Greetings from Naples! I had a wonderful experience day. First I hired a very beautiful Italian man for a tour of Pompeii and Naples. Davide was his name and he was extremely attractive and spoke beautiful English.
Anyway, when we got to Pompeii, he parked right in front of one of the exits and told me to take me time and he would see me in a couple of hours. He even gave my his card, in case I came out the wrong exit, I could call him and he would pick my up.
Well apparently the ticket seller didn't like me, because I found out later that the ticket was supposed to include a map of the ruins. Well the ticket taker didn't offer the map and I didn't know any better, so off I went. The ruins are amazing, but they are also huge; and like most of the old ruins I have dated, after a while they all start to look alike. When I first started exploring, I saw several of the dogs of Pompeii. I guess they are strays that wander around there. All of the dogs seemed very gentle, but they also kept their distance from me. Except for one black dog that came right up to me, but stopped just outside of my reach. I talked to him for a little while, before heading off on my adventure.
After wandering around for almost two hours, I realized suddenly that I was hopelessly lost. There had been a great many groups from my ship there when I started, but suddenly the only people I saw was a group of Japanese tourists, and a group of special education young people. I found this giant map (but it was written all in Italian)wich is where I first realized how huge this place really is. I ran into several couples, but none of them spoke any English. i kept telling myself not to panic; that if I took my time, I could probably find my way out.
Just then my friend, the black dog, at least I believe it was the same dog came up to me again. I siad to the dog, "I don't suppose you can show me the way out of here?" Well, that dog took off at a trot and I followed him. He always stayed about ten to fifteen feet in front of me, but if I got too far behind he would sit down and wait for me. He would never allow me to catch up with me, but always ran ahead of me. I followed that dog faithfully until he got to this one place where he decided to lay down in the shade. When I got up to him, I could see about ten yards a head of me was a sgin that said, "EXIT." I followed the sign and took me right out to the exact gate where Davide was waiting for me.
Maybe it was just a coincidence, but personally, I beleive that dog led me out of those ruins and back to the correct exit.
That is my story and I am sticking to it!.
