23rd of September was our family's trip to Pompeii. It was very hot, but not too crowded, we road the bus from the Garibaldi train station straight to the Pompeii tourist spot. We got our tickets (which are good for a year so we can come back later) and went inside. There were pomegranate trees everywhere so we took one as a snack and ate it on the way. Pompeii ended up being a lot bigger than we thought it would be, but we explored as much as we could until our feet ached. The city was made up of many complex roads and houses, painted walls, drainage systems and even a spigot with drinkable water that still flowed through it. The Pompeians would often exercise, then chill out in a nice pool or hot tub. They made perfumes and incense that they would massage onto people's skin as a luxury. The rich Pompeians in the city would eat all day, throw up, and eat more to show how rich they were. They lived in large, sometimes two story houses with beautiful art and paint on the dining room walls, a fountain in the middle of the home with a whole in the ceiling right above it (my guess is that it was used to let light in the house, and just in case it rained, the rain would fall right into the fountain). The Pompeians city was beautiful itself, but the people that lived there were quite a disgusting people. I won't discuss all of the things that the Pompeians did, I'll leave the research to you. I was unable to find a web address all about the Pompeians customs, but to tell you the truth, I'm kind of glad. The thing that I miss that I was really looking forward to was the casts of the people trying to escape the city in the time of the eruption. Sadly, this area of the city was closed. Back in the time of the eruption, the people tried to flee from the ash and lava. Some escaped and made it to Herculaneum, where the eventually died of the poisonous gasses.

                                             

                                   Two days ago (9/20/2012) I went swimming in the Bay of Naples, it wasn't as cold as I thought it would be, but most people would rather swim in a heated, clean pool. I had been wanting to swim there ever since we got here, I saw the clearness of the water near the boats at the bay and I immediately  made it my goal to go and explore. when I got there, I instantly found a fish flopping around on the side of the pavement. It had a broad body with pink scales and a split tail. instinctively, I placed it back in the water and it swam away. when I stepped into the water, I tried to find a good footing among the rocks, but they were all quite slimy. I was in the water before I knew it, but all the salt in the water helped me float leisurely. Soon I was exploring underwater looking for sea-life. I ran into a few schools of fish every now and then, but suddenly I found myself in front of a huge, yellow jellyfish (first picture above). It kind of looked like a fried egg yoke to me, very strange kind of ocean-life. Instantly I took a quick picture and video of it and bolted out of the bay as fast as I could, afraid that it might be venomous. After that I hung around the bay and played around with the crabs on the rocks. As entertaining as it was for me, the crabs didn't seem so happy about it. Most of them ran away under the cracks of the rocks, but one crab that was hiding in a small hole in the wall (a wall separating the boat bay from the rest of the water) was a bit braver than the others. I stuck a feather in his "cave" and he grabbed it and tried to take it away from me. Amused, I kept up with this for quite a while. after that, I found a big hole in the pavement where some little striped shrimp and gray fish were swimming around.        

    The city of Naples is a beautiful, historical city in all the old buildings, the culture, the nature that grows here. But otherwise, the city is full of trash and home-less people, the Mafia, many stray dogs and lots of grafiti. Despite all of that, it is really a gorgeous city to visit. In my opinion, i enjoy the stray dogs that roam Naples, they are actually quite well-fed since all of the resteraunts have quite a bit leftovers to throw away (most of the time the resteraunts dont let you take home the food). they are also suprisingly well-behaved and loving, they are quite dirty from living in the streets but they love attention and will follow you around if you give them it. I decided (depending on where we live) i would try and "adopt" a dog from the streets, i would give it food and play with it in the yard, then i would let it go to do what it wanted.

                 One of the houses we could live in is 6 story castle-built house in the mountains of Caserta. the vilage where the house is located, is basically what someone would picture when they think of Italy. Narrow roads with tall walls surrounding, very quiet and tranquil, beautiful trees and gardens and the classic brick roads.

                                                 Today is September sixth (2012) the day that we fly out to Italy. We have had to sit and wait for a total of about 7 hours, including the next hour we have to wait here at Toronto Airport. During our flight to Toronto, we got the regular flight assistance and seats. I expected to fly first class, but my Brother, Dad and I sat in the seats in the middle of the plane while my Mom sat first class and got totally pampered. After the flight, she told us how she had all kinds of drinks and treats, even pancakes! Race and I were starving after the flight, and Mom's stories of all that amazing first-class airplane food wasn't helping. So we walked into the executive section of the airport (basically special treatment for international buisness-class flyers) and found a big buffet table full of free food. My brother and I were so hungry, we stuffed the food down our throats and waited contently until our next flight arrived. When we boarded our plane, we were directed to the luxurious first class seats of business class. Each seat was placed diagonally in the plane with walls separating them for one another. They all had tvs that folded out  from the side, a foot rest at the end of the seat area, and they had buttons to adjust the seat to comfort. It had buttons that controlled the leg rest, buttons for the head rest and even one for a message! While we flu over the seas to Frankfurt, the sky got darker by the minute, I knew that the day couldn't possibly go by that fast, so we must have been entering a new time zone. All I could see outside my window was dark blue and a small island of lights off in the distance.