March 17- Tuesday

Hello Family!

We are high on a hill in Sorrento. It was quite a day beginning with a 5 hour drive to Pompeii. Pretty much countryside that reminded us of Nebraska, Iowa and Colorado. As we neared Pompeii, we noticed some mountain ranges with snow on them. It made me a bit lonesome for Colorado and our beautiful Rockies. The biggest one was Mount Vesuvius - the famous one. Pompeii was not at all what I expected. It is quite a distance from the dormant volcano, but still quite high above the valley. It was green, with palm trees and cactus and yet we had our jackets on and they had snow last week. Go figure... We toured with a guide through the city and saw the famous spa where they had steam baths and hot, medium and cold baths plus a gymnasium. We saw one of the bakeries where bread was produced from grinding stones to the oven. We saw the famous brothel - no worries! It was much tamer than they lead us to believe with a few frescoes that were very faded on the tops of the walls. We also saw a couple of typical homes of the wealthy, with winter and summer gardens, a pool for collecting rain water, etc. One was the equivalent of a 27,000 square foot home. We also saw how they make cameos and watched a woman carving them. After our tour, we came to our hotel in Sorrento, which is high on the side of the mountain overlooking the sea. Breathtaking - literally! The streets are very winding and narrow and many motorcycles make a third lane - or at least try to. As we climbed up and up the right side of the bus got the 'mamma mia' experience of looking straight down over the edge. As we turned one very steep sharp curve we nearly hit a car and our guide caught his breath and said in the mic 'I see Jesus'! It turned out he did, there was a catholic shrine area and the figure of Jesus appeared just as we turned the corner. Let's just say considering the drive, I'm thinking the real one had to have been there too. We had our dinner at the hotel, which each evening has consisted of a pasta course, then some sort of meat (always an omelet for the vegetarians) a salad and a potato with fruit cocktail (from Dole pronounced Do-lay) for dessert. The menu really never varies! We are settled in for the night now so we can rise once again at 6:30 a.m.