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Tuesday 8th August 2006 - Jack's 12th Birthday and a trip to the top of
Vesuvius
Today was Jack's 12th birthday. Last year he had his birthday in Las Vegas and
this year it was in Italy. That boy knows how to have a birthday in style!
The main event of the day was a trip to the the top of the *active* (but dormant
currently) volcano, Vesuvius.. From the Pompeii station, we got on a coach which
took us to the a car park at about 1000m high and then we walked the remaining
30 minutes up a steep track to the rim of the crater. The crater itself is absolutely
huge... and impossible to photograph other than from a helicopter.... which
we don't have. But standing on the rim looking into the crater, we were certainly
given an impression of the raw, enormous and deadly power of the vocano.
On return to the campsite we played table football and then swam in the sea
for a bit (at Jack's request). Then we returned to the town of Sorrento and
had a meal in a restaurant that Jack chose. Back at the campsite we had drinks
(capachino, hot chocolate, juice), played cards and then went to bed.
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The boys relaxing before heading out for the day
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On the way to the top of Vesuvius
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Picnic time
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At the rim
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The crater is too vast to photograph....
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No magma, much to Jack's disappointment!
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The brown stripe is actually a river of (cooled) lava
from the last eruption
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And look where that river goes.... right on top of Naples!
Apparently roads are currently being widened to allow the city to be evacuated
when the next eruption occurs... sometime in the next 10 years!
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Back at the camp site with Vesuvius in the background
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Jack seemed quite pleased with his favourite food for
his birthday meal :-)
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Gelato rules :-)
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