Bad day turned good

What started out at the most miserable day, wound up being top 5 best days so far on my trip. Of course let me start at the beginning.

So we left Tuscany at 7am, getting to grossotto by 9:20am. We had an hour break for breakfast, followed by another train ride to Naples at 10:30am. We arrived in Naples, had some McDs(Had toooo), and found a train to Salerno around 4pm maybe? Thinking we are almost there, we come to find out we have to take a bus to Amalfi, a one hour terrifying, coastal drive with a crazy ass bus driver who honked his horn at least once a minute. Needless to say we were beat. After checking into the hostel, and realizing we were still alive, we headed to the small beach, of Atrani, the town next to Amalfi, found a bar to hang out and eat at for a while, and had our first real night sleep, where we didnt have to be up at all.

We slept through breakfast, and were finally ready to join the waking world around noon. We decided to check out Amalfi, the namesake for the Amalfi coast. Essentially I had three things I wished to do by the end of our stay in Atrani, see capri, or the emerald grotto, figure out how the hell we were getting to Greece, and most importantly visit Pompeii. We begin this checklist in Amalfi, but figuring out ferrys. To make a long complicated story short, we find out we cant leave when we thought we could, and had to leave a day earlier, which meant this day we had half wasted would be our only day in the area. Panicking, that my main reason to go to Italy in the first place, to see Pompeii, would not be realized, we figured, we could just head there, and do it on our own, no tour guide needed(as we had innitally planned). Our "short trip" to Pompeii, as said by the hostel, consisted of a 1.5 hour terrifying bus ride on the coast to Sorrento, followed by a 40 minute ride on the creepiest railway ever.

We arrive in Pompeii at nearly 5pm. Not knowing when it closed, and realizing we would not get the trip I intended, I quickly shelled out nearly 15$ for a guidebook(now, you know ms. cheapo really wants to do something if she pays that kinda money for a book). As I am paying, this random guy in a yellow tshirt, with one small braid on the side of his head comes over to ask Amy if she knows how to get to Pompeii. He was told once off the stop, to "follow the penises"(as in the phallic symbols sold at the little card tables lining the entrance), but he still couldnt find it. Since my book had a map, we figured out how to enter. Next thing we know there are 14 Australians, all with crazy haircuts(all shaved in the front, and lightening bolts shave in above the right ear), surrounding us, bargaining with an old Italian man named Hector, on how much it will cost them to get a tour of the ruins. After deciding on 100 euros(about $160) for everyone, the boys ask us, and another pair of girls(obv), if we "want in" on the deal. Score!!

So we wind up getting a tour by the craziest man ever, who spoke at least 5 languages, was constantly on his cell phone, and would emphasize a sentence, by putting his hand by his mouth like he was telling a secret and screaming his head off. We saw the forum, temples, the bathstons of frescoes and mosaics, some houses, and the crown jewel(according to the boys of course), the house of ill repute, or the brothel. When all was said and done, we saw about 2.5 hours of the ruins and it cost each of us about 6 euro!!! The other two girls(one american, one english), two of the boys and us decided to head for the stadium, as it was not on our tour, and split off, sending the other boys who had had quite enough history back to their hostel. We then explored, illegally, the auditorium, which included all of us being hoisted above a trash can, being pushed by people on the bottom and pulled by people at the top, so we could see the auditorium from the bleachers, and get some other amazing shots. Also since we didnt get to Pompeii til nearly 5pm, it was soo much cooler then day exploring, and less crowded. I honestly could not have imagined a better exploration of the ruins of the city!!

Not knowing how we were to get back to Amalfi, we threw caution to the wind, so to speak, and decided to catch some pizza with the smaller group of 6, in Pompeii for a while. We then headed back to Sorrento, and found out we had just missed our bus and needed to wait another hour, so we headed into town for a drink. However, by the time we found a place, we needed to head back, and bid our new friends farewell, as we braved the 1.5 hour terrifying bus ride back to Amalfi.

This is a perfect example, of how expectations can ruin a situation, yet having a come what may attitude, will make a situation amazing. If we had gone to pompeii as scheduled through a 6 hour tour as planned, it would have been hot, potentially scripted, and most of all not as fun. Yet, allowing the situation to simply develop and roll with it, make it one of the best days on the whole trip!!!