A couple of ruins in Pompeii

Saturday 1 November 2008 - Naples/Pompeii

This was one of the highlights of the trip. Since studying O Grade and A Level Classical Studies at school, I had always wanted to visit Pompeii. I was definitely not disappointed.

The ruins are quite something else. I thought it was going to be a couple of rows of shops and maybe a house, but there is streets and streets. I even had a seat in the Amphitheatre. Evie took Oscar with her and I ended up carrying him. I was showing Evie some ancient wallpaper - drawings on the plasterwork which brightened up the houses. One thing that I didn't realise was that it was originally a Greek settlement. I was surprised however to find out that the sea was once the same level as the walls at Pompeii. The town is quite a bit above the sea and about one mile inland. It just shows that global warming and cooling has been happening for centuries.

Evie got bored half way around the ruins and ended up helping the tour guide, Ornella, by holding up her "Cunard" tour sign. In the temple of apollo she nearly hit me with it! So I ended up as the tour guide's assistant for a few minutes!

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