So Pompeii. We spent two days at this ancient graveyard and saw more or less the entire ancient city, which was so graciously preserved courtesy of Vesuvius. We saw everything from ancient brothels, to baths, to theaters, to walls, to pretty much anything you would expect in an ancient city. The pictures speak for themselves to some degree, but I'll caption the ones I feel need further explanation. Just to warn the more squeamish of my readers: there are bodies in this post that have been completely preserved by the ash. I've been told that they can cause some discomfort to some people. Be forewarned. On a different note, three weeks from yesterday I'll be back in the USA, so I'm now balancing end of the year essays, longing for home, and trying to make the most of my time left abroad.
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| People complained I didn't post enough pictures of the group, so here's part of our crew standing with Vesuvius at our backs |
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| And in case you've forgotten what your writer and photographer looks like |
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| Theater |
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| View from the theater |
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| Courtyard outside amphitheater |
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| Specimen A-The site dog. This species can get extremely large off of scraps of food from tourists and in this case, handout from a local butcher. This pup is named Vesuvio and he's a big dog. We gave him a bit of a workout, since when he realized we had a frisbee, he started to put in some hustle to try to catch it. The others felt bad and finally tossed one from him to get, with the expectation he would give it back. He proceeded to put his teeth right through the thing and could only be persuaded to let it go when we placed a pringle on his nose, forcing him to choose between the discomfort of the pringle and the desire to keep the disk. |
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| These are dog houses and tombstones. Don't know how the big guy gets in here, but supposedly this is where he sleeps |
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| Body one |
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| Preserved dog skeleton |
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| Body 2 |
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| Body 3 |
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| Ancient lego? |
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| Fresco of silverware, remarkably preserved |
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| Years of traffic to produce those deep ruts |
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| Sunset in Pompeii after Day 1 |
More tomorrow hopefully!
Very impressive. So, the ash must have hardened almost immediately as it cooled. I had no idea Pompeii was such a large community.
ReplyDeleteEveryone in your group - except you, of course, is bundled up like it's cold there, but you're in the sunny south. What was the temp = 60?
ReplyDelete