Nothing says “hey you’re in Italy” like a view of Mount Vesuvius out your balcony window. Or decor that colorfully celebrates its role in the demise of thousands.

Or more coffee for ants.

(Our AirBnB came with a lovely induction stove…and an aluminum coffee pot. FORTUNATELY I married an engineer who found some steel to save the day.)

You guys, Pompeii is totally real! I had no idea what to expect, but my guess was something bare bones like this:

Nope! It’s totally legit. We walked up and down real streets, imagining first century life with its shops, houses, theaters, and bakeries.

And the remains of a public toilet (nicer than some of the present day Italian ones, lol):

To round out what we saw in Vesuvius’s shadow, we spent a few hours viewing the artifacts removed from Pompeii for safe-keeping at the National Archaeological Museum.

We’ve been averaging about 15,000 steps a day, but we were still pretty exhausted after that day’s touring. Pizza to the rescue!

In a weird “wow, this isn’t how it worked in my day” convergence, The Girl has an online friend in Naples and the girls got to meet in person (attended by parents ensuring the other wasn’t actually a 40-year-old man). How small is this world?!

Our last day was a magical, golden tour up the Amalfi Coast made all the better by our champion guide Alberto and Marco the driver.

Marco embodied the spirit of Italian driving (which seems to be a massive game of chicken wherein he who flinches first must give way) and was the love child of Lurch and Jason Statham.

Alberto was our personal fount of endless knowledge/finder of cool back alleys/seeker of desserts for our entire three days – he was the best and we all love him.

The coast and the little towns (Sorrento, Positano, and Amalfi) were gorgeous. Some areas were busier than others (oh Americans, when you stumble around loudly swearing at each other while carrying personal bottles of wine, you earn your reputation and make it hard for the rest of us, grrr). But the views made up for it:

And the food!

It was Good Friday, and evidence of Holy Week was everywhere.

And with that, we came to our final evening which we celebrated with a walk by the Mediterranean sea and one last gelato.

And now Home we go! We’re currently in Paris after a 4:30 am wake up to get from Naples here and are waiting for our flight to Reykjavík and then Seattle. This last day of travel is always the worst, but soon enough we’ll forget about all these airport lounges and we’ll be making plans for our next adventure!