Catching Up--Pompeii

Early this month (March) we took our first serious excursion outside the city of Rome, to Naples and Pompeii. We were ten people altogether, including Mary Ann, Liz and Maggie. A miscalculation on my part (PJW) led to the unfortunate necessity of having to pay about $400 extra in train tickets for what--under normal circumstances--is a relatively inexpensive train ride. The miscalculation? Thinking we were going to miss our 7:35 train to Naples, we simply got on a 7:34 train heading in the same direction. Turns out this was the wrong train. In fact, it was a "Eurostar," non-stop express train to Naples, and not the "Intercity" that we were supposed to get on (and which was probably late getting into Rome). Tickets on this train were double the cost of the Intercity--think "business class" airlines vs. coach--so, the plastic took a beating that morning.

However, we DID arrive in Naples rather quickly, at least 45 minutes faster than the IC. After getting our bearings at the Naples main train station we found the commuter-line to Pompeii, another 30 minute ride.

The story of Pompeii's destruction in 79AD is almost equalled by the story of its eventual rediscovery in 1599 and subsequent excavation (still going on today). The setting is magnificent, with Vesuvius still looming above the town to the north, and farther off, the Tyrhennian sea to the west. A very nice dramatization of the disaster was produced by the BBC a few years ago. You can see it in about five installments on YouTube (installment 1 below):




Perhaps the highlight (lowlight?) of our visit was briefly losing Lucy. Hard to know exactly what happened. There weren't many crowds there that day, but it seems Lucy just didn't follow us into a "bath," so that when we all emerged at the other end, she wasn't with us. Fortunately dad found her back near the restaurant where we all had been just before the bath exhibit. It was a scare for all!