pompeii, italy

While staying in Naples we took a daytrip to the nearby city of Pompeii, or more like what remains of the city of Pompeii! When Mt. Vesuvius erupted in 79AD it buried the city in 10 feet of ash, and it was abandoned. Many people died there as well. During excavations the archaeologists were actually able to make plaster casts of the victims they found. After the people were buried, their bodies decayed leaving only their bones, but the earth and ash around them still held the shape of their body. While the scientists were excavating, if they came to one of these hollow areas, they could pour plaster into it, let it harden, and then dig up the mould. It was really neat to see them.

The whole excavation site is huge.. way bigger than I thought it would be. It literally is a whole city that has been dug up, and we were free to wander all around the streets and inside the buildings. All of the streets had these big stepping stones so you could cross the street when there was a lot of rain or floods. There were gaps in the stones so the water could rush by and also so chariots' wheels could still get by. Some of the buildings were better preserved than others, some even having paintings on the walls still. There were also two outdoor theatres, a bakery, brothel, baths, temples, and market areas.

There were also a ton of stray cats and dogs running around the site. We usually gravitate towards the kitties, but we made a little dog friend that day who ended up following us all around for a good hour. It probably helped that Mike kept giving him cat treats, lol. It was so cute, we would be walking along and stop to go in one of the buildings, and when we came out he would be waiting for us and keep following us. He even came inside some of the ruins with us, hehe.

When we got back to Naples that afternoon we went to the archaeological museum that we had missed out on the night before. It was cool because they had a ton of the better preserved little artifacts from Pompeii and it was cool to put the big picture all together.