NAPOLI,THE NETHERLANDS & LONDON

I have had a few days with no internet so a fair bit of ground has been covered in the interim.

Our last day in Sorrento was spent visiting Herculaneum (a town submerged in mud from Mt Vesuvius in 79CE). It is a much smaller site and better preserved although again the artifacts are all in the Naples Museum of Archaeology. A rather sobering sight were the 300 bodies recently uncovered left in situ in the storage chambers near what would have been the original shoreline... they would have no chance when you see the volcano towering over the site.
We made it back to Sorrento in time to take a bus ride down the Amalfi Coast .......hats off to the bus driver for getting us back unscathed...it was hair raising to say the least but very beautiful.

Naples by train on the morrow. Obviously Naples is having a hard time ...you can see that from the piles of rubbish in the streets & dilapidated state of the buildings...but really a return to reality after the wealth of Venice & Florence with their streets of Armani & Prada.

Easter in Naples

The Archaeology Museum was fantastic though with thousands of artifacts from Pompeii & Hercaulaneum...including huge wall painting & mosaics.

The Alexander mosaic

Then on to Michael & Masha's(friends of Evan's)in Leiden(just south of Amsterdam) in the Netherlnads. Our timing was impeccable as the place was ablaze with tulips and the Keukenhof Gardens with it's 7 million tulips (and a similar number of tourists) was astonishing!  

 

 

Kath