Pompeii

The hotel shuttle bus dropped us off near the railway station this morning, and by chance we saw the tourist office where we could pre-book a walking tour of Pompeii. Mum last went with dad and his own hand written notes, but this time she wanted to pay for a guide, so we decided to book theirs.

It's lucky we did as it turns out there was a train strike this morning, so we wouldn't have got there, and the tourist office were running a mini bus and just had a few seats left.

Unfortunately, our driver didn't know where he was going and didn't have a GPS, so after a few wrong turns and stopping to ask directions, one of the passengers went up to the front of the bus with google maps on his phone and we finally made it.

We then joined our guide for a two hour tour which was excellent as he showed us the main sights including the red light district and took us to see a brothel!

The main square, where this shot was taken was really interesting and we saw lots of remains that had been saved, including the casts of a man, a dog and a baby - it's so sad to think what happened, the man died with his face covered by his hands, trying to save himself from inhaling the lava ashes.

For our return journey we were able to catch the train as they were running between 1pm and 5pm and then they were striking again. It wasn't the most pleasant journey though as it was a packed train and it was very hot!

Anyway we made it back, but missed the hotel shuttle bus so we jumped in a taxi. Mum had a nap again while I went for a swim and tonight we're heading out for dinner at the Marina Grande. It's a restaurant I found on 'The Fork' which gets really good reviews and is situated right on the water.

I'd better go and get ready, have a good weekend folks, we've got a full day here tomorrow and fly back about 9.30pm.