Is it crazy to say that Pompeii might have been even higher on my bucket list than Rome was? Back in 2014 or 2015 I saw an art exhibit called Presence and Absence by an artist named Tom Price. It was a set of sculptures of people who were there, but also not. They looked so realistic it was almost alarming, but there were pieces of them missing. I was really struck by it. I found out the artist’s inspiration for this work were the people of Pompeii who died nearly 2000 years ago when Mt. Vesuvius erupted, but whose bodies were still preserved all those years later. I didn’t know a ton about Pompeii at the time, but I knew I had to make it there someday. And lucky for me, “someday” was only a few years later.
But really, that’s not even the best part of the ruins. I think that’s such a unique part of it that people sometimes overlook that the eruption preserved this whole city in a way nothing else could have, and nothing else did in any other part of the world. Even I overlooked it myself before my tour guide basically said “colosseum schmolosseum, this place is way more impressive.” I’m paraphrasing a bit, but I’m not paraphrasing when I tell you that this Italian man said “okie dokie artichokie” like it was going out of style.
We went in November, and our tour guide repeatedly said how great it was that we were visiting that time of year, because during the “busy season,” it’s incredibly crowded. One of the most popular sites in the town is the brothel, and he said during the busy season, the line just to get into this tiny building wraps through the streets. But we walked right in. Archeologists knew this building (and others like it) was a brothel not only by the penis arrows on the streets directing you to the building, but also by the pornographic “menu” painted on the walls. Very discreet.
I wanted to visit Pompeii to see the casts, but I didn’t realize until I got just how amazing this ancient city is. It far exceeded my expectations, and I’m so glad I took a day out of my Rome trip to see it.
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About the blog.I started this blog in 2017 with the goal of seeing all the U.S. National Parks and writing about them. But as I kept writing and posting, I realized there's so much more I want to document in my life. So, the blog grew into something much broader and even more special to my heart. Archives.
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