Pompei

Pompei is a place that has long been in my mind. I always remember hearing about it as a kid. It was the place that was covered by a volcano in 79 A.D. and then found 1600 years later totally preserved in its antiquity. Maybe it has something to do with the profession I would have enjoyed had I not become a teacher... An Archaeologist.

For some reason, I always pictured this place still coated in white. That was kind of silly, and the only thing I can figure is that I got that image from photos of the people I've seen. As bodies disintegrated under the ash, they formed a hollow cavity in the hardened ground. Archaeologists would fill these hollow cavities with plaster to create a cast of the body shape. I also thought these were still laying on the ground. Silly girl! Of course these were all on display in glass cases and the like. Much of the place has been stripped and excavated out, with the greatest treasures on display in local museums.

My other big surprise was the massive size of Pompei. It was a thriving town of 20,000 people. How did I manage to think it would be capable of covering in a few short hours??? It's a city!!!

Add that to the fact that they ran out of maps when we entered, so we just wandered and got lost. We got our hands on a map at the end and realized we had only seen about 1/3 of the place in the 4 1/2 hours we were there. All in all, it was very cool and I'm grateful that I had the experience.