Pompeii.

(Let's be honest--we all know that I will never finish writing a comprehensive review of our trip to Italy.  Instead, I will do some individual posts about some highlights.)

I remember learning about Pompeii and Mount Vesuvius for the first time in fourth grade.  The details of the event horrified and captivated me—I can still picture the photos of the crouched plaster bodies in our textbook.  Pompeii has occupied my imagination from time to time over the last 17 years, so when faced with the prospect of actually visiting the place, I worried I would be disappointed.  Would this be the Italian Alamo? 

NOOOPE way cooler than the Alamo.

My fears were unfounded—Pompeii exceeded all my expectations.  I had imagined a small, excavated site with barriers keeping visitors from the ruins.  Instead, Pompeii is HUGE (yuge?) and tourists are free to walk around, touch the walls, and go in the buildings.  I had also imagined that the famous plaster casts of the unfortunate souls would be littered all about the site….they are not.

Here's one...peekaboo?

We had a great tour guide who showed us a lot of things I would have missed had I just been exploring on my own.  He pointed out these long grooves at the thresholds of all the little houses—tracks for sliding doors!!  This just totally blew my mind and I still can’t quite put my finger on why.  Maybe it’s that 2000+ years later, I am still drawing sliding doors on floor plans.  The Romans were ahead of the game on indoor/outdoor living.

ARE YOU NOT AMAZED

I loved seeing the many clever details in Roman architecture.  In the bathhouse, the barrel-vaulted ceilings have grooves so the condensation from all the steam would just run down to the walls rather than drip on the bathers.  The angles of the windows in the ceiling allowed the bathers to keep track of the sun and get home in time for dinner. 

Grooves and windows

Will inspects the tub.

I shouldn't have been surprised that the Romans were good at building roads.  All the roads are just as they were back then.  The little marble specks between the bigger slabs were reflectors. I also enjoyed the elevated crosswalk stones--gotta keep those Roman sandals out of whatever muck might be flowing in the street.

Safety first.

Crosswalk.

As we walked around the very spots where ancient Romans shopped, socialized, worshipped, and lived, I became increasingly bowled over by the fact that 2000 years separate us from them.  Sure we’ve had a few technological advances since their time, but in terms of essentials…how much have we truly progressed?  Will reminds me that most people don't do slavery anymore.  So that's a good step.  

We still get drinks at the bar.