, also have a haunting, even scary feel to them, like this one.

A view down the walkway, there is one on each side of the smaller graves in the center of the cemetery, to the right in this picture is where each family has their vault and carvings, etc.

The ceilings along these walkways are painted blue, with gold stars.



One of my favorites. It looks like part of her gown had been painted at one time.

A different view of her.

Although still amazing to look at, the carvings of the people themselves who had died are sometimes a little uncomfortable to look at, not sure why, but they are.



You can see how ornate the whole area can be.

A closer view of the last picture, notice how the angel is repeated and fades out along the marble next to it.. Amazing....

These stairs lead down to an underground room the length of the walkway, with tombs in the wall on both sides, nothing ornate, but like the ones outside (the first picture I showed)that just have urns for flowers on them. It was too late in the day for the pictures I took underground to show.

A closeup of another of the beautiful statues



Another view down one of the side paths.

Amazing tiles on one of the outside mausoleums.

Some of the "less ornate" graves. Jess said they belonged to miltary, but I am not sure where the information came from....





No words could do this justice.

The whole view of the previous statue

Again, beautiful in an unnerving way.

Any of the pictures not shown here are on Jess' photo album. Here's the link:

http://journals.aol.com/itvixen/RomePictures/

Make sure to click on guest if you want to see larger images of her photos.