Carlo (one of Carolina's staff) decided to leave for Rome with me for the 11:54am train out of Campiglia and we almost missed it.  As the train got closer and closer to Rome, the heat soared.  Carlo (who lives in Rome) was getting phone calls from his friends saying "Stay there!  Don't come home!" because of the heat.  From Rome, I caught the Freccia Rossa express train to Naples and from there - Pompei.  The hotel gave me a room with a bath tub and I almost fell asleep in it.

The next day, I went to Naples to the Archaeological museum then back to my hotel in Pompei.  Just as I had gotten settled, there was a knock at the door which I assumed would be the maid.  To my surprise, Ryan (from the dig) was there, and she & her boyfriend Matt had taken the room across the hall from me - a very pleasant surprise.  This morning, I met my Italian professor from Columbia for coffee then joined Ryan and Matthew at the Pompei ruins.  After several hours (and still without seeing everything), we caught the train together for Naples then went our separate ways.  I arrived in Rome at 5pm and took a room at the same hotel as before - this time with a bath tub.  After spending 3 weeks on a dig site, the bath tub thing is VERY important.

Tomorrow, I go to Ostia Antica which is just south of Fiumcino Airport.  http://www.ostia-antica.org/
It takes about 45 minutes to an hour to get there so this will be another all day thing.  Tomorrow night, I will finally get to grab a beer with Giulia Peresso who has been working on a few dig sites in Rome.  Wednesday, it is back to New York.


I finally have internet fast enough to work on some of the photos although they probably won't get posted until I am back.  Looking forward to explaining the history of the site.