This is the last post in the series. If you made it this far….congratulations. Seriously, congratulations, these posts together only come up to about 15 pages in ''word''. If only writing my school essays and final paper would come to me as easy as rambling does. Now let's see if I can manage another shorter post. With a hot cup of tea while trying to keep warm. You know what? Coming from 35 C back home to only 6 – 15 C is a huge shock and I feel like here I am more than a week later, still shivering like I did from the first moment when I stepped off the train. It also doesn't help that in general I despise cold and wet and winter. Yuck. I'm a summer being, like a lizard my boyfriend says and I do not cope well with the cold. There were people at the station in shorts and tank tops laughing cuz there I was TWO thick sweaters and still cold. Oh well...to each their own.
So the Pompeii. Another thing that made me miserable as hell in the past. I've been to Naples of course and I never saw Pompeii. Just like with Rome I only saw them from afar when leaving Naples to go to Sicily. You know what kinda hell that is? I only made it this time because of our kind hotel manager that helped, else there would be no way. Just like museum tickets, train tickets from Rome to Naples are also sold out really fast during vacation season, which aparently lasts till middle - late October. There's a fast train ''Italo'' that comes to Naples in like an hour. Amazing or? Well car takes about 2 hours, and even that not really because Italian driving….lets just say that traffic signs / lights and speed limits are just suggestions in Italy. You know how it goes right ''green light avanti avanti, yellow light a decoration and red light just a suggestion''.
I suppose you know that Pompeii is an ancient Roman city, near Naples that was as well as Herculaneum (pretty much the same thing, just less famous) buried under over 6 meters of volcanic ash and debris in 79 AD from the eruption of Mount Vesuvius which nobody even knew was a volcano. Can you imagine that? Living under a deadly volcano and not even knowing. Then it blows up with no warning, with no time to escape. Horrible. They say Vesuvio though, these days is finished, dead, but nobody dares to say it can't become active again…We have one like that in Slovenia. They call it the ''dead volcano''. It's a green hill, trees and such. But I mean can anyone really guarantee it won't blow up someday? Like that damn Yellowstone in America, deadly one, but I actually read somewhere that Vesuvio is far more dangerous.
Did y'all watch the movie Pompeii? Not a documentary but an actual movie. It was made in 2014, I literally went to see it because Kit Harrington stars in it. I know I know I'm shallow, god help, at least I admit I am. It's a romantic, historical drama. It's not a historical master piece but I liked it (obviously cuz Kit….shallow like I said) but hell that ending. That ending! I mean I could just about imagine the movie won't have a happy end since I know what happened in real life but still. Two lovers, running away on the horse, the guy telling the girl to go alone because the horse can't carry both, and instead she sends the horse away and they die in eachothers arms while sharing one last kiss. Rip my heart out why don't you, it will hurt less. I can't stand sad endings at all. Someone usually proof watches the movies for me, no joke.
Not my photo so credit to the owner, if it's you or you know em, let me know to tag em.
I suppose movie made the people of Pompeii seem more real. It's so hard to imagine that when you walk through those streets and houses, you're actually walking through someones home, looking at the same walls that once upon a time decorated their bedroom walls. It's fascinating and horrofying. These remains were preserved under tons and tons of volcanic ash and some of them appear frozen in time. It's like…people vanished and the city is frozen in time. It's amazing. Not to mention how valuable it is. Just because it offers an amazing insight into Romans everyday life that archeologist can't get anywhere else.
For instance. They found several different indications of diet, learning that the rich and the poor in Pompeii ate the same food, and that given their diet being low in sugars Pompeiians had very nice teeth. Not to mention they found several different charred pieces of seeds, nuts and even an entire loaf of bread, forgotten in some oven. I mean it was insane to think, such catastrophe that killed people and animals in an instant but a loaf of bread survived. It feels surreal.
The city itself was a wealthy one, a lot of public buildings, luxurious private houses with amazing mosaics on the floors and beautiful wall paintings and decorations. The main streets had many tiny shops and even restaurants with the early version of fast food. There used to be a public spa, a draining system for rain water and raised blocks where people could cross the street without getting wet, and lets not even start with the indoor heating system that they had inside the walls. I mean. Woah. It's hard to imagine just how advanced, educated and smart the Romans were, especially since we all know that with the rise of Christianity and the Catholic church and the dark middle ages, humanity was thrown 300 years back. It's sad to think that something like the church could stop progress like it did. Lord only knows where people could be today if we'd build on the mighty Roman power and advancment.
The entire city is surreal. Like I said for a moment it's hard to imagine that people living there almost 2000 years ago were real, but then again if you watch closely and then close your eyes and concentrate you'll almost hear the squeaky noises the cart wheels would make, the rattle of horses on the cobble streets and the hassle of the market place or heated debates at the forum. It's amazing.
Pliny (a witness to the disaster) who documented so many important historic things wrote about the Pompeii; ''Vesuvius engulfed Pompeii in a darkness that was as if the light has gone out of a room that is locked and sealed.'' So it was not just a little dark, but complete pitch black.
Pompeii are an on going investigation and study and research. Despite the ruins being massive, literally massive, we spent over 4 hours inside not walking in circles mind you, always on different streets, pass different houses, and yet we only saw probably two thirds of the entire exposed city. Some of the things were just too astonishing. The fountain, a colorful amazingly intact piece, so beautiful, mosaics on the floors of richer inhabitants houses, one on the floors of the house of the ''tragic poet''. A spa with insane frescos, all the food, pottery and human remains, which are chilling to say the least…but in 2012 a new conservation program was launched. Makes me super depressed I am not an archeologist because digging up such remains as well as say dinosaur skelletons makes my entire skin tingle with excitment. Can you even imagine being the first one to see something like this? Pulling a piece of history from the sand / dirt with your own hands. No money can buy that.
As much as I read is that the new region of the city, there's more than a third left unexplored btw, already brought new amazing relevations, such as skelletons, money, remains of a horse, which had to be a very expensive bred horse, judging from the bronze plated wooden horns on it's saddle and the harness (which pieces of were also already stolen. Like I said in my last posts. Just WHAT is wrong with people?!). There was aparently also a wooden bed, amazing frescos, murals and mosaics unlike anything unearth ever before. We are supposed to have something as amazing, fresco wise, from Roman times under our museum down town, restoration took a long time, and I'm still patiently waiting for it to open. Can you imagine? Pompeii has everything, EVERYTHING that you can possibly imagine, frescos, mosaics, even a glass vase, GLASS, bread, creepy plaster body remains and yet that this find, our find is unlike anything else in the world. If I'm not mistaking that's because it's so well preserved, and wall frescos from Roman times who's shapes and colours are this well preserved are despite popular belief super rare. I'm like hanging on the edge of my seat with excitment, can't wait to finally see them. Been excited about it for over a year since I first heard about the discovery and been prancing around the site in hopes to see anything, news flash, it didn't work. Lol. Of course I am also not that suprised they should find amazing Roman remains here, we used to be a huge trading city in the Roman times, even our old name was Roman ''Celeia''. It's a history we should definately be far more proud of, but it somehow gets lost under the more recent one. Such as the stories of the Counts. But fact is there's a Roman street under one of our museums which you can walk on and it's preserved better than any Roman street in Italy and if that's not amazing than I don't know what is.
Pompeii though suffered a lot of neglect, corruption, vandalism, theft (again what the fuck is wrong with humans?!), climate issues and of course undefunding and therefore improper care. The height of all of this happened back in 2010 when one of the very amazing and beautiful buildings that featured paintings of gladiators collapsed. A disgrace for Italy as the president at the time said and I can only agree. But today I have to compliment them. The site is properly managed and maintained, there is so much and I do mean SO MUCH happening all over, the important sites are secured with roofs above them, pillars are reinforced and there are supporting stages everywhere where needed. So respect, they are doing a great job to preserve them, I suppose being under UNESCO also means they have to. It would be horrible to have something so important, so unique and so precious lost due to negligent behaviour.
Despite the popular belief that Vesuvio killed everyone and that they couldn't escape that's a false belief. Before any eruption there are tremors and earthquakes so a lot of the inhabitants fleed the city at the first serious sign of earthquakes, therefore saving their lives. Experts say that out of say 12,000 inhabitants mostly all of them escaped, leaving about 1200 behind who's bodies have been recovered. Of course this is only an average number and surely there will be more recovered as they go along, like they did just now, bodies and bones in region V. Before these skeletal remains bodies found were actually just voids in the ash that the bodies left and experts used plaster to get these grousome molds, but now they found actual bones and thicker wintery clothing which sent them for quite a spin because up till now they believed that the catastrophe happened in August but it would appear it was actually in October.
Just newly discovered was also an amazingly preserved fresco of Leda and Jupiter in a swan form, layers and layers of ash and debris preserved the colours which despite it's age still feel as bright and as vivid as they were back in the day. I'm already seeing that this visit was my first but sure as hell not my last. As soon as the new regions are opened for the public, I just HAVE to go back. Exploring ancient history like this, where you can actually walk the same streets, enter the same houses and former stores and restaurants, it's just so exciting, and really makes you feel like you're a part of their story.
What I find amazing is the fact that besides fast food counters and shops, Romans were quite advanced and free thinking in their sexual lives as well, easily found in the Pompeii is a brothel as well with paintings on the walls serving as….menus? if that's even the right term? List of services maybe? Or say stimulation? The first version of ''online porn'' and quite honestly I find that rather incredible. There are also penises everywhere. I mean it's quite funny really, you walk down a certain street and you see them carved in the walls, or on the floors. Funny. It's a guess what they mean though, a way to the brothel? Like are they pointing the way? Some experts say that really, they just meant good luck, so Romans had them carved above their doors as well. And in these days they graffiti them everywhere as an insult. Funny how humanity changes through the years and decades.
Also guess what guess what? Just like the cemetery has cats so does Pompeii. Both! Cats and dogs and they are super friendly, love to be pet and love to follow you around on a walk. The staff at Pompeii takes care of them and feeds them. Again. Saints.
So, in order to keep this ''short and sweet'', which is probably a first, lets be honest when did I ever keep my blogs short? Or sweet for that matter. Hah. But point, in order to at least try it, I will stop rambling here, just an ending thought. I'm over the moon that I finally got to see the city, got to explore it on my own, instead of just watching movies or documentaries. It was a surreal experience and an odd ''abandoned photoshooting'' chance. I'm sharing some pictures in between text and below. Pompeii officials only allow pictures for personal use, so, please no sharing and enjoy. Next post, business as usual. A concert write up and I'm already super excited. About the concert obviously, not the review. And no, not spilling just yet who the concert review is going to be about...See y'all later guys.
P.S. Do yourselves a favour, type into youtube ''Kissin' Dynamite feat. The Baseballs - Cadillac maniac''. I am obsessed and it might be the only song I listen to all week.
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