Now we can do ANYTHING!!!!

Hello,
So I promised that there were better and more excellent pictures to come and here they are...Melissa and I took a break from Rome to take a trip to Naples...we were going to go to Pompeii and see the ruins but we decided instead to take a trip up Mount Vesuvius mainland Europe's only a volcano to have erupted in the last one hundred years. It is considered an active stratovolcano and is now regarded as one of the most dangerous volcanoes because of the population of 3 million that live close by and it's tendency to have explosive eruptions....so of course we had to go up...I mean we saw no lava obviously it wasn't erupting but you can still see steam from some of the vents in the crater...anyway here are some pictures of our trip....I feel like I should mention that I got most of my info from... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Vesuvius
at least school is teaching me to site my sources...
Melissa falling asleep on the train from Rome to Naples.
so this is why we decided not to stay in Naples for more than just the trip up mount Vesuvius. The town where we took a shuttle up the mountain was so shady...and the guy who helped us get there warned us like 3 times about pick pocketers.
Oh my Gosh these were delicious tomato chips I bought and they tasted like I was eating a bowl of delicious spaghetti covered in delicious prego sauce...mmm....unfortunately a lot ended up on the volcano because Melissa accidentally dropped them.
Melissa looking enthusiastic about the climb.
this is what we had to climb to get to the crater...actually this is half of what we had to climb to get to the crater....they said 20 minute hike we said 30 minute climb...
views from the mountain.



theres even graffiti on the mountain lol...
Melissa has selected a rock to throw into the crater.
and there it goes....

we are so close to the end of the climb...so we asked someone to take a picture of us...
the crater...
you can see some of the steam. It also smelled slightly of burnt rock but not too much.



WE MADE IT TO THE TOP!!!!! Melissa thought this sign had something to do with the top but we don't really know what it means...
I decided to select a rock to throw in....
and this is me throwing...goodbye rock...
this is a part we had to walk up and then back down...
Melissa why are you going into a strange cave on a volcano...what has come over you???
leaves growing out of the volcano...
man Melissa is getting daring the thin air is making her lose all inhibitions...
MELISSA GET BACK DOWN HERE.....
but pose for a picture first...
This is us at the top....we had to wait to ask someone to take this because funny enough there weren't a lot of people at the top.
more of the crater.
I'm climbing pride rock

man that is steep...aha I've made it...
and now I'm coming back down...I told you there was graffiti on the mountain...



these are pictures on our way back down...I feel at this point I should mention that we took this shuttle service that is located just outside the metro station. We are pretty much convinced it is run by the mafia. They were the roughest, and scruffiest Italian men we have ever seen and the guy who drove the shuttle...let's just say it's a miracle I am here to write this post. the road was more twisted than snake road, went higher up then any road I've ever been on and the guy was going like 60mph...on top of that there were all these tour buses coming down while we were going up. The road for those of you who know this reference was like if the snake road and the Shamokin roads were combined. Dangerously twisted combined with the fact that it's a tiny road that is two ways!!!.........great view though
these statues were all along the road up to the mountain...I have no idea what this one is...It looks like a guy with a gas mask and a baby on his back....maybe???
haha I love this one...
I think this one is my favorite though..and highly appropriate...lol.
this was cool it actually had these eye looking circles on both sides so it looks like a face from the back and front.
a random park with the Eiffel tower. There were a bunch of different places on the way up to the mountain but they were all mostly abandoned restaurants and broken down buildings.
another view.
me being terrified in the shuttle.
Melissa calm as always.
the mountain now that were in the town.

Okay so after we arrive in Naples Melissa tells me by the way I was reading in our travel book how in Naples apparently the trash collection agency is run by the Camorra (The Neapolitan mafia-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camorra) apparently they are having some sort of trash crisis because violations causing all 4 city dumps to be closed. The people in the city were for a while setting the huge piles of garbage on fire starting over 150 fires a day. With the garbage comes the rats and pest so schools have been closed because of rat infestations, people have started wearing masks to try to avoid the diseases being spread and there has been an increase in cancer and genetic birth defects. And Melissa tells me all this after we get into the city...Thanks Melissa...

So thats it for our adventures up the mountain. It was an excellent day nothing got stolen and we didn't get caught by the mafia...so all in all excellent day...