Luckily it's been a bit warmer here than it was in Florence so we've been able to get around and see the coast without freezing! The first few days it rained so our visit to the Amalfi coast was a bit dreary, and I think I wound up with a head cold. But the past few days have been better.
We explored Herculaneum and Pompeii. Like Pompeii-the more famous of the two towns. Herculaneum was affected by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79, but because it is located closer to the volcano, the town was completely covered in boiling hot mud, which kept the little town extremely intact for later excavations. So intact that furniture and clothes remained in relatively good condition. Pompeii, was covered in volcanic ash because it is further from the volcano. Pompeii is also a lot larger than Herculaneum, and the frescos that were uncovered are very very funny and in remarkable condition, so is the city. It has three amphitheaters and several temples, one brothel, several villas and tons of roads, homes and land they suspect were once gardens or vineyards. Recently excavations found the ancient shoreline of Pompeii, which they discovered by uncovering about 300 skeletons. People who had run from the volcanic eruption, but had been overtaken when they couldn't run any further.
Today we took a ferry to the island of Capri and hiked around the cliffs and down to the beaches, and explored Capri town. Tomorrow we're leaving for Salerno, which is further south along Italy's coastline, from there we hope to catch a ferry to Sicily.
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