Party on, Pompeii

It has taken me a long time to write about our most excellent adventure to Pompeii. (Sorry, Snake is watching Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure right now and it is creeping into my brain). I have to thank Auntie S. because when I was telling her about our upcoming trip to Rome she said we should check out Pompeii. It is really easy to get to by train, it takes about 2 1/2 hours one way. After several days of what seemed like non-stop walking, our feet welcomed the chance to take a load off during the train ride. Chizz & I really enjoyed watching the scenery and seeing the coast line. Of all the days were were in Italy, it worked out that the day we went to Pompeii was the most beautiful. It was about 70 degrees and clear, we ended up carrying our jackets and sweatshirts.

Pompeii was pretty much wiped off the face of the earth by an eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79AD. "They" discovered the ruins again in the 18th century. That is Vesuvius through the archway. Amazingly enough, quite a bit of this village was preserved. Apparently all the lava and ash sucked the air out allowing for quite a bit of material to remain in a preserved state. You walk around the streets of Pompeii almost exactly as they were the day before the eruption.In the roadways, you can still see the ruts caused by the chariots and carriages. They found statutes, pottery, decorative items that were practically untouched. There is a display where there are just rows and rows of pottery and other items recovered.










Some of it appears to be completely undamaged, merely dirty or dusty. Doesn't this stuff look like it is something you might find at a home center to put in your home or yard? I swear I have seen those lions things at Home Depot. This statue just needs a good hosing off and it will be good as new. It is thousands of years old and it is still in pretty good shape.

They have determined which buildings were homes, shops or other businesses.Many of the remaining intact buildings have their original mosaics still in place. I think one of the amazing remnants is the artwork, the original frescoes painted thousands of years ago still remain. This is the remnants of a bakery in town. You can still see the oven in the middle of the picture. Doesn't it look like a pizza oven?
Apparently they actually found loaves of bread that were carbonized. One of the most popular sites on the tour is the brothel. I had read about it and was skeptical. How could they possibly know it was a brothel? Well, there is very definite proof. First, the building had several small rooms with stone slabs still remaining. The slabs were the beds, one would put mattresses and other pillows on them to make them comfortable. Once you see it, you know they are beds. In addition, there were frescoes on the wall that represented a menu of sorts. These were pictures of what a customer could order. Very graphic, no mistake about what this building is for sure. Now, of course I have pictures of all of those frescoes but I think I won't show them here. This is a family site, G or at most PG. C'mon people! My mother reads this blog. But if you want to see them when you visit, all you have to do is ask. You probably don't even have to ask.

I think one of the most fascinating things at Pompeii are the plaster casts. In the late 1800s they discovered victim bones underneath the ground. Looking at the way the bones were found in the ashes and dust, one of the scientists got an idea to leave the bones there and put plaster in the impressions. After the plaster hardened and they chipped away the excess, they were left with life sized replicas of the victims. Some of the casts are so detailed that you can see the expressions on the faces (usually screaming in pain), the mouths opened in horror, the bulging eyes. In one they found food in the mouth!









These are not the best photos to show the detail that I was mentioning but you get the idea.

Pompeii was great and well worth the visit. Kiki & Snake both place it in their top 3 things we did on the trip, I would say it was my second most favorite thing after the Sistine Chapel. I didn't cry during my visit to Pompeii, not once. Be excellent to each other.