Today was our first day spent outside of Rome in a group. We left our hotel that had been home for the past week and a half and moved on to Naples. We took the high-speed train from Rome to Naples and booked some extra seats in hopes of keeping our luggage together, all failed when the train company sent someone over to tell us that our suitcases could not sit on the chairs themselves. Below I have still included a photo of the luggage strategically placed together on the seats tetris-style as everyone put in their best engineering effort to fit the bags into those four chairs.

Once we arrived in Naples we took a coach bus to our destination of the day: Pompeii. In Pompeii we were guided through the main areas such as the forum, the bath house- “Le Terme Stabiane”, an example of a rich person’s home and lastly the Teatro Piccolo by our guide Michaela. She had great insight on the history of Pompeii. One of the first things she talked about was obviously Mount Vitruvius. The citizens had no idea that the huge mountain they saw everyday housed a rumbling volcano so when the time came, and the volcano erupted, no one was prepared to take precautions and leave the city before they were covered in ash and effected by the toxic gases. Instead, they were laid to rest where they stood because they did not take actions necessary, which in the end is what gives us their well-preserved ruins and bodies/food. Below in the photo of the forum, you can see Mount Vitruvius near the center in the background.

Our tour guide was able to show us some unique features of the city as well. On the pathways and streets there are smaller white rocks inlaid within the larger stable rocks, this acted as ancient “road paint” and would illuminate the pathways at night with the reflection of the moonlight. This was one of my favorite features as I had never noticed it before on any other roman streets and once it was pointed out to me, I noticed in everywhere within the Pompeii ruins.

Another one of the features pointed out to us were the Thermopoliums. These were cement and stone structures that were inlayed with clay and surrounded in marble. They were used to keep vases and various containers of food and liquids cold on warm days. On a day like today where it was sunny and 50 degrees, the thermopoliums were still cool to the touch. These served as bars and merchant tables for the citizens.

One of the last few things to mention would be the bath house, which was a large area with smaller and fewer openings in order to keep the hot air in in the hot bath room. In Pompeii’s bath house, there was separation by sex, there was a men’s waiting room, cool bath room, sauna, and hot bath room and a women’s’ version identical to it just through a separate hallway. Another area we viewed was an example of a richer person’s home. In this what stood out to me was the intricate flooring and the frescos that included red, as it was the most expensive color. Lastly, we viewed a small theater in the city, it was most likely used for comedy, tragedy and singing performances.

The trip to Pompeii was short and sweet, I’m sure we could have all spent hours wondering around within it’s walls but it was great to have a guide and be informed on important areas of life for the citizens before their untimely death.