Pompeii Excavated

I always forget to post pictures and show you souvenirs that I buy from places we visit so I think I will show it to you first. Here they are...a little jar and a pot.

The week went by so quickly. Time sure flies when we are having fun, isn't it? Well, it is Saturday again and whether we are tired or not from all activities such as displaying our blues, pinks or reds, showing befores and afters, showing our possessions of 3's or more, sharing what we have hanging on our walls, going outside to take our outdoor pictures, creating tablescapes and cooking for Gollum's potluck, we have to go on a trip! So put on your traveling comfy shoes and let's go! We will be walking on uneven streets and pavement, so be prepared for that. Today we will excavate Pompeii, a buried ancient Roman empire, which is only a 30 min. drive from modern Naples in Italy.

Oh look, there is my family and travel companions! My 5 month old pregnant daughter, Tina sure looks a lot happier here, doesn't she? Praying to our Blessed Virgin Mary when we visited her home in Turkey last week really did some wonders.

Just like any other modern city, Naples is congested. Who would think that there is an ancient city nearby?
And right outside walls of Pompeii are these vendors trying to make their living from selling souvenirs to tourists. And I am one of those suckers, LOL!

Isn't AJ so cute? She was so excited when she heard we were going to Pompeii. It just so happened that they were just studying about it in school. She said she couldn't wait to tell her teacher about her visit. Do you see why we take her with us on these trips? I think the education she picks up from them is priceless.
Ok, let's go in and explore! Here's a little history. Pompeii, a city in Campania on the Bay of Naples, was buried with its sister city, Herculaneum, by the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 AD. It was a long catastrophic eruption that lasted for 2 days. Pompeii is 5 miles away from the active volcano. It was buried for over 1600 years. The volcano is very active and had numerous smaller eruptions after that but it was not until the volcano had another major eruption killing around 4000 people that Pompeii was discovered by the people who were working on the restoration. It took another 300 years for the excavations to reveal their story.

Before it was buried, it was a very active place. It had a basilica, an amphitheater, a central swimming pool, an aqueduct providing water for more than 25 street fountains, at least four public baths, and a large number of private houses and businesses.

This is the Basilica, at least, it used to be.
Just an example of ancient streets of Pompeii.
What do you think this is, an oven or maybe a fireplace? I was so busy taking pictures that I wasn't paying attention to the tour guide. I am hoping some of you were and you can tell me.
It wasn't exactly a poor town. Just look at these ornate marble found in excavated buildings. It was known to be erotic too as evidenced by mosaic art found on walls but sorry, I won't go deeper into that.
Poor Pompeians below are buried in ash and pumice. Can you imagine the struggle, fear and pain they must have experienced before finally resting in peace?
How would you like your body to be stored on a shelf?
more display of anguish and fear below

My granddaughter was really fascinated by what we were seeing.
ancient walls of Pompeii
and right outside is a very modern city
I hope you enjoyed our trip for this week as I did. I'll see you again next week, I hope. Thank you for coming along!