Pompeii

Pompeii is enormous. Nothing prepares you for just how large and well preserved this ruined city is. It is the best snapshot we have into Roman life ~79 A.D. Not included in this blog post is the wide variety of sexual content around the city; the Romans were not as modest as we are.

We enjoyed the gorgeous views of Naples bay on the train from Naples to Pompeii.

Casts of the ash encased dead of Pompeii scatter the ruins

Pompeii's Colosseum

Some funerary monuments outside Pompeii's walls

Many houses have guard dog mosaics in the entrance.

View from the center of Pompeii

Another house's guard dog

Pompeii's plaza

The guard dog of the House of the Tragic Poet

Windows 98

A recreation of the Alexander the Great mosaic in the House of the Satyr

Many side roads in Pompeii are abandoned

Bear mosaic

Vivid frescoes

Starbucks household shrine

Some of the frescoes in Pompeii reminded me of the 16th century artwork in Mantua's Gonzaga palaces.

Egyptian influences in the House of Mysteries.

Frescoes in the House of Mysteries at the edge of Pompeii.