It was a "hotel room breakfast day". Boo.
We had to get up super early to catch a train at 7:30am.
We were headed to Naples.
It turned out that I hurt my achilles pretty bad.
It was VERY painful walking to the station.
I held it together as long as I could, but the last straw was hoofing it to catch our train which came into a different platform than was advertised.
I ended up in tears thinking that my trip was ruined.
I tried to hide my tears from the kids, as best I could, but Mikey was on to me.
We made it on to our high-speed train and found our seats.
Mikey did a good job rallying my spirits.
Mikey soon fell asleep.
It was pretty comfortable on the train.
I sat and mulled over how I would possibly make it through the day in so much pain.
We had a four-hour tour of Pompeii and Herculaneum. There was no way.
Huzbend was also considering the situation.
Once we got to Naples, he had us stop at a farmacia.
He thought they might have an ankle brace or something to help.
Not only did they have an ankle brace, but they also had lightweight elbow crutches.
In a pharmacy AT A TRAIN STATION.
It worked.
The ankle brace gave my achilles support and by putting my weight on the crutches, I didn't have to use that foot at all.
Katie took my bag and assumed picture taking duties for the day.
It wasn't ideal, but it would get me through.
I felt very old.
We made our way through the train station to the platform housing the train line to Pompeii.
The signage was super confusing.
Huzbend even stopped to ask if we were in the right place twice because I was paranoid that we weren't.
Pompeii lies along the train line that ends at Sorrento, a beach town on the coast of southern Italy.
It was the day before a national holiday, so there were A LOT of people heading to Sorrento for their beach vacations.
It was standing room only on the train.
Mikey was not comfortable.
Too many people.
The guy next to him seems like he felt the same way.
It was a slow, bumpy, stuffy ride in the packed train.
It turned out that we WERE on the right train.
We finally arrived at the station outside the entrance to the ruins of Pompeii and had some time before our tour started.
We ducked inside a convenience store/restaurant to cool off.
After finishing our beverages, we found a wall outside to sit on to eat lunch we had brought with us.
I think it consisted of fruit, focaccia, pretzels, and various gluten free goodies.
I pondered the next few hours and psyched myself up.
We met our tour guide at the gates of Pompeii and off we went.
We stopped to look at a map to get an overview of the size of Pompeii.
It's a large area. Most of it is not accessible by visitors and is still being excavated.
And, most importantly, it looks like a fish.
Off we go!
Most people walk up the ramp in the picture below to get into the site.
Because I was hopping along, our guide took us up an alternate route with an elevator.
The remnants of Pompeian society are all around.
Paintings still adorn walls.
Mosaic floors are still intact in places.
Wall paintings inside buildings fared better than those outside.
Before we entered the city, we walked through a collection of artifacts excavated from throughout the site. This helped to give depth and connection to the people who lived there.
And speaking of the people who lived here...who were they?
Pompeii was a busy port town full of all sorts of people. They ran the spectrum from the super-rich all the way to the slaves they used to bake their bread and grind their flour.
Below is a pictures of a cast of the body of a dog.
Let me explain how these casts work.
As the volcano erupted, the town was showered with debris and ash.
The debris smashed rooves and buildings. The ash covered everything, burying the town and its inhabitants.
As the layers of ash and mud hardened, it turned to rock. The flesh and organs slowly decomposed leaving the skeletons locked in stone with cavities surrounding them.
Upon finding body shaped cavities in the pumice/ash rock, the excavators devised a plan to inject plaster into the cavities.
Thus, you get a cast of how the person or animal looked at the moment they died.
The dog was wearing a studded collar. It was assumed that he was chained to a post in the atrium of the house where he was found (which is why he didn't run when the volcano erupted).
He most likely died of affixation due to piling ash.
So many pots, vases, bowls, lamps and terracotta statue pieces.
Katie liked this bronze statue that still had one creepily staring glass eye.
There were even the metal rims of wheels that survived.
(That's our tour guide standing next to it).
This is a cast of an unfortunate horse.
There were at least a handful of human casts on display.
Most were adults. Some were children.
There was one adult reaching out to a child.
This one has teeth.
While I thought it was extremely interesting to see the casts of the people and animals, I have to admit that I didn't like the way they were displayed.
I felt that they should have had a silent, dark room to themselves.
Instead, they were in a loud major traffic area with everyone gawking at their skulls and teeth.
I felt sad and thought there should have been more respect given.
After making our way through the museum, it was time to walk through the streets.
Pompeii is up on a hilltop today.
Originally it was a port city.
Yep.
The sea was much closer to it back then than it is today.
The volcano took care of that.
We headed to the forum of the city. It was the centerpiece of life in the city and was the home to shops, government buildings and temples.
That's Mt. Vesuvius looming in the background there.
See below for a picture of a road.
This road led to the forum. There are large stone blocks at the end of the road to stop carts from continuing on into the space.
The road itself is sunken and filled with large worn-down stones.
Carts were pulled by people and animals ...which pooped.
Sewage and overflow water from fountains and domiciles washed into the street.
Everyone walked on the sidewalk.
To cross a street, there were larger raised stones a person could step on (but not tall enough to get in the carts way) so that they wouldn't have to step in the slop.
Family photo time!
We ventured further into the city by way of the sidewalk.
Much easier to navigate with crutches.
Just in case you wanted MORE details about roads and sidewalks in Pompeii.....
It's hard to see in this photo, but there are shiny white stones in the sidewalk.
These were used by shops for advertising and by residents to show how rich they were.
There were also white stones placed in between the larger stones in the road. These small white stones reflected light from the moon or torches so people could drive at night.
Crazy.
Just a pretty picture down a side street.
Pompeii, along with most large Roman cities, had plumbing.
Water flowed freely into homes and out of fountains throughout the city.
Here is one such public fountain.
Our tour guide and I are standing looking in.
Next to our tour guide is the spigot of the fountain. The water would flow out of the mouth of the statue.
If you look closely to either side of the statue, you will notice that the stone is worn down from people leaning over to fill buckets and bowls of water or just to get a drink.
Here is a front view of the spout of a fountain.
You know what else you could find in Pompeii.
Lots of penises.
Phallic symbols were used to ward off bad luck....or sometimes just as some funny graffiti.
You be the judge.
Don't believe me?
Here's a stone in the road.....
PENIS.
We walked by lots of buildings. Many were shops, some were houses or fancy villas, maybe temples, and some were brothels. Almost none had a roof or second floor.
This was because of the amount of ash and debris that pelted the town.
The buildings collapsed.
No rooves on buildings means no shade, and it was SUPER hot on that hill.
We broke out the umbrellas.
Sadly, with both hands occupied holding my weight off my foot, I couldn't hold an umbrella.
I put on a lot of sunscreen.
The remains of a large outdoor mural.
It had a large snake on it.
Okay. Time for this post to get a little R-Rated.
We visited a brothel.
The Roman word for brothel is lupanar, meaning wolf den. Prostitutes were known as lupa or she-wolf. Most prostitutes were slaves.
The lupanar we visited had frescos above the doorways of the prostitute's rooms.
The rooms were small with one stone bed and one small, barred window to let in light.
Each fresco depicted a different heteronormative sexual position and one was of the god Priapus.
Don't look him up unless you want to see more genitalia.
And, yes, I MADE Katie take pictures of the erotic frescoes.
She was mortified.
I'm such a horrible mother.
Back outside, we found some lead pipes.
These pipes carried water throughout the city.
I know what you're thinking.
Yes. Lead.
Hey, you don't know what you don't know.
We stopped to visit a fast-food joint.
Pompeii, and just about any Roman town, had store fronts where people could stop in and purchase some hot food to go.
They were called thermopoliums.
These establishments had stone wear counters with holes for jars sent into it.
Under the jars were fires to keep food or drink warm.
These were all over the place.
It was practical for every house to have a kitchen (besides the fact that it was a fire hazard).
Here's a great picture of wheel grooves etched into the street stone.
Our last stop was a visit to the "theatre district".
There were two theatres, Teatro Grande and Teatro Piccolo.
There was an avenue that led to each. This avenue was littered with old graffiti on its walls.
I guess people got bored waiting to be seated?
Roman cities were full of graffiti. Hastily scribbled pictures, jokes, political messages, arguments, announcements for stores and even just proclamations that "I WUZ HERE."
Here's an example.
You'll have to zoom in to see the pictures etched into the walls.
Let me help you.
A horse.
And a bro with a big penis and no head.
And, no, I did not just make those up.
They are actually scratched into that wall.
The Teatro Grande was a large stone amphitheater.
It had an equally large and elaborate stage.
Here. Take a look around.
The smaller theatre was cordoned off because its marble floor was still intact.
Different color marble, as you see here on the floor, means fancy shmancy imported stone from countries like Egypt.
Outside both theatres was a large lawn space.
Originally this was a place for theatre patrons to purchase food, beverage and mingle. It also offered shelter in case of rain.
Later on, before the eruption, it was expanded and was being renovated as a place to train gladiators.
Katie took SO MANY pictures of our visit to Pompeii.
I wish I could share them all, but we'd be here forever.
It was time for our visit at Pompeii to end and the second half of our tour to begin.
We strolled (and I hopped) out of Pompeii and into a waiting private truck that whisked us away to our next destination....
Herculaneum.
The truck was beautifully air conditioned.
The ride...eh.
I think we were driving at close to light speed and I probably left dents on the arm rest of the truck.
Smaller and not as well-known as Pompeii, Herculaneum is actually the better preserved of the two.
You'll notice upon a closer look there are many buildings that have multiple stories.
It succumbed to the eruption of Vesuvius as well, but where Pompeii was smashed and buried in ash and debris, Herculaneum was initially spared because the wind wasn't blowing its way.
But the next day a pyroclastic flow of super-hot gases shot down the mountain and into the town at about 60mph burning and melting anyone that was in its way. Ash and mud flowed in burying everything.
We headed inside the museum to check out the artifacts.
Because of the speed of the intense heat that was followed by absolute burial, there were many things preserved at Herculaneum that were not at Pompeii.
Here is a picture of the body of a woman whose jewelry was still intact next to her remains.
They were a pair of spectacular jeweled gold snake bangles.
You can see them in the picture below.
Here is an entire boat.
You may be thinking, how did wood survive a volcano?
The super-heated gases rushed down the mountain and flash burned everything. It was theorized that it was so hot and dense that there wasn't any oxygen. The mud flowed in next and buried everything, preserving it.
Because of this there are many objects made of wood that have survived.
Even parts of buildings that are still standing.
Katie did a great job taking pictures of all the artifacts.
Again, there are WAY too many pictures to post here.
There were things like furniture, mosaics and frescos, jewelry, makeup kits, surgery instruments, vials of medicines, glass, fabrics, PAPER and actual food. The list goes on.
Here is a fancy lamp.
Herculaneum was a different sort of city than Pompeii.
It was a ritzy beach resort for wealthy Romans.
Many of the residences were very well appointed.
Another difference between Pompeii and Herculaneum is size.
Pompeii is a huge archaeological site.
Herculaneum is small and condensed.
Herculaneum was also buried under 50-60 feet of volcanic rock AND there's a town that grew up on top of that volcanic rock.
Upwards of 75% of Herculaneum is still buried under the town above it.
We had to use a bridge to get into the site.
The bridge crossed over a divide created when the site was excavated.
See that sandy ground down there?
That is where the beach was before the volcano erupted and lava pushed the shore back for miles.
This little garden area was planted with seeds that were found onsite.
Herculaneum's roads were not as wide as Pompeii's.
Though, they did have sidewalks as well.
You'll see Huzbend hugging the shade.
It was the hottest part of the afternoon.
Katie was taking her job as vacation photographer very seriously.
We were able to enter a space called the College of Augustales which was thought to be dedicated to the Roman imperial cult (worship of emperors as divine).
The wall painting colors were still vivid.
Herculaneum also had its fair share of fast-food joints.
It also had a lot of fancy mosaic decorations on its buildings.
Here's an example of some surviving wood building structure.
The black wood is original.
This is a picture of a sign painted on the side of a wine store.
The sign is covered with plastic to protect it, so it makes it hard to see.
In the middle of the sign, you can see four different color wine jugs.
They are labeled with what was in them and how much for each.
Under that is some graffiti thought to advertise an upcoming gladiator spectacle and was inscribed by Aprilis of Capua (he signed his name).
All of this is original wood shelving.
And this is the second floor of a residence.
You could see paintings on the walls as well as remains of stairs and various rooms.
You could see kitchens, bathrooms, living areas and bedrooms.
Lead pipes in Herculaneum too.
These were in a house.
Here's an example of a bedroom.
Not very exciting with nothing in it.
But notice the painted walls and the floor with inlaid stone.
It must've looked really nice in its day.
Welcome to the House of Neptune, so named for the mosaic you'll see in the picture below.
It's of Neptune and his wife.
This mosaic was situated in an area of this house that had an indoor garden area that also had its own fountain.
SO FANCY.
These were definitely some Romans who were rolling in mad cash.
We then paid a visit to the women's baths.
It's said the men's baths were more opulent and bigger...but they didn't survive.
The floor of the changing room was amazing.
Black and white mosaic with Triton and various sea creatures throughout.
There was a bench encircling the room and shelving to put your belongings on.
There were circular windows built into the walls above to let natural light in.
The next room was the tepidarium or warm room.
Another incredible mosaic floor.
This room was filled with radiant heat from the floors and walls.
Yep. You read that right.
The last room was the caldarium.
It housed a hot plunge pool on one end...
And a platform for a basin of cold water to ladle yourself with on the other end.
Journey with us into a top-of-the-line, spared-no-expense Herculaneum villa.
No vacation would be complete without a visit to the gymnasium and pool.
Athletes practiced in this area and on the lawn.
Here's a great view.
It shows how deep Herculaneum is from the level of modern town, Ercolano, located on top of it.
Underneath that earth to the right is a recreational swimming pool.
Back in the day it was open to the sun and stars.
Requisite family photo time...which also meant that our tour was over.
We were on our own to continue our visit to Herculaneum.
The kids wanted to explore more.
I was exhausted, SO SWEATY and was quite literally wiped out.
The sun was brutal, and my hands and shoulders were tired of holding the weight off my foot.
I headed back to cross the bridge and sit down.
Huzbend and the kids headed down to what used to be the beach area.
After the eruption, only a light dusting of ash covered Herculaneum.
People saw and felt the eruption and left the area.
Some took longer than others.
It was the next day that the pyroclastic flow took out all those who remained.
When that happened, about 300 people were waiting in the alcoves you see on the left which are believed to be fisherman's shelters. They died instantaneously.
The remains are still in the alcoves.
It's thought they were waiting for boats to rescue them.
It was a very powerful reminder that you were just walking through the houses of these exact people just 20 minutes ago.
Here is a picture that illustrates the rough shape I was in.
The kids and Huzbend saw the skeletons and made it all the way to the other side of the bridge before I did.
That's me with the crutches starting to cross the bridge.
Time for another cool down.
There were some vending machines selling beverages and cold treats.
I picked up a Michelangelo ice cream bar.
Couldn't resist the doofiness of it.
It was good. It was white chocolate ice cream with raspberry crumble on the outside and a raspberry filling on the inside.
Katie had a classic vanilla and chocolate ice cream treat.
Mikey picked up some iced tea and Huzbend stuck with ice cold water.
Time to leave.
The park surrounding the site was beautifully landscaped.
As we exited the park, we walked under this arch.
We slowly (in my case very slowly) made our way through the neighborhoods of Ercolano towards the train station.
There aren't many pictures after this point although a lot happened.
They weren't really things you wanted to get picture of.
The walk to the train station was all uphill. We missed the station and walked too far.
So, we had to circle back to find the station.
My hands were starting to scream at me.
I think they were bruised.
There was no padding on the handles of the crutches. Just hard plastic.
We found the train station, but then had to figure out how to buy tickets.
Huzbend took care of that while the kids and I hung back.
As at any train station, there were turnstiles that you had to scan your ticket at to get on to the platform.
We watched a teen/20 something dude scamming people in full view of a police officer (known as carabinieri in Italian if you were interested).
The dude would scan a ticket to let people through the turnstile and then, once they got in, would hit them up for a random amount of Euros by standing in their way and confronting them.
The officer just watched this happen at least 4 times without saying a word.
I wonder if he ended up getting a cut.
We got our tickets and got up to the platform.
The train was not as crowded this time, so we were able to sit down.
Yay for small miracles.
We had dinner reservations in Naples.
Our next adventure was finding our way to the restaurant using the Naples metro system.
It was a haul to get to the metro. It felt like we walked FOREVER.
My hands were done, and I was dizzy.
Too much sun, no shade and way too much exercise makes for a dangerously dehydrated person.
I quickly popped an emergency electrolyte pill into some water and began to sip as much as I could.
That did the trick. The shakes went away.
We made it onto the metro and got off at our stop.
The mass of people on the train with us exited the platform quickly.
So quickly that we didn't really notice where they exited.
We followed the exit signs which led us to some steps.
As we turned to go up them, some British travelers were coming down.
"You don't want to go up there. It's a toilet."
Um, what?
They told us that the stairs were filled with piss and shit.
We couldnt figure out any other way to get out of there.
Huzbend dediced to go up the stairs to see where they led.
As soon as he disappeared, we found an elevator which the Brits hopped on and went on their way.
It was taking a LONG time for Huzbend to come back.
We didn't want to go up the elevator and miss him, so we waited.
I thought maybe we could go up the stairs too and started....but EW.
NO WAY. It was absolutely disgusting.
There was POOP on the walls.
Finally, Huzbend reappeared along with a carabinieri who escorted us onto the elevator and up to the exit.
Turns out that this staircase was closed and was supposed to have CAUTION tape across it.
Ugh.
I'm not sure how Huzbend made it through all that nastiness. Barf.
We escaped the station and finally found the restaurant. We got a little lost.
I'm not sure if it was my exhaustion or the Poop Stairs, but my impression of Naples was that it was super sketchy.
The restaurant was called Vitto Pitagorico and had vegan and gluten free options.
I can't even remember what we ate except that Mikey had a pizza and I'm guessing a Coke, because I took a picture of him.
I also remember that to use the bathroom you had to descend these really steep stairs and it had a motion sensor light that would go off if you sat on the toilet too long leaving you in the pitch black.
We sat next to a large open window that looked out over some outdoor seating.
As we were eating, a scam guy tried to sell us a bracelet through the window.
Argh.
Dinner was okay.
We made it back to the main Naples train station and caught our train back to Rome.
We arrived back in Rome at 11:30pm.
On the short walk back to the hotel, I broke down in tears.
The palms of my hands were bruised.
I couldn't hold up my weight anymore.
Huzbend offered his socks to use as cushions for the crutch handles.
Um. No. Gross.
He to give me a piggyback, but I couldn't hop onto his back with my one leg AND I had to pee (I did not use the dungeon bathroom at the restaurant in Naples). There was no way he could carry me. And, it was ridiculous to get an Uber.
Desperate to just get back, I opted for the socks.
Huzbend peeled them off and wrapped them around the hard plastic handles.
It helped.
We made it back to the hotel and were asleep by 1am.
Hercules never had to use sweaty socks as crutch grip cushions.
What a lame-o.
