POMPEII

DAY 6
AM

Had a great breakfast with small bottles of Pear and Apricot juice, Croissants, Coffee, Jam and Mini-Toasts - to which we added Vegemite; well we were going to need our strength!

Lots of walking today. Headed off to the train station for the 20 minute ride to Pompeii.


Signs of the times.

Wandered around the ruins still in the shadow of Mt. Vesuvius

Mt V in the background

This stairway was almost perfectly preserved:


Abbey Rd perhaps? The gaps in the stepping stones were to let the chariot wheels through:


And in many places you could still see the ruts from the ancient chariots:


Plenty of evidence that the ancient Romans were well advanced, with aqueducts for water and other systems to remove the effluent (which probably worked just as well as their current systems which all seem to have that eu-de-medieval pong).

This sign marks a one-way street, in the direction the horse is pointing:


The kids were amazed at these plaster casts of those who perished in the AD79 eruption.


And pretended to test out the vomitarium:


The day was going so quickly, we only had time to see the main exhibits. Had lunch in a restaurant that was set up in one of the old buildings. Amazing!


We wanted to see Herculaneum as well, so after lunch we headed back to the train station for the 15 minute trip to Ercolano.

As we were leaving, we noticed a group of archaeologists and students, and they were still digging!

On the train to Ercolano, we were reading the guide maps, and realised we didn't get down to see the amphitheatre at Pompeii. We will next time!