The waiter liked speaking English with us, and we were in awe of how good the Margherita pizzas were. After that, we went to the museum to look at everything I've seen before. We of course started off at the Secret Room, filled with all the erotic art and sculptures excavated from Pompeii.
Before looking at all the Pompeii mosaics, it's still amazing how well preserved this stuff is. Some pieces even look brand new.
The Farnese statue collection is full of big pieces, like the Farnese Bull and the Farnese Hercules statue.
After this, we had to get from Piazza Cavour, back to Garibaldi where the station is. When we went to buy tickets for the Circumvesuvania, we were informed that the workers were going to be going on strike at 5 and it was already 3 pm. But we talked to the tourist beause information lady who informed us we could take the Cirumvesuvania to Pompeii Scavi and take a regular train from Pompeii to Napoli Centrale. I guess because the Circumvesuvania is run by the Government of Campania, while the other train is run by Trenitalia. But anyways, Pompeii was still amazing to see. Did the major thing like the Forum, Amphitheatre, and the Villa of the Mysteries. We kind've blazed through everything though, so we didn't get to explore all the ruins.
When we got back to the exit, the taxi drivers were offering to drive us back to Napoli, but the info guide at Pompeii said to ignore that, because the drivers will rip us off. So instead we asked the driver to take us to Pompeii station for a flat 10 euro fee. It probably would've been cheaper with the meter running, but whatever. He liked my Napoli shirt, so that was neat, and he loves going to New York City. Anyways, once we got to Napoli Centrale, we had like 4 minutes to catch the fast train to Roma, so we sprinted our asses off, and eventually made it onto the train, but we had to walk pretty far to find an empty four seater carriage. But because we used the self-service machine in the morning, we never got our passes stamped, or activated. So the attendant informed us there was a very big problem. Our passes weren't stamped, and we didn't have a seat reservation. Luckily, he understood our problem, and was very nice about it. What would've been a 60 euro fine for not having a valid ticket, and sitting in a seat. He changed into an 18 euro fee. 10 for the train ticket, and 8 for sitting in a reserved seat. It would've been 10 euros anyway for a seat reservation, and I would rather pay 8 euros than having to wait another hour for a slow train, that would've taken 2 hours to get back to Rome. We actually used the bus to get back to Trastevere because I figured out what bus we needed, H. So it was pleasant not having to walk, and not paying a taxi fare. Although dividing the cost of our cab rides between four people is very manageable. We walked around the neighborhood for something to eat, when we did what you're not supposed to do, get told by a waiter in English to come in and dine there. But it was a no bs sort of place, without a service/bread charge so that was cool. We dined outside, where like 80 % of the people were American or Canadians, and the other 20% were tourists, so obviously this place isn't very good. I've only had Amatriciana in Rome, and could rank this one as the worst. The Guanciale was like American bacon, and the type of pasta they used sucks, it should be Bucatini. But we chatted with the Canadians next to us, who had only been in Rome for less than a week. They kept getting free Limoncello shots, so we joked with our waiter where was ours. And after that, he brought us shots, on the house. Limoncello straight is pretty bad, the after taste is horrible, but then we joked with our waiter to bring us another round. And well, he actually did so that was cool. The Canadian people didn't leave the guy much of a tip, if not, they might not have even left him a tip. But we left him a 12 euro tip on a 66, because he gave us two free shots, and there wasn't any service charge. He was extremely grateful for it, so it was not big deal leaving an extra 3 euro trip from the four of us. Everyone was actually awake enough to walk around Rome with some beers, nobody was complaining about being tired, and we made it to the two popular American bars, the Drunken Ship, and Scholars Lounge. Scholars Lounge was dead, but that's because it was a Monday night. The Drunken Ship had a pretty big crowd, but it was like all Americans. Some drunk ass American dude was even pissing on the wall at the bar, and giving all Americans a bad name for that shit. We came to the conclusion, that we don't really care to drink with fellow Americans, and rather enjoy speaking to locals in their broken English. Our last night for this part of Rome was pretty cool, I don't know if Trastevere is big on my lists of stuff to visit again, because I'd rather eat cheap in the Testaccio neighborhood. But our apartment was cool, and it's a rather lively neighborhood, kind of disapointed we only ate at one of the places that was a Craft Beer & Food place, but whatever. I just know, that I didn't hit half the sites I wanted to visit in Rome, and I need a lot more than 4/5 days in the city to even come close to the attempt. It's fine though, I'm excited for hiking in Croatia, and can't wait for my return to Firenze. And our 1 day trips in Rome/Munich.
I tried going to go the Santa Luigi dei Francesi church to see some Caravaggio works, but the church wasn't open yet. But I got to go to the Santa Maria Sopra Minerva this time without being kicked out so that was awesome. It has Michelangelo's Christ the Redeemer statue, the funerary grave of Fra Angelico, the head of Saint Catherine, and the tombs of the two Medici popes.
We got to check out the Santa Maria in Trastevere before we left the neighborhood. It's a very old historical church with some very neat signage, where tons of drunk people hang out at night.
