Naples, Pompeii, and back to Rome

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Today I visited the ruins of Pompeii. This is the reason I came to Naples in the first place. I was up early and caught the local train to Scavi di Pompei, ie the Pompeii Excavations (see picture). I dropped my big backpack at the bag check, bought my ticket, and entered the site. I felt a frisson of excitement to be seeing the things that I have heard about all my life and read about in some detail recently. The sight of Mt. Vesuvius rising up behind the Temple of Jupiter in the main forum (see picture) caused me to smile with recognition and pleasure. BTW, the volcano is still considered active today and it used to be a lot taller before it erupted in 79 AD. Pompeii of course is famous for having the best preserved Roman ruins anywhere. It certainly has the most intact Roman baths I have seen (see picture), and I have visited quite a few of them on this trip! BTW, the fountain in the middle of the alcove was a fountain of cool water inside the caldarium (hot room or steam room). The streets here are paved with large stones and the grooves worn by horse-drawn carts and chariots over the centuries are quite visible (see picture). Pompeii was a city for several hundred years before it was covered in volcanic ash. Most of the citizens escaped the city, but some were caught and smothered. During excavation, sometimes an archeologist comes across a hollow area where a human being, or animal was covered by ash. The soft tissue decomposed long ago, but the space remains amazingly lifelike and plaster casts have been made of some of the unfortunate humans who were trapped (see picture). There is a cafeteria in the middle of the site and I stopped for lunch and a rest. Pompeii requires a lot of walking over uneven surfaces, sometimes while navigating through large tour groups. But it is definitely worth the effort. I loved seeing houses and gardens and art works that I had read about. My favorite was in the Villa of the Mysteries which contains some of the rare frescoes that have been left in situ, i.e. not sent to the museum in Naples. They are vivid and fascinating, even after 1,936 years (see picture). I caught the local train back to Naples and then the fast train back to Rome. BTW, I noticed a graphic in the train car that said this train cruises at 268 km/hr. That is right around 150 mph. Tomorrow is another travel day and represents the beginning of new phase for me in this trip. Stay tuned for further developments!

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