Pompeii
We woke up early on our second full day in Rome to catch a train to Pompeii. The train ride was two hours to Naples and then we had to take the above ground metro to Pompeii (which took an hour). At first we got on the wrong train, but it wasn't a huge deal because we got off the wrong train while it was still on the same route as the right train. The only downside was that we had to stand in the rain for 40 minutes waiting for the right train to come. We did meet a really nice couple from Iceland while we were waiting though (they had made the same mistake we had).
Once we finally got to Pompeii, we said goodbye to our new friends, bought our tickets, and started our adventure. We had to make the last train back to Rome (that wasn't a ridiculously priced Eurostar) at 5 p.m., so that gave us four hours to explore Pompeii.... bad idea.
If you ever visit Pompeii, here are some tips:
1) Spend an entire day there. You are going to get lost trying to find what you want to see, and my advice is to not give yourself a time restraint. That way you can just let yourself get lost and you won't have to worry about finding your way out until closing time (which is usually around dark).
2) Bring your own food. Walking around really makes you hungry, and there isn't a concession stand or anything inside the site... but do not leave trash inside... I will hunt you down if you do...
3) Go when it's sunny. We were there when it was raining and it was no fun.
4) Make sure you visit the brothel. I'll just leave it at that
5) Try going closer to the start or the end of tourist season, when it's the off season they tend to have some of the more interesting places closed off. I don't know if it is protect them or because they don't want to hire anyone to work full time to make sure you don't hurt them, but they were closed in late March.
6) GET A MAP! You will seriously regret it if you don't have one.
7) If you want to remember what it cost for this place to be so well preserved make sure you visit the garden of the fugitives. It's a good ways away from the main gate, but it's worth it.
8) You must see the Villa of the Mysteries. It has the best preserved wall paintings in the city, well, it's not actually in the city, it's just outside the walls. But that's beside the point.
9) Play with the dogs that somehow managed to get into the complex, they're really friendly.
10) Do not use your flash when taking pictures of the wall paintings.It destroys the artwork. You really want these walls to survive a volcanic eruption just so tourists could destroy them with their little lights? Don't do it... I'll hunt you down...don't think I won't.
