Amalfi Coast 3 - Pompeii

Pompeii!  How could I come to this part of the world and not see this?  It's definitely a weird feeling being here.  Sometimes, I had to remind myself that actually a volcano erupted and covered this whole area in ash, burying thousands of people alive.  I lost track of time wandering around here.  I originally intended to make the trip over to Mt. Vesuvius, but didn't have enough hours left in the day.  Heck, I barely caught the last bus back to Positano that night!

Those Romans were pretty advanced for their time (yes, I know that's an understatement).  They used elevated stones for crosswalks so that pedestrians wouldn't get their feet when when the streets flooded under heavy rains.  Chariots had standard dimensions, so the wheels would pass between the gaps in the stones and the base of the chariots would pass over the stones.

I felt like a gladiator...  Entering the arena...  hahaha

It's hard to see, but this is ancient graffiti!  The message says...  well, it's not nice.  It advertises that the woman who lives in this house is good at...  umm...  performing certain...  uhhh...  activities...

The tour guide took us inside Pompeii's brothel.  I'm not kidding...  those pictures are originals.  They depict some of the...  uhhh...  services...  that were available.  The walls were covered with these.

Pompeii is still an active archaeological dig site so some places are still not accessible to the public.

So this isn't actually human remains - this is a cast of the impression left by this man's body, which decomposed over the years (but left a cavity in the ash).

This was the look he had on his face when he died.