Day 11 - The day of the World Cup final

Kyle...oh Kyle...What was he thinking? Well, he told me he was French. OK. But we were in Italy and that night was the final World Cup game between France and Italy. Kyle wore a French jersey...not a good idea. We warned him!

Our first stop of the day was Pompeii! We met our guide and he began to tell us the basic history of Pompeii. Then he told us there was one problem with our tour...and he pointed to Kyle and said the tour could not happen with THAT jersey! Well, I think most of us thought he was kidding. After a few minutes of NO TOUR...we realized this guy was serious. Kyle didn't have another shirt handy, so the guy told him to go behind a tree, take it off and turn it wrong side out. Well, that's what happened and our tour started. This is a city that was preserved under the ash that fell from Mt. Vesuvius in 79 A.D. It was amazing to see the paved streets, luxury living, wall paintings, ovens, graffiti, and even a street you wouldn't want your children to visit!







The first photo is a 'house' you wouldn't want your kids to visit. The 2nd photo is a nice house in 79 A.D.


I asked our guide before we left about the "Kyle incident." He told me that the Italians hated the French and then to top it off, 3 or 4 years ago, the two countries played for the national title in soccer and Italy lost on penalties. So he said tonights game was also REVENGE!

After Pompeii, we boarded the bus and headed to Naples. We didn't see much of Naples except for their harbour and a restaurant where we had another "Kyle incident."
Claudio parked the bus and we saw our first glimpse of the "ferry" that would take us on an overnight journey to Sicily. It was quite impressive. I'm not sure what we were expecting, but that wasn't it. Somehow the word "ferry" is small and quaint. This was nice.

So here we go into the restaurant. We are sitting upstairs and one of the waiters starts to pass out the first course...and then he sees Kyle in a FRENCH jersey. Oh no. He points to him with not a very happy look. Down the stairs he goes. A few minutes later we hear a whistle, a LOUD whistle from a whistle...and up the stairs run multiple waiters. Our waiter points to Kyle...they come over and TAKE OFF HIS SHIRT! Yep, they just ripped it right off. Now here sits poor Kyle, no shirt at all. I think he was scared, mad, and embarrassed all at the same time. I was stunned. The waiters run back down the stairs, swinging Kyle's jersey wrong side out, and run out of the restaurant with it. So, there we sit...stunned...none more so than Kyle. Now what? Well, Cody to the rescue. Luckily, Cody had on an undershirt under his ITALIA jersey...so Cody took off his ITALIA jersey and gave it to Kyle. Ahhhh, relief. Well, the meal is continuing to be served...Kyle served last, of course. At the end of our meal when it was time to leave, here came the waiters...this time with a smile on their faces and Kyle's jersey - still wrong side out! I think the Italians are pretty passionate about soccer!

We sadly said good-bye to Claudio, boarded the 'ferry', and set sail for Sicily. THE game was on that night and it was a wild time on the ferry. Italy won...and even though there were some excited people on the boat, I would have loved to have been in a place like Rome after they won. I bet it was party time in the streets!

We slept while we sailed at the end of Day 11.