Pictures of Pompeii

Not the best place to be 1,934 years ago. Sat at the foot of mount Vesuvius, the Roman city of Pompeii was the victim of a volcanic eruption which covered it in ash and volcanic rocks.

Many natural disasters happened before and after the Vesuvius eruption and around the world will happen again. It's just a matter of people being in the wrong place at the wrong time in relation to natural processes. What is special about Pompeii however is that the event, as well as being destructive, preserved so much. It turned the city into something of a time capsule. It locked away a Roman city, protecting a moment in history from the renewal and changes that would have been made had it not been buried.

Combining both a love of ancient history as well as environmental science, this place had intrigued me since I learnt of it’s existence at primary school. So it was the one main thing I wanted to do when visiting Naples. On the day we visited Pompeii we ventured through Naples on the tram from the port and caught a train to the Pompei Scavi station which is just down the road from the entrance of the UNESCO World Heritage Site.

If I remember correctly, the entrance fee was €11 per person. To help make the most of the trip we also hired 2 hand held audio guides and they were extra (€10 for 2).

I'd recommend the audio guide if you do ever visit. It really does give lots of good information and helps you build the picture in your mind of what it must have been like to live in Pompeii at the time it was a thriving city.

I'll not type too much about it as the pictures really speak for themselves but just to say being there is like stepping back in time, walking and sitting on some of the oldest streets you'll ever have chance to and seeing the buildings that made up a complex Roman society. Yet despite the gap in time, an awful lot is so familiar, the result of what was passed down through the ages in more than just our DNA. Take for instance:

Buildings for business and legal affairs. Like this 2nd century BC Basilica and surrounding administrative buildings

And large civic spaces such as the forum.

Civic monuments.

Changing rooms.

Public Bathing.

Shops including take aways!

Religious buildings.

Streets lined with houses.

Interior decorating.

Manufacturing and food production like this bakery.

Entertainment venues.

The site is much larger than I anticipated and though we managed to cover a fair chunk of it, there is a lot more that we know we didn't see. Indeed there will be more to see in the future as the archaeology on site still continues to this day. Not so far away are other sites such as the once the Roman port town of Herculaneum - we didn't have chance to go there but I read that it is also worth a visit. Pompeii was thought-provoking and enchanting as a connection to the past. Certainly well worth using our only day in Naples to see. It was an eye opener to how little has changed and a reminder as to how valuable scientific understanding of our natural world can be.

On the way out we called into the shop for a fridge magnet. We couldn't resist buying one which has a little cartoon Vesuvius saying ‘I’m Sorry’.

We ended up spending so much time in Pompeii that when we made it back into Naples we didn't have very long left to see the city itself - especially after we slightly wandered off the beaten track and ended up finding a yummy small pizza place. Once we located a bus we made it back to where we had to be - by the port - and got a drink, a Naples fridge magnet and a look at a fountain.

We then walked past a castle before heading back to the port.

Seemingly as quickly as the day had begun, we were back on the ship and sailing off to visit another Roman city... indeed, THE Roman city itself... Rome.

Bounding around Boston - Part 1

In Boston (The one in Massachusetts, USA) we found a pleasant city with a nice atmosphere and friendly people. This was our last stop in our February 2012 US visit and we were only there a couple of days, a flying visit as we were flying back to the UK from Logan Airport.

I think we spent our time wisely as again thanks to Norngirl it was well planned. After getting off the train from New York we stood on an almost deserted platform, the complete opposite of Penn Station where we'd been just hours earlier. The first thing we did was buy our travel passes for the local metro service called the 'T' and found ourselves a station to get on a tram out to Cambridge where the hotel we were staying at was located.

Once we had made it to the hotel, checked and settled in, we made our way to the local Cheesecake Factory we found food and were introduced to the not so old Samuel Adams. His tastier brews became a firm friend during our visit.

Another ride on the T and we'd made it to TD Garden, home of the Boston Bruins for the big game as they took on the New York Rangers.

I'll try not to delve into too much depth as I still aim to write a separate post on all of the overall Ice Hockey experience but suffice to say, we weren't at this game as neutrals. We were cheering for the New York Rangers! Boston and New York have quite the friendly rivalry. Inside the stadium we were set upon by a big fury Bruin, thankfully this one was the mascot dressed up in a big plush costume. I got a mocking tug of my hockey shirt that says 'NEW YORK' diagonally across it and some Bruin attitude... we laughed. Next up the dude selling beer was toying with us until he found out we'd travelled from the Emerald Isle, at which point ‘best buds’ and the beer flowed. It was all in good humour and it set the tone for a friendly but competitive game in which, complete with a flashing beer, we had a great time.

It felt like being in a friendly hornets nest (the Bruins club colours didn't help) or should I say Bruins den? We were little spots of blue and red scattered amongst an arena of yellow and black. A plucky fellow New York Rangers fan in the section across from us gave us both some confidence with some fighting talk and so as the NYR goals rained in we celebrated like we were at Madison Square Garden. The final score was 3-0, the Bruins fans did get to cheer but it was short lived as a goal was correctly ruled out muwhahahaha.

We hung back as the crowds emptied from the stands to take it all in and ended up having a chat about hockey with a friendly Bruins fan and we wished them all the best for the season. On the way out the building we had to use the lift, turns out we weren't the only UK hockey fans in the building as a lady with a Coventry Blaze shirt was there too. Our night ended back in the hotel with a slice of Cheesecake, watching the Daily Show on TV.

The next day we set about our sightseeing itinerary. We'd decided not to bother with the USS Constitution as we've seen our fair share of ships and US history this trip. We also looked up the sights along the freedom trail but we hoped to do something different.

First of all we took a walk past Boston City Hall, Custom House Tower...

and Faneuil Hall ...

...and through Quincy Market.

We then carried on our walk down Long Wharf amongst others...

The aim was to find where to go the next day for a water taxi to the airport and it found where we were looking for at Rowes Wharf.

To get to our next location we ended up in the Aquarium... well the stop of that name anyway. The place names were fun. We were heading inbound which wouldn't have been disappointing if we weren't giving up the intrigue of finding out what was is in Wonderland!

Where we did go was for lunch, a delicious and very reasonably priced set lunch (which on the day was $22 for 3 courses) at the restaurant called 'Top of the Hub' which is located at the top of Prudential Tower. It had amazing views of the urban sprawl and beyond.

This was followed by a short walk to the bus stop to catch our ride over the Harvard bridge to the University area in order to visit the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Museum... more in part 2.

That Time We Went On A Cruise

This wasn't our usual sort of trip. For a start, our bed, the four walls and even the dinning room traveled with us.

Going on a cruise around the Western Mediterranean sea was mainly down to chance. Our first plan had been to try and book a trip that would start with a city break in Edinburgh then take in a train ride to London then more trains til we'd visited a city or two in Europe, somewhere like Brussels/Munich or Paris/Milan. This trip was to have us in London on the 10th anniversary of the day we met - and also our 3rd wedding anniversary. Sadly it was a no-go, after adding up all the train fares, hotel costs, factoring in it'd be November and potentially we'd face delays with so many connections, it was just too risky and costly. First world problems I know.

Other plans also fell by the wayside due to practicalities and cost but as luck would have it, one trip that Norngirl turned up in her extensive search was what must have been a rather empty cruise because the price was very low at the time for what it was. Though it did mean having to go on our first Ryanair flight (never again if I can help it!), it was doable. I think the words were along the lines of 'Why the hell not, LETS DO IT!'. So we worked out the logistics and itinerary and Norngirl got the cruise booked. It was an 11 night trip taking in Palma in Mallorca (a substitute stop in place of Tunis due to the unrest there at the time), Valletta in Malta, Messina in Sicily, Naples, Rome (Civitavecchia) and Pisa (Livorno).

Time soon caught up with our departure date and in the dead of night we traveled down to Dublin by bus (which we happened to get all to ourselves - it was the worlds largest taxi). Luckily it was the night of the US election and the bus and Dublin airport have free WiFi so we were in our element following it all. Thankfully a happy ending given that even in Northern Ireland Mitt Romney would be hard pushed at being electable and that's saying something!

On the way out we flew with Aer Lingus. From what I'd heard through the grapevine I expected the sort of service we ended up getting on the way home with Ryanair. It was nothing like that though, it was clean and comfortable, they reminded me of generic low cost airlines likes Flybe, Jet2 or BMI. After a nice flight we landed in Barcelona. We'd been here a couple of times before so knew our way around and got the bus into the city. The hotel we stayed in was tucked away down a side street that didn't exist on Google Maps but it was quite new and nicely modern. Our room was clean and tidy and had a fun shower that was like one of those fountains you sometimes find at leisure centre swimming pools. In Barcelona we headed out for a bit of tapas and a bottle of wine (day drinking on a tired head... weeeeeee) followed by a walk to the harbour area where we had a look around.

Our intention going down there was to finally ride the cable car.

We'd been as close as the station at the top of the hill a couple of years earlier but time was an issue that day. Sadly, we were thwarted again. We got to the central tower only to find out that entrance/exit was closed for a few months. As we hadn't slept since the day before we didn't fancy any random trips across town to the top of the hill or around on a bus to the far side of the harbour. It wasn't to be, so we went back to the room, rested a while then went out in search of food using the downloaded maps on our phones. We found a bakery and a convenience store and got some odd looking snacks. I think mine was something along the lines of an imitation crab meat seafood stick sandwich which was ermm, different but not bad at all.

The next morning we made our way in a Taxi (which wasn't too expensive though they do charge a little extra to take you to the port or airport) to the cruise ship itself.
The ship was called 'Serenade of the Seas'.

This was our first cruise so we just went along with what everyone else was doing. Sea pass in hand we boarded and went through the now familiar on-boarding security screening. We were travelling with Royal Caribbean and onboard alcohol is rather expensive so some people were trying to smuggle it on. We didn't bother (as much as we wanted to!), we did buy a few drinks onboard during our trip however we went sparingly and opted to make the most of our port days. Like this wine we merrily passed the time with in the not so exciting city of Messina.

It wasn't a bad thing as there was a distinct lack of real ale onboard the ship and most beer onboard came in cans or bottles and at posh hotel pint prices. Some San Miguel in Palma, Cisk in Malta and Sicilian Beer in Messina, though not the greatest drinks, were nicer than a can of Guinness for 5 times the price you'd usually pay.

Ummm, holiday beer.

Though we did very much like the cocktails onboard ship and got plenty of promotional glasses which we now use at home. They were also very nice for each sail away. We got very lucky with the weather during our trip and so had views like this to enjoy.

I'll be putting together some posts about what we saw in the ports we visited soon but as far as the cruise experience goes, here were the highlights and low-lights.

The good stuff:

- The ship itself was clean and tidy, and other than some of the old fashioned decor, it had some great sights:

- The food: was brilliant! In all the spots you can eat (there was a huge choice and the standard was beyond expectation). The food was probably the highlight of the cruise experience. Evening meals in the dining room were perfect and other food around the ship was great too, so much choice it was unbelievable. Having views like this from one of the cafes was a awesome way to eat your breakfast!

- The service and staff: were brilliant - especially the waiting staff who covered our table in the main restaurant and our room’s attendant.

- The onboard activities: I had great fun with the mini golf course though it wasn't my proudest moment (OK, well I was a little proud) when my ball clipped a rock, bounced off 2 odd shaped obstacles and managed to find somehow squeeze between the protective screen and land on the deck below – oops! Shooting some hoops on basketball court was good craic too.

We also went along to a couple of the ‘Language basics’ classes for Spanish and Italian, they were just the right amount of basic to pick up a few extra words to add to please, sorry and thank you and came in handy on our trips away from the boat. The swimming pools, both indoor and outdoor, were grand to float around in though a little tricky to do much swimming, especially at busy times. The hot tubs when you could get a space in one were also nice and relaxing and the outdoor ones a nice place to chill.

The entertainment – the shows we went to we enjoyed, the entertainment was like a dolled up Butlins show - lots of former talent show competition winners etc. The entertainment manager and some other guy from the entertainment team did a show each day where you could write in and have stuff read out. We found ourselves submitting slips of paper most nights by the crazy teapot.

- Sleeping at sea: on a couple of nights it was a bit of a rough sea but we slept like logs, you just get used to the motion and it’s like a comforting rock, combined with lots of sightseeing we were asleep as soon as we turned over and our heads were on the pillows.

- I really quite like the relaxed feel onboard the ship and I could get used to waking up most mornings, rolling over and seeing a new port or city. Then heading for a cup of tea and some breakfast whilst watching a city or port go about it’s business below.

The not so good stuff:

- Fellow passengers, not all mind you (most of those in the photo below are probably lovely people) but 4/5 of those who tried to seriously engage us in conversation, I could have done without meeting.

There was one guy from Belfast who no longer lived in Belfast who seemed to want us to think he was Bono with a harem in tow – which he could have pulled off had it not been for the fact he was so drunk he knocked over his own drink without realising and then wondered where it had gone. Another guy from New York met us twice and gave us the entire same conversation both times before just ending mid sentence each time and wandering off like a puppy who got distracted and lost his train of thought.

- Sales technique - we were looking forward to what were described as destination lectures. Yeah, don't. Glorified sales pitches for overly expensive tours. Some of the information wasn't exactly accurate either.

- The location and transport options/price from where we docked in Palma (Mallorca) was terrible (unlike the port in Belfast, don't expect a free shuttle into the middle of town).

Overall: I enjoyed this holiday but it's hard to look at it as travelling in the usual sense because it was largely just a flying visit at each port of call (though the 2 days in Rome was great). The concept of a cruise like this with ports so close together seems a good idea for a taster of places, but there just isn't chance to spend much quality time to really get to know a place or see everything.

We had 2 sea days on this 11 night cruise and I think if we ever choose to splash out on a cruise again we'd be looking for less ports and more days at sea. Time to be able to unwind and treat it as a beach holiday. I'd also be looking for a company that provides basic alcoholic drinks as part of the package. I think the cruise we were on was better suited to an older, wealthier crowd but we certainly made the most of it and had a good time though to be honest I don't think cruises will be very near the top of my wish list when we're next looking for a holiday for ourselves.