15.3.09

Tiny City Made of Ash


O M F G. i have not updated this blog for what seems like ages, but probably only 3 weeks.. i donno. Regardless, it has been too long and the posts keep piling up so hopefully i can get a few out before i make my way to Spain. Our south trip was a few weeks ago and the first stop on this jaunt through southern Italy was the ancient city of Pompeii. I had visions of grandeur for the temperature in southern italy (i.e. shorts weather) but much to my horror, on arrival it was snowing/sleeting.
 




There werent very many people in the town as we first started wondering off, but it filled towards the end of the day. I seperated from most of the group, finding different people along the way, exploring the city on my own. I walked towards the villa of mysteries,  through the damp stone streets. One thing i did take notice was the amount of construction that was occuring, scaffolding taking over archaic walls with bright orange plastic wrapped around it (Fugly) 






Pompeii was massive and i only got to explore a portion of it. The main sights i had wanted to see were the villa of mysteries (which i saw) the roman theatre (also which i saw) and the brothels. I unfortunately didnt get to the latter, but was fortunate enough to see some examples of what i would have witnessed there later.









 I am still unsure about my thoughts about Pompeii. It possessed an eerie feeling, like wandering through an extensive mausoleum at night (even though we were there during the day) The thought of what occurred there (made ever more manifest by mt. vesuvius looming from every street corner) is hard to imagine.. and even harder to imagine is the amount of work that has been put forth to recover this lost city. Strangely enough, it also reminded me of disneyland.. i noted a distinct smell as i was wondering around which reminded me of the theme park: some sort of burning/plasticy smell mixed with nature, with a slight hint of desperation.


Ciao for now.

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