First of all, thank you everyone for the birthday wishes! It really did make my day.
Second, I realize it’s been awhile since I last posted, but there really hasn’t been anything noteworthy until today, when I totally got my tourist on (I mean, just look at that outfit!). Given that it’s rained every day this week I was terrified that today (Veterans’ Day) would be the same, but the Roman gods relented and the sun shone. Even if it had been raining, I was bound and determined to visit Pompeii – every time I mentioned to someone that I had not been there yet, I felt ashamed – but I lucked out and the weather was perfect.
For anyone who hasn’t been, Pompeii is an easy train ride from downtown Naples. It reminds me of going to the pyramids in Egypt, with the city’s outlying neighborhoods literally at the doorstep of a famous historical landmark. I did have one moment of panic on the train though; the man sitting next to me shot off a rapid question in Italian, directed at me (“Sorry, no Italian-o”), but which the lady across from him answered and I thought I caught “No Pompeii.” Craaap. After my train debacles trying to reach my sister in Viterbo, Italy this summer, I am a little paranoid about train travel. However, reassured by the presence of other touristy folks, recognizable from their backpacks and tennis shoes, I stayed on the train, which ended up being the right one. Not so sure if it was the right one for that poor Italian guy though.
After renting an audio guide and ticket (for some reason, the ticket guy asked me how old I was and I had to reply “25” for the first time – yikes!), I entered the unlucky (or idiotic, depending on your level of cynicism) city of Pompeii and went back to before 79AD, when Vesuvius erupted. It was impressive. Pompeii actually seemed like a great city that would have been fun to live in – the sea is close, the city is big, but not too big, they had a stadium, two theaters, numerous parks, mountain views – well, that last one maybe not so much. I ended up spending several hours exploring the well-preserved ruins with my trusty British-accented audio guide (my favorite audio guide quote: “Let’s enter the Edificio di Eumachia. As you go through the doorway, turn to your right. Can you see the niche in the wall? This niche is where they would have kept a jar!” Wait, what?). The fact that I could walk around for hours and just barely complete a full tour should give you an idea of just how large the site is. However, it’s not large enough to stop me from running into someone I know; I was walking up a street towards the end of my day and saw Tom, the ONI liaison to 6th Fleet, and his family. Will the small world incidents never stop?! After a brief exchange, we went our separate (and opposite) ways and I finished my tour. I’m glad I finally got to check Pompeii off my list, but it was more than just a 'check,' it was a thoroughly enjoyable and educational ‘check.’
Some additional highlights:
- Vesuvius rising innocently in the background
- They used urine gathered from public latrines to wash cloth, because of the cleaning-power of ammonia
- A lack of crowds, which allowed me to take some more creative self-portraits
- At the stadium/ampitheater, a spectators’ brawl turned into a full scale riot between Pompeiians and their neighbors, Nucerians; talk about team spirit!
- A lot of the destruction unsuspecting visitors might attribute to that whole volcano episode or the ravages of time, was actually caused by an earthquake 17 years prior to the eruption; the Pompeiians were still in the process of rebuilding
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