Sorrento, Capri, and Pompeii

As always, southern Italy is gorgeous and never ceases to amaze me.  We got here about midday on Monday after landing in Rome, and the transfer (train from the Rome airport to the Termini train station to Napoli, then a car transfer from Napoli to Sorrento) was quick and easy.
As soon as we got to Sorrento, we decided to take a walk around town to wake ourselves up.  Sorrento is much larger than I remember it, but of course the last time I was here was nearly 10 years ago!  Pretty crazy that right after I visited in 2001, the World Trade Center was attacked, then we learned about the death of Bin Ladin while we were at the harbor in Sorrento on Monday.  As we were exploring our ferry options for a trip to Capri, we started talking to an English gentleman who told us about it.  Our waiter at Ristorante Caruso Monday night also talked about it to us for a while.  It is big news, even in this dreamy little seaside town that feels light years away from New York City.
Monday night we slept fitfully, partially because of our sleep schedule but there was also a rough thunderstorm that blew through the area.  That was fine, because by mid morning on Tuesday we had beautiful weather... sunny but breezy, perfect for a ferry trip over to Capri!  I was looking forward to showing Roberto the Blue Grotto and Capri town.  However, the Blue Grotto was closed because of high tide, so we took a boat ride around the island.  This was something I did not get to do on my last trip, and although the water was really choppy on the Anacapri side it was a GREAT trip!  Such a fantastic place, and we enjoyed a delicious lunch at one of the restaurants at the top of the island in Capri.  Then back to Sorrento, and pizza for dinner... one of the best wood fired pizzas I have had in a long time.
Today I spent the day in Pompeii, my very first time there.  Roberto preferred to stay here in Sorrento, so I took the Circumsuviana train the half hour ride to Pompeii around 11 this morning and returned around 2:30.  I was mesmerized by the advanced culture the Pompeiians enjoyed nearly 2000 years ago... running water, a class system, beautiful homes with gardens, and the oldest amphitheater in Italy (yes, built even before the Colisseum in Rome!).  Pompeii is huge; you can easily spend all day here, but I took a 2 hour tour and saw most of the highlights in that time.  Simply amazing.  There was even a preserved dog that was straining against its chain, trying to break loose when the ash descended upon the town and killed everyone.  It was a tragic place, but I am very glad to have had the opportunity to see it.  It blows my mind that so many people still live around the base of Mount Vesuvius when it is still active and so dangerous, but I guess it is no different from people making their home in San Francisco or Miami.  Home is home.
Tonight is our last night in Sorrento!  In the morning we are off to Positano on the 10:30 AM ferry.