I was determined to see Michelangelo’s Moses, so I woke up, showered early, left the hotel by 6:30am. I made much better time alone than when acting as tour guide, and was sitting on the steps of San Pietro in Vincoli waiting for it to open by 6:45. The walk was refreshing – the city was still sleeping, and the contrast to the busy midday traffic was shocking. The caretaker opened the door to the church at 7, and I had the whole thing to myself for 20 minutes. I saw the chains, and Moses, Leah, and Rachel, and just stared.  I walked down for a last view of the Coliseum, then started back through the park. I discovered that just like in the US, the transients sleep in the parks in Italy too. I moved quietly – I felt relatively secure since most everyone was still sleeping, but was glad I didn’t have the rest of the family with me. I found the St. Maggiore Church and walked in. It was big and beautiful inside. People – mostly nuns - were lined up for confession. People were praying in a chapel. I felt out of place and got more than a few stares, but I kept quiet and no one bothered me. Unfortunately they didn’t allow pictures there.

Roma - San Pietro in Vincoli - Michelangelo's Moses

After I got back to the hotel I called Alamo to confirm they really had our minivan – they did. Got directions, took a taxi over, and picked it up. I was worried the minivan wouldn’t be big enough for all of our luggage. This was no minivan – the Fiat Ducato is a 9-passenger van they used for airport shuttles! Managed to get the thing back to the hotel uneventfully – quickly realized that driving in Rome is a game of inches (or centimeters). Also managed to find our way out of Rome south, to the Autostrada, and south to Napoli. So far so good.

the 'Bus'

My plan was to find a place to park in Naples and see the Museum of Archeology. All the best sites from Ercolano and Pompei were now in this Museum. I didn’t have a good map of Naples (or at least didn’t think we did - Kathy’s book had one, but we didn’t know this at the time). Rick Steve’s book didn’t have any real help. Got to Napoli, and couldn’t figure out where we were going. Ended up at the port, traveling very slowly. We tried to head right – north – but there were no real streets, only tiny one-way streets. 

After at least half an hour of stop & go driving heading nowhere, we found a place to park (illegally, of course) for a minute to get directions. Turned out we were at a travel agency at 1pm, and they were very eager to shut down for siesta and not at all eager to help, a scene which repeated itself a few times throughout our trip. A couple from Australia had a good map of Napoli there but was just as lost as we were. The travel agent told us to go to the hotel nearby and park. After another 5 minutes we found the hotel and the entrance to the garage, but the garage was of course full. Also, this ‘minivan’ would never fit in any underground garage on this continent. Got turned around, frustrated, then made a huge mistake – took a one way road that ended up going up into the hills of Napoli… with no way out! We headed up, and up, and up, on this one way street, which met other one way streets, for at least 10 minutes. Occasionally Kathy made gasping noises or told me how I’d just about hit something, all of which was very helpful to my driving. I heard a loud ‘thump’ but didn’t even slow down. I asked ‘what was that?’ and Kathy answered ‘a plastic bumper’, to which I replied ‘Good!’. At this point I was extremely glad I had purchased the full coverage on the ‘minivan’ for mere 90€. Finally we ran into a ‘major’ street – meaning narrow two way. Took it down the hill for another nerve racking 10 minutes, then realized we were right in front of the museum. Unfortunately, I didn’t turn left at the museum when I had the chance, and I never got another. Another 5 minutes later we were right back where we had stopped to ask for directions. At this point we gave up, and managed to find the main street back to the Autostrada. 

Once on the Autostrada, we found Ercolano after a short 10-15 minutes and turned off. Everyone thought making another stop was a big mistake. All the signs pointed up the hill – after 5 minutes I realized they were pointing me up to the top of Vesuvius, not to the ruins (‘scavi’). Consulted ‘the book’, headed back down, found it, AND found a free walled parking lot nearby that was also the parking lot for the police station. I think the location of the parking lot says a lot about the crime level and overall economy of southern Italy. Spent 2-3 hours there, taking plenty of pictures. Robby, Kathy, and Karin went up to the café after about an hour. Bob eventually quit too, but CJ and I explored just about everything. 

The entrance back onto the Autostrada was not quit wide enough for ‘the bus’ as Kathy had christened it. We had to pull the mirrors in, drive very carefully, and we still rubbed the tires. Once through this obstacle, the on ramp required an immediate 180 turn! We found the road to Sorrento, kept driving… and driving… and driving…. Turns out the train from Napoli to Sorrento is about 70 minutes, but driving from Pompei to Sorrento alone takes over an hour. The road is windy, fully of scooters, slow, and insane. Also, there are several small towns before Sorrento, and at least one of them have the word ‘Sorrento’ in their names.

Ercolano - Robby & CJ with Vesuvius in the background

Finally we found the hotel, on a narrow two way road on a cliff. At this point both Kathy and I were ready for a nervous breakdown. I drove back and forth three times before pulling into the lot for the nearby Hotel Minerveta. The parking attendants there were friendly and helped us with our luggage up to the Hotel Minerva (they were looking for tips, after all, which they received). The Hotel Minerva told us to park the bus at the Hotel Belair. The Hotel Minerva is on the left side of the road – up the cliff. The Hotels Minerveta and Belair were both on the right side of the road – down the cliff. Down the cliff hotels have parking lots on top of the hotels.

	The Hotel Minera is a resort with unbelievable views. It could easily be 4 stars with a little more TLC. By the time I had parked the car Kathy was already in love with the place – we had a gorgeous view of the entire Gulf of Napoli from our room.
Sorrento and the Gulf of Napoli from the Hotel Minerva We swam in the harbor directly below Pompei is in the far left background

The Hotel Minerva charges €20 per person for dinner – we decided to try for something a little less ridiculously priced. We consulted ‘the book’ and tried the Minerveta across the street. Same views as our room, great service, decent food, low prices. We ended up going back all three nights. The first night they told us the restaurant is scheduled to close for good in September 2003, which is a real shame – the owner will apparently build more rooms instead (they only have 12 now). The restaurant staff was very friendly and doted on the kids. It was the fourth of July, and we noticed fireworks going off all over the gulf of Napoli. We asked the waiter about it, and they told us Italians like fireworks and celebrated with them often. They joked that ‘someone sells a car, they buy some fireworks,’ so from that point on we joked that someone else had sold their car every time we saw fireworks.