Pompei and Vesuvius

A day at Pompei looking at the amazing ruins left by the eruption of Mt Vesicius in 79 AD. The hot ash and lava flow took 0.5 seconds, travelling at 80km/h, to reach Pompei leaving no chance of escape and preserving the town and its inhabitants.

after lunch in McDonalds, air con!,  we booked a trip up Mt Vesuvius  a taxi collected us from town and drove up a steep and winding mountain to about 1 km from the top. We walked the last bit, it was really, really steep and the road was slippery from all the dust and volcanic Peebles and scree. The views from the top were stunning.

Dinner in Pompei.

Rome to Naples

We had booked an Interitalia train from Rome Termini to Naples Centrale leaving at 12:36. We arrived at Termini at around 11:15 and found the strangest queuing system ever to collect our tickets!  We had to join a queue to be given a number, to join a second queue to see someone to print the tickets we'd bought online. After waiting for an hour (and being none the wiser about the numbering system for the tickets) we spoke to a gentleman who printed us our tickets with 10 minutes to spare. We boarded a very full and hot train and departed for a 2:35 minute journey to Naples. 

When we arrived at Napoli Centrale we were going to get another train to Pompei but there were so many people that it would have been difficult to board with our suitcases. We got a taxi instead and arrived at Hotel Hisagi around 4:00 in the afternoon

We have two rooms, Cam and Clara's twin room is the biggest of the two!

Pompei is a 15 minute walk and we are going to get some Pompein dinner soon.

Botanical Gardens

A much more relaxing day today; we left the apartment around mid day having had a much needed lie in and restful morning and took the metro to Lipanto. We walked passed the Castel d'Angelo and along the river to the botanical gardens, which were not easy to find the entrance to!  We had a nice picnic lunch and Cam and Clara played under a sprinkler to cool down.

We then had a stroll round the Gardens and saw the bamboo forest, the Japanese Garden and a nice fountain. 

After the gardens we crossed the river and headed towards the Pantheon 

Finally we headed towards the Trevi Fountain - it was being restored!  Clara threw her 3 coins into the temporary pool.  This is our last night in Rome: shall we return?

Vatican City

We'd pre-booked tickets to the Vaticn museums and the Sistine Chapel for 10:30 so we could bypass the ridiculously long queue of people not so prepared.

We started with the Sistine chapel so Jon could take off the long trousers that he wore to respect the holiness of the place.  It was awesome. Michelangelo's ceiling and frescos so beautiful.

Next a wander round the museums and a chance to check out the Pope's cars.

Then we left for some lunch and went to St Peter's square - again it was awesome.

We queued to have our bags checked so we could go into the Basilica - wow

Then went up 551 steps to the top of the Cupola - we stopped half way to see close up the inside of the Dome. 

It was very hot and quite claustrophobic going up but amazing views across Rome from the top.

Saw some of the Swiss Guard on the way out - they didn't scare Clara!

All recruited from Switzerland, aged between 19 and 31, at least 5'6 and unmarried despite the outfit designed by Michel Angelo. 

Dinner at Joseph's near our apartment. Gorgeous steaks, massive portions, fast service.

Coloseum

Our plan for today - Metro to Piazza Rebublica to church of Santa Maria D'Angeli (beautiful). It had information about how Gallileo discovered that pendulums swung regularly and could be used to measure time. Then we walked to the Roman Forum, built as a place for markets and places of worship, Palentine Hill and the Coloseum which is the largest amphitheatre ever built in Rome. The word arena comes from the Latin for sand which was used on the floor.

We also went by lift to the top of the monument to Vittorio Emmanuele 2 - the first king of a unified Italy-  with views over the whole of Rome.

What a HOT day it was. Amazing sites to see, the Colloseum held 50,000 people!

Back to the apartment for tea as we're all so tired.

Italia!!

Waiting for our bags at Ciampino airport in Rome.

Met Matteo at the apartment who showed us what was what - lovely big apartment.

Out by Metro from just outside the apartment to Spagna for a wander and some tea.

Here's to a PB 👍🏻

Cam and I went to parkrun this morning. Cam had invited Ben and wanted to beat him!

Cam got a PB - 21:01. Grrr to that last 1 sec. (He did come in before Ben though)

I got a PB - 29:17  11 seconds off my previous PB 2 weeks ago.

Luke Martin got a PB - only 30 secs slower than his brother! I can see some competition coming there. And Tom Carpenter also got a PB on his 100th parkrun.

Well done to all of us. And the other 80 runners who also got a PB this week. 

Sara Cox, Bucks Fizz, Billy Ocean and a box of Pinot

Fun night at Rochester Castle with Steve, Mary, Karen, Andy, Anna and Paul.

Lovely warm evening at a very packed Rochester Castle. Great music, good company and lots of wine!

Happy birthday

Had a lovely birthday. A lovely meal cooked by Cam (eggs benedict). Followed by a film (Into the woods). Lots of flowers, including a bunch from my special son xx

Duke of Edinburgh

Cam passed his assessed expedition this weekend, Friday to Sunday. The assessor said his was a very competent group and that they should consider the silver award. Well done to Ben, Cam, Lewis, Sam and Tom.

They were very tired as they walked about 40k with their full packs. Food started well - chicken tikka curry (after we re-purchased some chicken en-route to the Swattenden Centre as we'd left the first lot in the fridge) but went down hill as the pitta and wraps started to dry out over the weekend!

Weather - baking hot Saturday - drizzly rain Sunday.

Well done A Team.

Pretty Muddy

While Cam was sweltering on his DofE weekend, the girls got muddy at Mote Park for a 5k Race for Life!!

Before:-

                                              

 

And After:-

 

                                            

Look what Amber brought us...

Me? Bird? No idea what you're talking about!