Pompeii

Where everything turns Vesuvian gray ...

I must figure out a way to shake the dust of Vesuvius off my feet.

Another interesting look into the past and another day of bright blue sky.

They say that much of what we understand about ancient Roman society we know because of the excavation of Pompeii. From the grooves that allowed the shops to have sliding wooden doors to the large stones that allowed pedestrians to cross streets that flowed after rains and functioned as primitive sewers the rest of the time.

Pompeii also boasted more than 30 bakeries, the first Colosseum in the Roman world, a forum patterned after Rome but smaller because of the population, estimated at 25,000, to "red light houses", where visitors told slave women what they wanted based on pictures of "positions of love" as our tour guide put it, in mosaics on the wall that survive to this day.

The included lunch was also quite good. (The Pompeii trip was an optional excursion, but it included a meal if you went.) Toast with tomatoes, a pasta dish, turkey and a dessert of custard surrounded by a spiral of fried dough and topped with powdered sugar.

The unfortunate part might have been the seven hours on the bus, but after all of the walking it wasn't a bad thing to sit around for most of the day.

 Comment? » Next: Extended Rome