Historic Pompei

---

Well I finally got to sleep in today! YAY!

The bus left at 11 and we went to Pompei on the way home. It was pretty cool but I think that for the most part, I am going to let my pictures do the talking here because they definitely say more. I will say though, that Pompei is a definite must see for anyone in the area. It's become rather touristy, but how can it not? At the same time though, it was an incredible city of it's time a few thousand years ago, and it is the most well preserved city that has ever been discovered! When Mount Vesuvius erupted so long ago, it covered the entire city in about 25 feet of ashes and stopped everything dead in it's tracks at the moment of eruption. How can this not be amazing? Plus, it has only recently been excavated for not even a century and the majority is still covered by ashes. Who knows what else the city might tell us? Who knows what else might be under all those ashes. I cannot wait to hear about new discoveries about this great city that stood so long ago.

---

Photos

Mt. Vesuvius
You could see the volcano/mountain from miles and miles away. I took this one from the bus heading over there from Sorrento

The walls
.. of Pompeii were really cool since there were so many different layers and even around the city, they differed depending on who was in control of the city at the time

The main market
This was the area where Pompeii held many of their markets. They also had public viewings of things such as beheadings and trials

The inside of a column
The technology that these people had were incredible. the column had this crazy pattern which made it less likey to fall over and it was because all of the pieces locked into place

Measuring system
It was remarkable how even then they had a system of measurements. The people of Pompeii used these to measure things out that people bought in the markets to make sure that everything was fair.

Archives
Archeologists have collected these pieces of the city so far, but only 2/5 of the city have been excavated

artifacts
this was a pretty sad part. The ashes covered Pompeii so fast that people just could not escape it. On the left was a man found huddling in the corner with his hand over his mouth to protect himself from the ashes. On the other hand, It was pretty neat to see how with technology, a cast was made of the cavity from the ashes to make this form.

another sad sight
This was another cast of a young pregnant woman

In the bathhouses
The technology here was incredible as well. There were hot and cool rooms all heat controlled. My favorite was by far the massage room. Just the idea of that sounds amazing.

The steam room
They figured out indoor plumbing and had this steam room. At the end was a fountain made all of marble. It was a beautiful gift given to Pompeii by a politician of sorts at the time. Propaganda.

the ceiling of the bathhouse
All over were these amazing relief sculptures in the walls and ceiling.

Pompeiin wine bar
(they were EVERYWHERE!)

Stepping stones
Literally... stepping stones. They had these like where we would put pedestrian cross walks. They were put there for when it rained in the city so people wouldn't have to step in puddles

The average person's house
the ceilings were incredibly high. The roof tops were all slanted inward so that all the rain water would fall into those holders on the floor and it could be used around the house

Tiling was everywhere
It was crazy how they could figure out how to make the straightest lines all over the entire city

frescoes from back in the day
I can't believe it's still here since the 700s AD