Sorrento and other musings...

The past 3 nights I've been in sorrento which is a smallish town just south across the bay from Naples. It's a beautiful town. I met my friend Catherine there. It's a town that is great to use as a base point to do day trips. The first day we went to the ruins at Pompeii.

Pompeii is a roman city that was at it's height in 62 AD. One of the major sites in the southern Italian roman empires Pompeii was a thriving town until an earthquake severely damaged the town. As a good strong roman town they began rebuilding at once. with rebuilding ongoing the town met it's unfortunate end in 68 AD with the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius.

The town was buried under ash and rock and the roads into town were closed. It was eventually forgotten and it wasn't until the 18th century that it was found and excavations began. it is currently the most complete diagram of a working roman city historians have.

Pompeiian forum

Mount Vesuvius standing beyond the city of Pompeii

You can take a train there and walk all throughout the city as it remains. It's amazing how you can still see frescoes on the walls and pottery and stuff. The most amazing part is the bodies however. They have created plaster cast molds of body cavities found in the ash. In other words the bodies were buried in ash as the people died and when the bodies disintegrated there was a cavity let in the solid rock that formed over the ash. The archeologists poured plaster of paris in the cavity and were able to chip away the ash to leave a cast of the body exactly how it was when the person died. It was pretty creepy to see these people. Even with terrified expressions on their faces.

That night was just chilling out. the hostel, while being fantastic, was quiet and pretty boring I must say.

The next day we went to the island of Capri. It's a vacation island for the Italians. It's about a half hour ferry from sorrento. We decided against renting scooters because the guy told us that unless we drive a scooter in the city every day we would kill ourselves in Italian traffic. He wasn't lying. Italian are crazy mofo drivers. We walked around mostly and saw probably the most beautiful landscape I have ever seen. Really. It was bloody amazing. Look up pics and then go there. No other way to describe it really.

The absolutely gorgeous Catherine my new friend from Vancouver.

Me being a boy and throwing rocks.

The night again was just sitting around and talking. Fun times though.

Today I'm on a train to Roma! Fuck yea!
I stopped in Napoli for lunch with my friend because we wanted pizza. Naples is the home of pizza and there is one place that is regarded as the best ever. If you've seen "eat pray love" it's the restaurant that Julia Roberts eats at. I swear it is the best food I've ever eaten. There. Done. Best food I have ever had. Only 2 kinds of pizza. Marinara and Margarita. Fuckin amazing. One note. Don't go to Naples except for pizza. It's dirty, creepy and feels dangerous.

Off to Rome! But before I'm done here are some random thoughts I've been having...

Italians are a funny people.
- they do whatever they want whenever they want.

- rules of the road consist of not hitting anyone

- park anywhere. I mean anywhere. Crosswalks? Of course. Halfway through stopsigns? Yep. Double park someone on the street? Any time they can.

- food comes first

- personal space does not exist

- if someone wants to walk down the street as slowly as possible and swing their briefcase around and take up the whole sidewalk...they do.

- I don't understand dressing up like a statue and expecting someone so give you money on the street. Is that a talent? A gold robe and a king tut mask?

- spray-paint art, on the other hand is an incredible skill

- mopeds and scooters need to be more popular in north America

- Toronto transit is put to shame by every where else.

- I love a good cappuccino. Like really love it

- I miss my sweatpants

- I've never had to fight an urge to suffocate someone as hard as I did last night. Snoring should be punishable by death whilst in dorms

- Italians love gelato. For good reason, it is yummy.

- I wish I could dress as well as Italian men. If you think of Italians as the typical new York Italian (fat, greasy, loud and obnoxious) you are sorely mistaken. Maybe not about the loud part, try certainly are that. But they are the most impeccably dressed people. Also usually very thin and clean. Stereotypes are remarkable.

- simple cooking beats all else.

- limoncello is heaven

- wine is cheaper than beer, so when in Rome...

- I got a lesson on Italian hand gestures. They all actually mean something individual and you can have a full conversation whilst not saying anything at all.

And now...

Off to Rome! (actually I'm in Rome now finishing this entry at a cafe outside the Vatican over a cappuccino.

Ps. I'm also loving life.