Pompeii

“If you close your eyes does it almost feel like nothings changed at all?”

– Mohammad Ali

We were unexpectedly surprised at how much we enjoyed Pompeii. For me the first joy came when I learned kids under 18 get in free! €24 euro total! Hurray! Well also €12 euro to park. Still not bad for a day of fun.

We set out about 13:00 from our place in Torre Del Greco on Friday (everyone here is on military time). And I’m an effort to avoid the €2.50 toll drive through crazy neopolitan traffic. After waiting 15 minutes in total traffic jam we got to Pompeii. But then there were like 100 losers trying to get me to park there. These guys went out in the street trying to be all official. Then they get mad at me for not parking there. Then what’s worse? They throw me off my driving game and I inadvertently took a wrong turn and got on the toll road I was trying to avoid. So then I had to pay €2.50. But then I had to go back so in total actually cost me 5€ in tolls. So sad. But the correct parking is the Zeus parking as it’s the closest. The other ones you have to walk.

Then once we found the parking thinking we were there we couldn’t find the entrance! Why? Because once again there are fifteen billion official drives trying to rip us off by claiming to be the official ticket office

See that? That is not where you buy tickets. Instead look for this

Which seems obvious to you now but not to us because we didn’t know what we were looking for. And we weren’t the only ones. There was 4 other people trying to find it with us.

Anyway, found it we did. And when we did we realized Pompeii is HUGE

What they tried to teach me in school was just how well preserved this place is and I think what that means is that the streets are pretty much the way they were in Roman times so you can really feel how it was. For example, this is the place where the Beatles first practiced the Abby Road album cover.

The whole city gave Trudie lots to ponder and think about.

Some of the coolest items were the tragic plaster molds they took of the poor people and dogs that were caught in the ash.

There were also several bath houses and fast food places. Most people didn’t cook at home.

And the first ever recorded “beware of dog” sign.

It’s interesting to see how the Romans brought so much order to everything. We think of Europe with its winding unorganized streets that just followed cow paths. That was post Roman times. The city of Pompeii was laid out in a grid with the forum at the center. Every city was like that. (Ok probably not every city but the ones we’ve seen).

And in the middle of the forum the temple of Jupiter, an administration building.

Anyway. That was Pompeii. Very cool!