Pompeii, 10 Tins of Dog food, a Large Bottle of Olive Oil - and a Dog - UPDATED

Just another day in Napoli. I was going to go to Capri today but decided that finding Seymour dog food was a higher priority. Since I was going to stay in Napoli, I might as well go to the train station to get my ticket to Roma. I bought a 1 day ticket for the public transportation here and decided to take the tram that stops across from my apartment. I kept watching the stops and was pretty sure I missed the one to the train station but decided to just ride the tram all the way around again. Not!

The tram stopped and the driver came back and asked what I was still doing on it. He also pointed to Seymour and I think he said dogs aren't allowed. I said I was going to the train station and long scary story later, he pointed for me to get off of the tram and get on one in front. So, I was riding on the next tram, very worried that I wouldn't find the stop to the train station again - when it stopped. There was a bus in front and lots of police and people started exiting the tram. So I got off, not sure where I was.

But I did see a small supermarket and found that they sold dog food. So I purchased 10 tins, and a large bottle of olive oil - and some chocolate. Then I started walking. After about 30 minutes, I recognized the area around the train station. Actually I hardly recognized it because in the 2 days since I had been there, they started construction there and it looked totally different. But I was happy to find it.

I went inside and bought my ticket to Roma from one of the machines without a problem. Then I decided that since I was there, I would check on the trains to Pompeii. For 6,20 euro, I got a round trip ticket to Pompeii.

When I got to Pompeii, I found that it was OK to bring Seymour in, in his "sack", which was great. But for 3 hours, I walked around Pompeii carrying 10 tins of dog food, a large bottle of olive oil, some chocolate, and Seymour. I am very glad I have a few of those expensive aspirins they sell here, left.

Pompeii was another place that was very different from what I thought. It is a whole city. UPDATE: 25,000 people lived here. It is vast. It is 66 hectacres of which 44 have been excavated I know a hectacre is bigger than an acre, but you can look it up if you are curious. I was awed and impressed with all of the restoration they have done. You can get a feel for how people lived. Here are some pictures:

The road and sidewalks were built around 200 BC. I AM NOT SURE OF THAT DATE - SORRY!









Some of the original frescos are on the walls. They were painted in layers by different people, depending on their expertise.





These are some of the buildings:









This is pretty cool. This is a temple as it is now, and after that is a picture of what it was probably like back then:







These are like the Roman baths. There are about 8 in this room. Friendly folks!




This is actually like a restaurant. The holes are where they put the food bowls.




They are in the process of renovating this house:



I took lots of pictures but don't want to bore you. Here is the first picture of me and Seymour I asked someone to take. So we are in the theater of Pompeii:




They grow grapes here, just like they did back when Pompeii was a living city. The wine is called Villa de Misteri. I may see if I can find a bottle of that wine. But I would need to drink it here since I really can't carry anything back home. Sorry, folks.


Here a a picture of Mt Vesuvius behind Pompeii - no words to describe it:





UPDATE: This is what I get from trying to understand what a nice Italian man is saying to me about Pompeii! Here is what the tour books say: The total population of Pompeii was about 25,000. An earthquake hit in 63 AD and much of the population left. Most of the people hadn't returned when the volcano erupted in 79 AD so there were about 2,000 people who died due to the volcano. The book also talks about the occasional "stray dog" - we say two sleeping there, and the noticeable lack of signs. THANK YOU! I was hopelessly lost in this maze of buildings. That is why I started talking to the man who works there - who I obviously didn't understand!

visiting here does makes me want to read more about Pompeii. I didn't buy any tourist books - again, no room. How nice it would be to have someone who just carried my stuff, and didn't tell me it was too much. Maybe I'll buy a few lottery tickets when I get home!. Actually they sell lottery tickets here and I've thought about buying a couple but wondered if someone from outside of Italy could win the big prize? What a dreamer I am!

If all goes as planned, and as you know that doesn't happen very often, tomorrow will be Capri!


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