Thursday morning we entered the Pompeii archaeological site just as they were opening. It was lovely to almost have the place to ourselves Even at noon when there were a lot more people it still didn’t feel crowded. Perhaps the threatening rain and the fact that it’s October made a difference.
It was the little things we saw in Pompeii that caught my imagination. Like the stepping stones at cross walks that were placed so that chariots could drive through them and people wouldn’t get their feet wet crossing the street when the streets were being flushed out or it rained.
The two mountains to the north of Pompeii today allow you to imagine the top of Vesuvius that was blown off in the eruption.
More than one of the houses had a beware of the dog sign built into the mosaics at the entrance.
We did the Rick Steves Pompeii walking tower. We saw lots of storefronts with counters built to hold food bowls. Rick Steves called them fast food joints.
Pompeii had a population of 30,000. The archaeological park is massive. The distance from the west entrance to the amphitheater is over a kilometer.
The plaster casts of people who died in the explosion are haunting.
When we left the archaeological park we picked up our bags at our hotel and walked to the train station. We took a train and a bus to Naples and from there took the high speed train to Rome.
Before we could board the high speed train we had to show our green pass. That’s proof of vaccination. It’s interesting that the QR code I got for France works just fine here in Italy. I show the PDF download of my pass and a green check shows up on the device the gatekeeper is using. It’s all very efficient.
We had a wonderful dinner around the corner from our hotel at La Cabana restaurant. I didn’t get any good pictures. We had spaghetti with bacon and a spicy sauce and great steak. We shared both.
We will be in Rome for three nights. I was last here in 1970 and Duke was last here in 1976. I’m sure exploring the next few days will be a very different experience.
Marion's Blog 
Very interesting day in Pompei and your modes of travel.
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