The Amalfi Coast {Day 2}

Since Day Two of our trip was supposed to be the last day without rain, we decided it would be our Mount Vesuvius and Pompeii day. We got an early start, hoping to beat the clouds to the summit. But Emily had a car sickness related eruption of her own on our way to the volcano. We did what we could roadside to stop the flow and clean what could be cleaned with a roll of paper towels and some wipes from my purse. Then we found an open (but luckily empty) restaurant where Steve was able to manage a better car cleaning and I was able to wash Emily’s clothes in the restroom sink while she sat in just her rain coat. Luckily, the day was warm and sunny at that point, so Emily wasn’t cold and her clothes dried a little in the sun. We finally made it up the mountain, with no more sickness, and then hiked about 20 minutes up to the crater summit. We didn’t beat the clouds though and we couldn’t even see five feet into the crater. But we were there, so it counts! Brian is obsessed with volcanoes, the reason for this whole trip really, so he was beside himself with joy at actually hiking up to the summit of the infamous Mount Vesuvius! Emily was excited but her excitement was tempered by her nonstop fear that the volcano would erupt with us on it. Steve and I had never summited Mount Vesuvius before so we were happy to bring the kids to hike it, but our happiness was tempered by the vomit soaking into the car seat of our car. 

After we came down from the volcano, we headed south to the ruins of Pompeii, which was buried in ash when Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD. The town was buried by hot ash and rocks, after the volcano exploded 12-20 miles into the sky. Because it was buried, the town was extremely well-preserved and great example of a town in Roman times. Steve and I visited Pompeii on our Italy trip in 2004 and spent all afternoon there then. We spent 3 hours at Pompeii with the kids on this trip and while seeing a 2,000 year old Roman town is incredibly interesting to us, it kind of went over the kids’ heads. And while they enjoyed climbing around on the ruins, I don’t think they can wrap their brain around how old the town is and how amazing it is to be able to see a Roman town so well preserved. Maybe we can come back when they are older and have read all about it in history class!