Pompeii

Tomorrow we get to Freeport. I think everyone is glad we are getting their as the weather has turned bad again.

Just a few minutes ago,  I was look outside from the seventh floor and we had water continually splashing from the bow up to the sixth floor on a regular basis. Every so often, the ship shakes as it tries to get through the next wave. It is a little disconcerting.

They have cancelled the show again tonight because of the weather.

The bad weather has given me some time to get the next set of pictures ready. Here is Pompeii...

As we drive to Pompeii, we begin to see Mt. Vesuvius. It gets larger and larger the closer we get.

Before looking at Pompeii up and close, we visit a cameo factory to see how cameos are made. This is a lost art and fewer and fewer people are going into this business.

 

 

 

As we stand by the wall of Pompeii, we learn a little about the city. Over twenty thousand people lived in the town when My Vesuvius erupted in 79 A.D. Twenty feet of ash and pumice stone covered Pompeii and 2,000 people perished in the eruption. Most of these died from asphyxiation. Over the past 200 years, much of this ash has been removed to show everyday life.

We find out that the deaths didn’t occur immediately.  When Mt Vesuvius originally blew, all most all were able to leave Pompeii. However, after a day or two, it seemed OK to come back and salvage what they could. That is when Mt. Vesuvius caught them unawares and blew again. This time the ash and pumice trapped those that had come back.

As we stand by the wall, we learn that this is actually the wall where the sea met the city. While we are on dry land, before the eruption the Mediterranean Sea abutted the city. Now the sea is now a couple of miles away.

What is even more interesting is that the residence of Pompeii knew that Mt Vesuvius had erupted before because the dock and sea wall shows where it was actually built on lava from prior eruptions.

One of the first thing we enter is a complex of theaters.

Then, we continue unto one of the main streets leading away from the dock. It is straight and narrow. We are told that this street was primarily used for busy, either the family living either behind or above the street location.

The road has sidewalks and we are told was the width of a wagon. Every so often, there are steps for going across the road. This is because all the fluids and liquids like rain and bodily fluids) they had no restrooms) flowed down these streets. If you look real close you can see where the wagons and chariots made ruts in the stone.

We found the first McDonald’s. It even was a drive through situated right by the street.

As we walk the street, it was just amazing the ruins that we were seeing.

As we get to a major intersection, there is a tall column and we find out that it was a fountain that has running water for the residents in that area.

At this intersection, we look and see that the city continues in all directions. I always had the impression that Pompeii was a small place, just a small village. The ruins seem to continue forever and then we find out that less than a fourth of the city has been excavated. It costs money to do this, but it costs more money to maintain what has been uncovered already.

As we continue walking, the ruins just continue.

Some areas have been covered and some areas tourists are not allowed to walk in order to maintain the artifacts, especially the mosaics that have been uncovered.

They have even uncovered a brothel with all the mosaic pictures as expected in such a place. 

As we continued, the ruins continued. As we got near the center of town, we found something a little different. The center of town was blocked by larger stones which stopped all traffic from the center.

In the center of town, we no longer find the small streets. It is open with larger ruins.

As we look up towards the end of the town square, we see Mt. Vesuvius looming in the background. The volcano that caused the entire problem is close. So close, you feel you can reach out and touch it. The residents of Pompeii must have been in awe of the location they lived in. It must have really been something.

And then we are directed to the side of the square where they have plaster casts of people that died in the ash, covered as the struggled to leave. Basically, the body dissolved and they were able to pour plaster into the cavity where the bones where still located. We also saw a pregnant woman who had fallen as if she was trying to protect her unborn child. It was a little weird looking at these people. Yes, when you look at them you think of them as people. We had hoped to see the dog they found and made a cast of, but it is currently on tour around the world.

We saw jugs that they had found in the city. There were rows and rows of them. Then there were different stones that had survived, but not on top of a building.

And then, we are done and we walk down the hill and out of the ruins of Pompeii. It is hard to imagine this place unless you have walked the streets and imagined life as they knew it so many, many years ago.