The Almalfi Coast - Pompeii excavations

"Just across the bay from Sorrento, Naples on a clear day will give your heart a bit of a flutter. Rising behind it from the morning mist like a sentinel is the mighty Mr. Vesuvius, perpetrator of one of the world's most infamous cataclysms." 


Wednesday, June 6, 2012
Sorrento, Italy
Arrive: 9:00 am
Sunrise: 5:31 am • Sunset: 8:31 pm
Forecast: Sunny; 79ºF / 26ºC

Heading to breakfast we were able to take a look out the port side windows at the Amalfi Coast:

 And starboard was the beautiful city Sorrento:

The "tender service" was actually the ship's life boats! Glad to know they received regular use and maintenance. Is this like it on every cruise line? I thought it was genius. ha!

This area is known for its lemon juice bottled up in lovely little vials. Some of the lemons were as big as  as melons! Lemons as big as melons (say that 10 times fast).

Vespas still everywhere:

The Excavations of Pompeii:

first glimpse of postmortem stuff

"Follow Matilda!"

 "Hook-ups" for your horse and buggy - ancient parking meters.

renovated?

This is the woman that always took notes. She was spoiled.. but I still made friends with her! haha
Her husband is in the stripes. 

 Artwork from the walls still remains:

People who died after the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius. I can't remember how they could tell..
perhaps because of how they were laid to rest. 

same as previous picture

mosaic tiles

up to a private room

Stepping Stones to keep hems dry when the streets would be rivers instead of roads

Oh how we loved Matilda!

Inside of an ancient form of a 'spa'

ancient lockers (there is a bench beneath this where you'd sit and wait to be called into the steam rooms)

died in the eruption, and he was a slave as you could tell by the rope around his waist

Someone more wealthy, as you can see the robes he was wearing.
These people are real, and actually encased in ash and volcanic properties.

The floors were elevated to allow boiling hot water to run beneath the floors,
heating and steaming the rooms from below

 Entering the brothel, or "hospitality" district of Pompeii. It was the only area in the city where the roads were curved so you couldn't see the end of the street. Bad news.

waiting to get in to the brothel... it was the only way out and they were only letting 6 slow people through at a time.

It was a warm day.. add that to the awkwardness of walking through
somewhere so 'naughty' and you have lots of impatient people.
It was a hot day, too.

I chose the blurry picture to share. This is what was taking so long for the people to walk through, so I made it worth my while and got some pictures. But for your sake, here is the blurry version. ha!

looks like a bad way to go.. 

this person in the upright fetal position is a real person, preserved by the ash; died in the eruption

this is where all the uncovered artifacts are housed

an unfinished column, before receiving the white plaster

Pompeii upon our exit

Mt. Vesuvius 

So much blue, blue water. No high or low tide, either! Pretty certain we love the Mediterranean Sea, or as the Italians say, the "Terranean Sea."

goodness

just outside the GF, ND art museum today

Ever just stop to breathe? Breathe in the smells of summer, the smell of damp grass in the morning, the scent of earth and flowers that have just been watered. And the sounds.

The sounds of laughter, of thunder, the wind, the birds both in the trees and in the grass searching for a fat snack. Even the naughty dog's barking down the street is turned into a happy noise as Emmy starts to bark back. I've been doing a lot of breathing things in this week. We've been spending a lot of time out of doors since I've been home and I've come to realize something.

I love North Dakota. I really love it.

I knew I'd like it. I knew I'd acclimate to a new life in a new state with new people and new cultures; but I didn't expect to thoroughly enjoy it this much. Simply put, things feel complete here.

Talking with Mark about all these appreciations has been fun; we both have a lot of things to say about living here - unexpected things too. One being the wind - something I thought I'd loathe. The wind here is different than it was in the Mojave Desert where I grew up. When there's wind here, it means something is coming.. not just dust to the eyes. Feeling the winds shift, bringing with it clouds from all different directions, excitement starts to build. Our energy increases as we wait for the clouds to crash into one another and for the sky to open up and the buckets of rain to fall.

The fields - the gorgeous lush fields of wheat, corn, flowers, and sugar beets. The tree belts that add variety to the landscape and give lots of nesting branches for many kinds of song birds.

There's a cycle to things here comparable to the cycle in seasons. People rely on the earth here, and the earth gives to the people who work with it. I have a lot to learn while I'm here, and it's all very exciting for me.

Life here is lovely.

Mont in his Wonderland

roamin' bus to boat

There was a woman who took notes... and I was never that person. I learned my lesson! Never again will I not have a pen and pad of paper in hand... 

I can't remember what the heck these buildings are.. but aren't they lovely? ha!

There were 'ruins' everywhere. Rome is called "The Eternal City" because there is no chronological order to their buildings in the city; they build and they preserve. Just behind this picture, there was a person lying on the street near the sidewalk, surrounded by policemen (he'd just been hit by a car or vespa - we never found out! hopefully he was just fine... yikes!).

Below, the tour guide called this the "ancient facebook" where people would congregate to share ideas, opinions and social updates. I thought that was a clever metaphor.

First glimpse of the Colosseum, or the real name we learned, the Flavian Amphitheatre. It was interesting to hear all about what went on inside.. I'm both sad and relieved that I never got to/ had to witness it. Only that 'naughty girls' were allowed inside the walls, so the 'eligible girls' (the ones that men would want to marry) would go sit in a nearby park and hear updates as they'd come.. crazy things, right?

It was a beautiful structure:

But even more beautiful, is my sister! Aww:

Look at how HUGE those statues of the saints are on top.. sooo big.. I'm glad I wasn't in charge of hoisting those things up there:

Then it was off to the ship for us. We were both awestruck:

The fun continued:

We weren't alone looking like idiots:

* a special prize should be given to anyone who notices all the weird things in these pictures. There are plenty of odd looks from strangers, plumber pants.. or.. you name it, you'll probably spot it!