The first two days

Monday

Well, we met up with Anita only an hour later than anticipated. The hotel we're staying at isn't easy to find, and it has two locations, so there was some minor confusion. However, she hadn't left the airport until after we had planned to meet, so it wasn't too bad.

Monday we got up and went to the restaurant for the breakfast that was included with our room. It was a croissant and coffee or tea, and was quite good. We then decided to look around the area for a while before heading back to our room. We wandered a few blocks away, and it started pouring. We waited in a store for 5 or 10 minutes, then dedcided to run for it.

We got soaked. Once we got back to the room, I had to open up my suitcase to dig out a dry shirt.

After we got organized again and checked out, we got a taxi to the hotel where we needed to catch the shuttle. Luckily, it was only 10 euros. We got to the other hotel and checked in with the shuttle around 11, and were given a departure time of 12:30. That was perfect, as it gave us time to get some lunch in the bar.

At 12:30, we got on the shuttle and went off to the cruise ship. The shuttle wasn't full, so we had lots of room to stretch out. We arrived at the ship and checked in.

I went on a cruise 4 years ago, and this was much more enjoyable. That time we got off the plane and went directly to the cruise. We were exhausted and jet lagged. This time we had a day to adjust first.

We did a little looking around the ship, then we had our lifeboat drill. After that, we went off to supper. We had to wait a while to get in, but finally got to sit down to eat.

The last cruise I did was an Italian cruise line. This one is American. So far, there are pros and cons to both. The food was better on the other cruise, but this one is far more organized, and more people speak English. It feels far less foreign.

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Tuesday

Today we were in Naples. We got up late and had breakfast, then walked into town. We were off of the ship and heading towards the town when it started to rain. Naturally, people selling umbrellas appeared out of nowhere. It didn't rain long, and we walked around for a while. It was some sort of holiday, so we came across the tail end of some sort of parade or military demonstration.

We didn't stay out long, as we needed to have lunch and get ready for our afternoon excursion.

In the afternoon, we went to Pompeii. I had been there before - I was robbed there last time I was in Italy - but this time we were on an official tour. Our tour guide gave us each a walkie-talkie thiing, and so we could listen to her explanation whether or not we could actually see her.

Like the Vatican, it's hard to understand the sheer size of Pompeii if you haven't been there. It's big. Whole-city-buried-by-a-volcano big.

Naturally, it rained a few times over the course of the tour.

We have been told that it's likely the weather will improve. I hope so. Cold & rainy weather is something i can get in Ottawa.