Pompeii, Italy

Lucy had a swim meet up in Naples last month, so we decided to load up the fam and make a trip of it!  It was a quick jaunt, so we didn’t do a whole lot of sight seeing, but, we did go see Pompeii. Pretty awesome, I must say.  Let’s be real…..I had heard of Pompeii before going, but wasn’t 100% sure what it was and what happened there.  So, just in case you are like I was, here’s a brief description about Pompeii (taken mostly from Wikipedia with a few tidbits from yours truly). 

The city of Pompeii was an ancient Roman city near modern Naples in the Italy. Pompeii, along with Herculaneum and many villages in the surrounding area, were mostly destroyed and buried under 13 to 20 feet of ash and pumice in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD.  (That’s a really long time ago!)

Its population was probably approximately 20,000, with a complex water system, an amphitheatre, gymnasium and a port.  (We saw the amphitheater and what I think was the gymnasium). 

The eruption was cataclysmic for the town. Evidence for the destruction originally came from a surviving letter by Pliny the Younger, who saw the eruption from a distance and described the death of his uncle Pliny the Elder, an admiral of the Roman fleet, who tried to rescue citizens. The site was lost for about 1500 years until its initial rediscovery in 1599 and broader rediscovery almost 150 years later in 1748. The objects that lay beneath the city have been well preserved for centuries because of the lack of air and moisture. During the excavation, plaster was used to fill in the voids between the ash layers that once held human bodies. This allowed one to see the exact position the person was in when he or she died.

Cool, right?  Actually, kinda scary, but fascinating, too.  It makes me a little more nervous about the fact that I live just 20 miles from Mount Etna…..yikes.  I’ve heard Herculaneum is even more amazing, so we’ll have to give that a try next time. 

Next time we go we'll get a tour guide.  We didn't have a whole day to spend there and it was a cold and rainy afternoon, but I still think we saw some pretty cool stuff!

Who needs a tour guide? Benny decided he was in charge of the map.  

Next time we'll do a little more research before heading to different sites.  This one was not too stroller friendly.  Check out the stony walk ways.  Bumpy ride for baby....he didn't seem to mind too much, though.  

The kids had a great time exploring and got a little inventive, too.  Graham got a rousing game of "Balance Some Mud On a Stick" going.  

 This is the outside of the beautiful amphitheater.  It's ginormous!  There's my cute family trying to find the entrance.  

I loved watching them play.  There was a lot of "don't step on a crack or you'll break your mother's back" going on here.  

We weren't sure what all the different places served as.  There were lots of little streets and places that looked like they could have been stores or gathering spots.  Again...next time we'll probably pay for a tour guide.  Love Benny's face in this one.  

Benny started to get tired.  He may or may not have whined.....a lot near the end.  

Hooray for our first big trip!  Come see us and we may just take you there.