Pompeii

So today was two days after Easter, but since classes got messed up this week anyway, my professors had decided to cancel class for today as well. Since myself and some of my friends didn't have class, we decided over the weekend that we would go to see the ancient city of Pompeii today. Pompeii is one of the most amazing places I have been to so far. The city itself is about a 3 hour train ride south of Rome through the beautiful countryside of Naples and Campania. On the ride the train passes amazing mountains and volcanoes while following the Gulf of Naples. The even better part is that this week is "Cultural Week" in Italy, so all historical and cultural places are free.
For those that are reading this that don't understand why Pompeii is so important, here's a little history lesson. Pompeii is an ancient roman city, nestled right next to beautiful mountains on the Gulf of Naples. The city, however, is also right next to the Mount Vesuvius Volcano. In the year 79 A.D. on August 24th, the volcano erupted for two days straight. The eruption killed all the residents of the city, while completely burying all evidence that a city even existed. For nearly 1700 years the city was a lost mystery, until in 1748 the city was accidentally discovered. Excavations have been going on since that point, and still continue today.
When we arrived at Pompeii, we were all a little surprised at what we saw. After visiting quite a few places in Italy and being familiar with architecture, we have been used to seeing very few high and intact buildings, let alone full roads, original drainage systems, and preserved bodies (thanks to the volcanic ash). The city is massive. In about four hours we saw most of it, and that was moving fast. Many frescoes survived for so many years, as well as tools that they had used, their full stadium/theatre, palaces, factories, and houses. As you walk down the street you are often times walking on original pavings, and since the buildings were so well preserved, you are often able to go into the buildings. There are mosaics on the floors and the walls, as well as courtyards with fountains that show us how brilliant the people of the time were. The part that I found to be the most amazing was the people that had been preserved thanks to the volcanic ash in the exact position that they were in when they had died. Although the volcano had harmed the city before, it had never done serious damage, and rarely caused this type of destruction and death. the first Pompeii was actually built around 800 B.C., but is believed to have been harmed many times by various eruptions. What was different about this eruption besides the fact that it lasted for two days is the fact that there were actually three waves of eruptions. Many of the people had believed that they were ok since they had survived the first and second eruption of the three, but the third one was much more destructive. Bodies are frozen in positions as if they had been shielding themselves, some as if they had been hurt, and some as if they were praying as they died.
Walking down the streets of Pompeii actually brings you back to the time of 79 A.D. The city is brought to life, and it makes you seriously think about the history of everything in this world, that this city was around when Christ was around, and 2,000 years before any of us were even born. Today, Mount Vesuvius is still a very active volcano, with it's last eruption taking place in 1944. It is considered one of the most dangerous volcanoes in the world because of the dense population of 3,000,000 residents in the immediate blast radius of the volcano, the highest density of any volcano blast area. Although we didn't get a chance to climb to the top of the volcano, I definitely plan to go back someday. Pompeii was one of the most amazing places I have ever seen in my life, and pictures cannot do it any justice.
I hope everyone had a great easter back at home. We had fun here, although Rome experienced downpours and hail. Time is still flying by faster than ever, but I'm enjoying every second of it. I hope everything is well back in the states, and keep in touch over my last 4-5 weeks here.

~Mike