It took us about an hour to travel from Rome to Naples this morning. This is a distance of 226 km. There was a display in our carriage showing the speed we were travelling. I took a photo of it at one point in our journey. It certainly didn’t feel like we were travelling this quickly. My guess before I saw it was half the velocity.

Once in Naples we stowed our bags at our hotel and took the train to Pompeii. Big mistake! Do not ask for a ticket to Pompeii! You will get on the wrong train just as we did. Look for the train going to Sorrento because you need to get off at Pompeii Scavi, Pompeii is on a different line. We realised our mistake when the train took a different turn and we eventually arrived at the ruins forty minutes later than we had hoped.

The archeological site of Pompeii covers several hectares so we decided to avail ourselves of a two hour walking tour. I am so glad that we did. We would not have noticed the symbols and signs in the ground and on the walls. We would not have had the history lesson or to have been able to ask questions as we thought of them. Nor would we have met and enjoyed the company and conversations of the beautiful families from England. It was a slow walk, but a pleasant one that we will be able to reflect upon for the rest of our lives.