A Romp in Pompei?

There you have it. The Eruption of 79 AD and how it buried the city of Pompei, among others. Ever since I was young and I read about this famous disaster, I was fascinated with the city that was preserved in time. There are 45 hectars of Pompei that have been discovered, but another 21 that are lying in wait. Excavation is slow so as to not 'ruin the ruins', but the 45 already uncovered are amazing. Everything is covered in pumice, the cooled lava filled with holes where airbubbles would have formed.


One of the first sights you see is the Pompei colosseum. Gladiators used to fight for their lives in this smaller version of the Rome Colosseum.


When you go to Pompei, you pay your 11 Euro ticket and enter the gates. Then you are strolling the streets from 2000 years ago. You enter into homes where people used to live. There are paintings on the walls, paintings from 2000 years ago!!! 2000 years!!! I think it was at this point where we started saying 'Wow, that is messed up!' to everything that we saw. Canada has history, sure it does. But Italy has History, with a capital 'H'.


One of the things that was most amazing, or messed up, was the fact that as we walked the stone streets we could see the grooves from the carriages that used to travel up and down transporting goods. See those elevated stones near the top of the picture? That's a pedestrian cross-walk, elevated so that people didn't have to step in the raw-sewage flowing down the streets. Awesome.

After weaving through the houses and streets, you'd come across the 1st MacDonald's ever. These little snack shops were set up with little bowls where different foods would be on display. You could pay different units to eat there. One unit was considered a portion of wine.


If you've been to the Roman Forum, here's a smaller version, the Pompei Forum. See that cloud in the background? It's hiding Mount Vesuvius...it was so hard to get that perfect picture of Vesuvius in the background of the ruins...it was early afternoon and I still hadn't gotten it...


One of the things I wanted to see the most on our entire honeymoon was the plaster casts of the people that had died in the tragedy of 79 AD. Below, you see two pictures of people who were buried in lava and rocks, whose bodies decomposed to form pockets of air in the rock. When the city was uncovered by archaeologists, they poured plaster into these pockets of air and voila, a plaster cast of a dead person. Seriously folks, it was messed up. I only put two photos so that you can go and see for yourself just how cool these plaster casts are. Behind the bodies you can see all the jugs and pots that were used to carry water or to cook.


Now, as in every society, there were women of the night that also needed a place to work. Hence, 'A Romp in Pompei'. One of the most popular places to see in Pompei is the 2000 year old brothel! People were actually lining up to go in, and it took maybe 30 seconds to see it. There are 8 rooms, each with a bed (nicely preserved for us by Vesuvius):


AND, when you got in there, much like MacDonalds, you put in your order. Position #1, #2, #3 and so on and so forth! A night with a woman of the night cost you 8. That's right, 8 portions of wine. You can just make out that the next picture requires viewer discretion!


Like I said, all day I was trying to get a perfect picture of Pompei, one that we could eventually have blown up and put on our wall. By mid-afternoon, the clouds had cleared and we went back to the forum to get that perfect picture. Unfortunately, I waited too long for some tourists to get out of the way and my camera died. It was devastating. Almost as devastating as the Eruption of 79 AD.
But it's ok! The next day, as our tour of Mount Vesuvius was cancelled due to early morning thundershowers, we decided to go to Sorrento instead and on the way to the Circumvesuviana Train station, I caught that perfect picture!

For me, Pompei was definitely the highlight of our trip. So, if you are looking to go to Pompei, take the train from Rome to Naples, and then hop on the Circumvesuviana Train line and get off at Pompei Santuario (with the church symbol - Alternatively you can get off at Pompei Scavi, a different entrance to the ruins). Walk about 5 minutes and you'll find one of about 10 hotels in the city. Word of advice, spend a little more money for a hotel. You won't be spending as much as Rome and you'll get a pretty nice room. If you have a craving for MacDonald's after seeing the 2000 year old version, there's a Micky D's just down the street. There's also a Burger King to create some nice competition. Seriously, Pompei has turned into a tourist hub just like Rome, but at least you'll never actually see the golden arches in the ruins themselves.
Next up? Sorrento and Florence.