M: We woke up this morning to yet another ridiculously warm day. Not a cloud in the sky and 27 degrees (don’t worry mom, I bought sunscreen this morning)! After enjoying the most delicious hostel coffee yet, we took off on the train with Anthony and John for Pompeii. It was hot, crowded and sweaty on the train, but John always brings his sense of humour along so the ride flew by.

Savanna has been very excited about getting to Pompeii and I’ve been before, so I’ll let her take it from here…

S: Pompeii was number one on my list, for obvious reasons. We waffled very briefly about heading to Herculaneum instead because it’s less touristy, but a trip to Italy without seeing Pompeii felt incomplete. It was incredible! We were struck by the sheer size of the city. I think I expected it to be a bit of a let down because it’s so frequently shown on TV and referenced that you think you know what to expect. YOU SO DON’T! It was so cool to have the whole city structure explained, from battle training grounds, to brothels, to bars and aristocratic houses it was all amazing. All of this was great, but paled in comparison to the knowledge that this city was once covered by 4 meters of pumice stone and still more blankets of ash.

M: Pompeii was as awesome as I remembered! It is so huge and so well preserved. Some of the houses still have very rich reds and yellows painted on the walls, and the detailed tile patterns on the floors are amazing. Our guide Fofo explained a lot about the eruption and excavation but even still it is hard to believe Pompeii is so old but still so intact. Fofo also spent a lot of time going over the origins of words we use today, which was interesting but unexpected.

S: The four of us sat outside Pompeii and ate gelato and drank coffee and discussed what we had seen. It felt kind of surreal to be eating chocolate cookie ice cream and sipping espresso while staring up at the walls of an ancient city. We meandered over to the train station and met up with Courtney, a New Zealander who is staying at our hostel and who joined us for the rest of the nights shenanigans.

M: So being in Naples, we of course had to track down the best pizza in town. And why settle for one pizza dinner in a night when you can have two?! We were starving after our hot day in Pompeii, so we headed to Da Michele. Here they only serve two kinds of pizza – margherita and marinara. It is a very simply decorated little place, with bright lights and white tables and chairs. Not at all a fancy pizza place. The five of us gathered around the table and talked about our day while we waited for the pizza. Because they only serve those two kinds of pizza, the wait was short. We devoured the two pizzas we ordered in no time, with lots of oohs and aahs about the flavour. I thought I was going to like the margherita more because it had cheese, but the combination of the herbs on the marinara was to die for. I’m still a little torn, but I’m thinking marinara is the one for me. Definitely the best pizza.

S: I disagree on that score, but God were they both ever good. I never thought I wouldn’t be a simple pizza lover but the Margherita is definitely the best I’ve ever had. Our second pizza dinner was at Di Matteo, a maze of a restaurant where we each ordered our own complicated pizzas. These were unlike the last place in all respects except that they were also delicious. We laughed a lot about fried pasta, and chatted in our best attempts at Italian language, and then laughed some more about how awful those attempts actually were.

One thing we hadn’t had yet, which is apparently a classic, was limoncello shots, so we hunted down the best street shots we could find. Gotta say I never thought I would order shots on the street. A lot of firsts these days! Though they came in little plastic cups, they tasted like lemon meringue pie with a BIT of a burn. John was smitten with the flavour!

M: Courtney and I had never had cannolis, and Savanna was determined to change this. (S: umm who hasn’t tried cannolis?!?) We walked back up the street to a little shop and got three to share. Turns out Sav was right, they are delicious! Not that Courtney or I ever doubted her on this one.

With extremely full bellies, we walked home and had a few beers at the hostel bar. John, as usual, brought about some really great discussions. I also learned about Australian and New Zealand politics from Anthony and Courtney throughout the night. It’s one of my favourite things to learn about from other people, but surprisingly electoral systems don’t always make for the best bar conversation! On occasion though I meet people like Tobi, Georgina and Kevin who will dive right in with me and I have a great time.

S: Tobi we met in Germany, and holds the record for LONGEST political conversation I have ever heard with Meaghan ever. Reference back to the Berlin days. Him and Matt are going to meet us at our next stop and I look forward to the knowing side-eye I’ll be getting from Matt about this political banter between our best friends…

S&M