Herculaneum

(And, screw it, the upload is failing; I'll just write this from my phone.)

When we ("we" is me and a friend, who happens to be male) booked this trip (separate rooms, don't get excited), Windstar had ZERO shore excursions on offer in Naples.  So we booked with a third party, which offered an excursion to Herculaneum for less money than the ships usually charge, and promised on whatever oath they would take that they'd get us back to the ship on time. 

They picked us up at 1:00.  This was a little concerning because "all aboard" was at 4:30 and they said you could see all of Herculaneum in 3 hours, but whatever.  We reminded him of the "all aboard" at 4:30.  He made a call.  He was speaking kind of loudly in Italian and I heard the word "quattro" go by, but they seemed to have it under control.

They we drove to a hotel to pick up 2 guests.

And another to pick up 2 more.

The van was full at this point.  We'd killed a half hour and were still 15 minutes out of Herculaneum.  Color me ticked.

We finally get to the site and are meet by our actual tour guide - a fellow who was both archeologist and tour guide, who really enjoyed telling us the stories behind what we were seeing.

Short form:  See that volcano?  That's Vesuvius.  When it erupted, the dirt and stuff what came out of the volcano mixed with water near the city and covered the place with mud.  (Pompeii, being further away, was covered in ash.)  The mud preserved shit really well - we've got wooden and glass artifacts, as well as skeletons.

The tour guide then spent the tour flirting with me and my friend.  He first asked how long we'd been togethet.  When I said we were just friends, it opened the floodgates.  (When I got a question right, he celebrated by hugging me.  Twice.  Then he whispered in my ear and asked if my friend was gay.)  At the end of the trip, he asked if we were on Facebook (just us, not the other 5 passengers.)  I lied and said "no"; sorry dude.  

They got us back to the ship on time, but I feel like we were rushed - cramming three hours of tour into two hours of time.  I'm beat.  And apparently have another walking tour tomorrow.

So here's Herculaneum - where I took way too many pictures of skeletons.

Overview of city 

Persevered wooden ship 

Preserved coins and pile of melted coins 

Update on the Politics of the Ship.  I am told that the Trump dude who was super annoying last night has been on the ship for a week was actually ALMOST KICKED OFF during the prior cruise on account of saying racist stuff.  And another passenger nearly decked him on account of something he said to said
passenger's wife. 

So it doesn't seem so much to be Everyone Talking About Politics -- instead it's just one jerk, who expresses his jerkiness via his politics.  He's alienating pretty much everyone.  Let's see how this goes.

I'd proofread y'all, but I had some wine at dinner and can't keep my damn eyes open.  

Mosaic on floor of ladies' bath house

Cool wall from a private home

More of the same 

Columns painted on a wall inside a hotel dining room