After breakfast (Nick chose a fruit tart and I, granola, that again, was not like I make it at home, but was enjoyable), we were back on the bus. It’s likely that you knew  that  Pompeii was a buried  city, but did you know that it was a city within the city of Pompei? We didn’t.

The Shrine of the Blessed Virgin of the Rosary of Pompei is a major Catholic pilgrimage site that was  founded by Bartolo Longo in 1876.  A cathedral that was built to house a painting of the Madonna, the sanctuary has grown into a papal basilica famous for hosting large crowds. We were absolutely amazed by the mosaics it held. We joined many of the people in the pews as they prayed the rosary.

We met our new guide, Massimo, who was very thorough and spoke English so well that his personality  was evident. Off we went to Pompeii. Nick and I had been to Pompeii in 2014, but none of what we saw then was familiar now. The museum that is located directly on the site of Pompeii,  called the Pompeii Antiquarium,  was especially new to us.  It showcases artifacts excavated from the ancient city, including plaster casts of victims. The Naples National Archaeological Museum holds the majority of the most valuable artifacts like frescoes and mosaics from Pompeii  that were removed for preservation. Nevertheless, we  had excellent descriptions of life in Pompeii before the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD.

We went to lunch at a restaurant called Vittoria (my daughter’s middle name, named for Nick’s grandmother). There was a choice of salad with fries, calamari, spaghetti Bolognese, pizza, or chicken salad. Being that Naples is  the birthplace of pizza, I selected that. The Margarita pizza was designed in 1889  to honor Queen Margarita by containing  the colors of the Italian flag, which are red, white and green. Red was represented by  tomato, white by mozzarella, and green by basil. My pizza was a crust topped with tomato and mozzarella. Much has changed in the world since  Nick’s and my grandparents arrived in New York from various parts of  Italy in the early 1900s. As a child in my grandmother’s kitchen, I never imagined that pizza would not only be known throughout America, but it would  become one of America’s favorite foods.

Stefano drove our bus high up into the hills, where we had an excellent view of the harbor  of Naples below.  That was where Nick’s and my ancestors, as well as those of millions of others, boarded ships  that departed from their homeland  for America so long ago. Massimo mentioned several famous Americans who were from Naples, and I think I surprised him when I knew  that Sophia Loren’s birth surname was Scicolone.

I so enjoyed the day.  Back in our hotel room, I splashed my face with water and suddenly I was struck by an urgent need to use the bathroom. Nick went downstairs for dinner, but that was impossible for me. When he returned, I made the mistake of asking him what he had eaten for dinner. It was manicotti stuffed with prosciutto in a béchamel sauce. Nick brought up a serving that the kitchen had prepared for me. I learned that  two of our friends had suffered the same illness as I.

I have been ill  with different issues while traveling before, but when that happened  I was always able to stay in bed for the day, when normalcy would return. Our group was leaving the next morning. What would happen if those of us who were sick were not well enough to leave our bathrooms? Fortunately, we were all feeling better when it was time to depart.

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