Pompeii

     A lifelong dream fulfilled! I visited Pompeii yesterday, a stunning archeological site. As a history buff, I love this kind of stuff, and it was so much bigger than I ever imagined. A few of my favorite things: we saw the training fields for the gladiators, which was amazing, but the cells they had to stay in were so tiny, and the fact that many of them burned alive, unable to flee was very sad. But on a lighter note, we also saw the amphitheater, which had its original mosaic floor! Apparently the difference between a Greek and Roman amphitheater is that Roman amphitheaters are only semi circles, while Greek ones are full. I asked what that makes the coliseum, but that appears to just be an exception. We saw a "fast food" stall, which would have contained hot food in terracotta receptacles for people on the go. There were a LOT of these. The streets also had odd raised stepping stones, which we found out served as crosswalks to avoid walking in the deep refuse that would fill the streets. Gross, but clever I suppose. We went inside a rich person's domicile, with some original frescoes and paintings still intact, with a truly remarkable preservation of color. Another wealthy house had a mosaic floor with a dog pattern near the entrance, essentially a "beware of dog" sign, which made me chuckle. The forum was vast, the details exquisite, and overall it felt like I was truly seeing the aftermath of a historical event. 

The scale of the place was what really impressed me. The excavated city was massive, stretching for 60 hectares. To fully explore it would take days. Vesuvius was also...concerningly far away. It was very visible of course, but I had always imagined the two being closer with the extent of the damage. To see the active volcano sitting pretty a fair distance away was wild. To further my trepidation, I learned that Vesuvius was INSIDE a different mountain before it erupted, essentially blowing the top off what had been there before. Looking over the uncovered roofs, it was an eerie sight to be sure. We also saw one of the casts of the bodies. I knew the method of preservation they had used that involved pouring plaster into the holes to preserve the shapes of the bodies, but I had not realized these cats still contained BONES. It definitely gave a different feel to the environment. But despite the macabre aspects, I had an excellent time, and learned a lot.