ITALY 2013-DAY 7!

March 28th-Pompeii

After a night on surprisingly comfortable beds, we awoke to a rainy sky that followed us most of the way south. However, as we neared Pompeii, the skies slowly cleared and the sun came out.

Finding Pompeii the site is pretty easy, and surprisingly, there is STREET PARKING! You don't realize how close you are to the old city until you walk up to one of the gates and it is RIGHT there.

We entered first neat the amphitheater, which is one of the better preserved (or most reconstructed buildings) in the city. It is pretty solid, so I am guessing the latter. The place is no Coliseum, but it certainly was an impressive sight.

Next to the stadium was a working vineyard that they managed to build to almost exactly the way it was in 79 AD, down to the placement of the vines. In the heyday of the town, the vineyard would sell wine to spectators on their way to the games at the amphitheater so they could get roaring drunk and watch massacres...

...so, you know, just like Wrigley Field on a Cub's Game Day.

They are making wine again, though we weren't able to walk through the site.

We moved up and around the outskirts, where the city walls would have been, and then turned into the town proper. It was here that things get freaky and you start to realize how much of a town this was, and how much is still (relatively) well preserved. While some of the roads and sites were closed (as this is a still an active archaeological dig site and some buildings require stabilizing every so often, as well as consistent re-construction and cleaning) there were still plenty to wander around in. 

The first major place that we hit was the Casa di Cecilio Giocondo. It was my first up close look at how wonderfully preserved some of these houses were.

The next major stop was the Terme Stabinae, or the Baths. These are seriously impressive, and kind of gives you the impression of how rich this town was.

The baths also included our first look at perhaps that most startling evidence of how fast the city was destroyed:

It is very unsettling to see the plaster casts of the bodies, so perfectly caught that you can see their expressions. There was a wave of sadness that just sweeps over you as you can't but feel the terror that you see on their faces.

Wandering through the forum brought us too a shed where they store most of the items they have found as they continue the excavation. Amphorae, wagons, tables, statues, and all of it in amazing condition.

And of course...

These are two of the saddest figures I saw while we are there. The figures speak for themselves.

After a quick bite, we moved on to some lighter fair at the Casa del Fauno, perhaps one the most famous houses in Pompeii, notable for its courtyard namesake...

Winding our way back to the Forum, we stopped in the Macellum, where there was both incredible beauty and incredible horror...

We stopped into the Basilica, where Fiona demanded worship...

Next it was over to the Temple of Apollo, from which we could see the clouds had cleared away from Vesuvius, leaving it looking deceptively calm in the background...

Next up, it seemed only appropriate that we go visit the home of the world's oldest profession, that just happened to have some of the best preserved imagery in the whole of the city.

Yup.

Next, for my actor friends, I have these questions: How would you like this as your entry?

And this as your lobby?

And this as your stage?

It was a huge thrill to be standing SO close to the birth of theatre. They have actually made major steps in restoring the larger of the two theatres since Steve was here in 2007, and have brought it inching closer to what it might have looked like 2000 years ago. The acoustics are pretty damn near perfect, and I got chills as I got to do something that I have been wanting to do since this trip was finalized: do Shakespeare on a Roman stage.

It. Was. Awesome.

The citizens had the luxury of also having a smaller, "black box' theatre:

By this point it was getting closer to closing time, so we tried to see into as many houses as possible, walking into the "fast food" places with their grills empty and mills waiting for more grain, and the wall still showing the what must have been painstakingly made artwork that the citizens of this town must have enjoyed...

Unfortunately, the Villa that Steve REALLY wanted us to see was closed for restoration, but our feet were killing us and so we made our way out of the silent city and started to head toward Naples for diner.

Let me just say this: all of the horrors of the early part of this journey, from the delayed flights to the missed connections to the lost luggage to the closed roads...PALED in comparison the HORROR that was trying to get around the City of Naples. I give you all this warning now: I don't care how good you have heard the food is, or how pretty the castle...

DO NOT GO TO NAPLES! IT ISN'T WORTH YOUR LIFE!

After 20 minutes of just trying to get downtown, we texted the other car with what was basically a "Fly, you fools" message, and then spent the next thirty minutes dealing with Psychotic Suicidal Sociopaths as we tried to get out of the city. 

I swear I saw my life flash in front of my eyes at least twice.

I have never been so grateful to be on windy mountain roads in my life. Even those SMOTHERED in fog as ours were trying to get home that night. 

We made it back safely and went through two bottles of wine and then fell in to bed, looking forward to a chill final day.