14.10.2020-Vesuv and Pompeii for a magnificent day

14.10.2020

Dear friends,

When you put a Lea with a bicycle into Italian rush hour traffic for 20km, you get a worn-out cloud of happiness with way too good mood, which even finds a cold shower pleasant.

So. The day started with bright sunshine, after it rained so heavily at night that I woke up. Even the temperatures didn't drop as low as last night, and overall, I was eagerly looking forward to my first volcano today. But it turned out to be more difficult than expected, as we needed an online ticket again, which is not even remotely easy to get here. After we found out what Germany is called in Italian and Paps sighed annoyed for the tenth time because something was still missing, we could finally download the tickets and proudly go to our caretaker who wanted to call a taxi for us, since the bus stop right in front of our exit should be served 42 times a day according to the internet (not even any departure times), but reality did not even allow me to find a single bus on this street.

Of course, we had the quiet premonition that the taxi would take almost half an hour to get to us, so we set our ticket time for eleven, even though we could already enter at 10:30 a.m., but it could have been half past eleven.

So, after waiting for three minutes, the taxi arrived, oops. I will probably never get rid of the fascination of watching an Italian drive a car, wow. I am speechless. How he operated the horn like a clutch, for example when he wanted to cut a curve without knowing if something was coming from above, he simply pressed the small horn twice, and if nothing came back, he drove the way he wanted, or how he pressed the gas pedal all the way down on the small straight between two Alpine curves just to brake again, each and every time. A breathtaking rainbow fell into the city as we were halfway up, but I didn't dare interrupt him in his maneuvers and ask if we could stop for a moment so I could take a picture. It was just too cool.

When we were at the entrance of the national park, the clock showed only 9:30 a.m., which means we still had to wait another hour. At the beginning, the view was still beautiful, but pretty soon low-hanging clouds moved in, which occasionally left a little rain. So after walking the last stretch in front of the entrance at least five times up and down to keep from getting cold, it was finally time and we could go in. And what a welcome: splashing rain, stormy gusts, and zero percent visibility. But luckily, at a certain point, we crossed the magical barrier: the fog began to dissipate, the rain stopped, and occasionally we had a beautiful view of the Bay of Naples. Unfortunately, there was no magma bubbling in the volcano to see, Paps said I would have to go to Hawaii for that (next excursion destination 😊). The crater only had small spots on the sides where steam was coming out from time to time, and as we later found out, the fact that it is clogged is not good, as it leads to an explosive next eruption. In this case, they would have evacuation plans for 800,000 people from the surrounding area, but the 1.3 million people from Naples are not included, because the city has not been affected by a single eruption so far. I still wouldn't find that reassuring, if everyone is fleeing from the surrounding area and you just sit in the huge city and think to yourself, "It has never come this far." Especially since Mount Vesuvius is right next door. But they will know what they're doing.

When we came back down, our new friend the taxi driver was already waiting for us, and we went down the mountain at a breathtaking speed, but when it came time to pay, he was definitely way too happy, not that I have anything against happiness, but he even waved at us. Well, we're just in the learning phase.

With the half-started day, we still had to do something, so we unpacked the bicycles and really started after a little nerve test from me.

Pompeii. What a time it must have been back then. Certainly not a time when you are told by the snack vendor that he closes at six, so we should definitely be back by then because he can only keep an eye on our bikes while he is there. But everything worked out, even though we didn't push it so far that our darlings became fair game.

The ancient ruins are a true splendor, and although some rooms and houses left us with questions, the beauty hidden between the old walls should not be underestimated, and I'm not talking about the lizards. How extraordinary paintings can be seen on some simple walls, or marble floors adorned with the most diverse mosaics. Even the streets are an art in themselves, how they are much lower to let water drain away when it rains heavily, and the transitions between the high sidewalks consist of three stones between which carts would fit perfectly. Only the plaster figures testify to the horror that happened at this place, some lie there as if they were sleeping, ready to wake up at any moment, and others are twisted into the funniest poses, and yet it is the little children who send a shiver down your spine, babies mummified by a boiling hot gas cloud.

So after wandering through the ancient city for two hours, we made our way back. I love it. The cars really pay attention to the cyclists, and that means for us: we can just be carefree everywhere. Just sometimes watch out a bit and otherwise just ride, so cool. Really funny, of course also super exhausting but just great. We arrived completely sweaty after getting lost twice.

See you soon and hopefully your shower is better than ours.