day.at.pompeii

After "vacationing" in Herculaneum for a day, we headed off to the "busier" city of Pompei--the highlight of our South Trip. Despite foggy weather that completely obscured Mt. Vesuvius for the entire 3 days of our excursion, the weather behaved for the most part.


In fact, the foggy weather occasionally gave way to splendidly brief moments of sunshine, which hit the ruins perfectly as we enjoyed our nearly empty Pompei.



As an added bonus, the potentially rainy skies seemed to keep the hoardes away from the city (and also the fact that our overly excited fearless leaders forced us to be in line even before the city opened).

We had full reign of Pompei for well over an hour...not another soul in sight. Slightly eerie, but beautiful.

After running amock in the Forum with our cameras, Don led us in our group to check out the houses of Pompei...


A strangely atypical house on one of the tiny back streets of Pompeii (the atrium would never open on axis to the stairs like that...must have been a remodel...)

And of course, off to the famously giant "House of the Faun", one of the best known sites in Pompeii...named for this statue (actually a replica, as the jerks from Naples' Archeological Museum seem to snatched up a lot of the originals...)




Then we were set free for several hours to wander the seemingly never-ending streets of Pompeii...



Where Renae and I discovered an unlocked door to the back of the House of the Tragic Poet, another main destination in Pompeii...

Still not sure if we were supposed to be in there, but no one arrested me and I got my pictures. I'd call that a win.


Of course, the famous mosaic floor at the entry of the House of the Tragic Poet (actually a replica...grrrrr, Naples....). Here's why I love Pompeii so much: the city's love for dogs continues.

In fact, Pompeii welcomes dogs. There are tons of formerly stray dogs that call Pompeii home. The city now collars them, feeds them, keeps them healthy, and best of all, finds them all adoptive homes with visitors. These doggies even have their own website!


This is Cuspius. He was my buddy for the morning while I explored on my own:


We went to the botanical gardens, got a snack, sketched for a while, toured a few houses, and he showed the way to the cafeteria (probably in hopes of getting more of my pizza and snacks...)

My last stop before meeting up with Renae and the rest of the group to head toward the Villa of Mysteries (no pictures, as I was so focused on my tired, ouch-y feet I forgot...) was the Bath complex. (Cuspius didn't join me...apparently, like most dogs, he was not a fan of baths.)