(no subject)

[naturallypixie]

We went out today! The goal was to see Herculaneum and Vesuvius, but we only made it to Herculaneum. It was rainy and cold, so there were no other people who wanted to take a shuttle up the volcano and the bus schedule was not condusive to our other plans. We'll try again next weekend and try to bring along some friends this time so the shuttle driver will find it worth the drive.

Info on Herculaneum can be found here.




Here is a view looking down on the city. Can you tell where the old city ends and the new city begins?





This is a thermopolium, the fast food joint of its time. The terracotta pots are called dolia and were used to keep soups and beverages hot.





A very nice photo of an oven/stove and two amphorae. There are more amphorae in racks above and to the right of the oven. Chick peas and broad beans were found in this room.





The view from the outer wall of the city. Before the eruption, the sea came to within ten meters of this wall, but now there is a 400 meter wide expanse of lava that separates the city from the sea and just look how deep it is! If you look down from here, you can see the excavated area where archeologists found about 300 skeletons and their belongings, as well as a Roman boat. People went to the sea to escape but were killed by the horrible gases and pyroclastic flow.


Sorry about the raindrops!




Aside from the rain, it was a very nice day.

P.S. I have pictures from Pompeii that I never posted. If anybody wants to see some bodies encased in ash, let me know and I'll put them up.

Comments

[awfief.livejournal.com]

https://www.sheeri.com/stockphoto/thumbs/a_005/03_20-03_27italy/

are all my italy pics, including the pompeii ones.

Body encased in ash is here.

and one of the pregnant lady

[youvebeenpixied.livejournal.com]

I'll see your pregnant lady and raise you one exposed skull.

[scherzoid.livejournal.com]

Hi, this is John, rdhdsnippet's husband -- I just found your LJ from her friendslist...

Oh, wow -- those photos bring back memories! My high school had a "Europe or Bust" club that arranged a trip to Europe over spring break each year -- I went to Italy in 10th grade (1985). Next to Florence, I think Pompeii was my favorite stop. Several of us had taken Latin, and surprised the hell out of the tour guide by being able to translate the "Cave Canem" mosaic on the floor before she could tell us the story. :)

[youvebeenpixied.livejournal.com]

Hey John! I would have to agree with you that Florence is the best. Until I see something better, I will continue to believe that it is the most beautiful city in the world.

I took four years of Latin in high school, if you can believe it! It has certainly helped me living here, though I took it because I thought I was going to be a doctor. Eh. The Latin Club at my hs went to the Getty museum and some of us bigger nerds spent a good portion of our time looking at the old New Testaments written in Latin and translating them. Ahh...those were the days. In our defense though, the books are beautiful.

May I add you to our friends list? And congratulations on Evan!

P.S.

[youvebeenpixied.livejournal.com]

I was going to post the Cave Canem photo fpr you, but when I looked at it I realized that the sun was shining through the bars so you cannot see the words, just the dog :/

[elven-sphinx.livejournal.com]

Awesome photos. I've also felt that the ash encased bodies (now empty casings, as I recall) were a little spooky to look at. Their last moments immortalized forever in volcanic ash. But while I've never been to Pompeii before, I've always enjoyed watching specials on it on the Discovery/History channel.

[youvebeenpixied.livejournal.com]

Thank you! There were so many people gathered around the case holding the body in the last photo, it was really difficult to get the shot.