October 1, 2014

Knees are ok.  I used the walking sticks and will use the, today as we are off to Pompeii where there will be considerable flat, but uneven walking.  I feel my knees, well especially one...not the one from the trip in May but an Advil helps lot to minimize.  

We have a very compatible group from Kelowna and have joined with 20 Americans some of whom are so loud in restaurants.  There is always wine on the table at our included dinners and they seem hell bent on consuming it and then yelling to make themselves heard.  Conversation with our table mates is then impossible.   

We leave at about 8 this a.m. Breakfast at 6:30 and then bags out by 7.  Huge crush at breakfast so it is hard to get to the coffee.  Breakfast is interesting.  Buffet but the very best part is the croissants which are truly splendid!  And with a pat of butter!  Yummy! We have a 2.5 hour drive to Pompeii this am. I get the window seat all the time as Marilyn suffers from motion sickness so needs to be on the aisle. Rome will have a transit strike today involving busses and trains so will be interesting to see what traffic will be like.  Maybe we will make Pompeii by late in the day.
I find meal prices expensive.  Yesterday a drink of ice tea was 4 € ...no ice either. A gelato was 2.5€.  No third world country this! 

Dinner last night at a nearby restaurant was good, although the pasta here is superb, meat not so much. We had chicken breast last night and that poor chicken must have run his butt off. Of course, the pasta a course on its own. Vegetables seem to a la carte, so there seems a scarcity of them.