Pompeii - 18.2.2010

I spent about half a day wondering among the ruins of different degrees. The scale is not human, especially the main public spaces, the forum, court, main temple, stadium, and theater. The Density was much higher than Herculaneum once you get into the residential areas. The site is large enough that a good chunk of the time while exploring I felt alone. I did not run into many tourists until I hit the main attractions in the afternoon. The streets were easy to navigate since it was a typical Roman grid system. Off on the lower Southwest side I found a nice temple park area. I walk through a large rectangular entry way to a see a large green space with rows of shady trees and a cool breeze. At the back there were remnants of an old temple. I spent about 15 minutes in that space, tranquil with the sweet chirping of birds and leaves rustling from the gentle breeze the sun playing peek-a-boo around the clouds as I sit on an old stone semi-circle bench thinking about what I have seen. Stairs 20ft high wrapping around me 360 degrees except for over time where they have begun to disappear under green grass, I was in the amphitheater. Then winding through some more streets I stumbled upon some small house gardens with a few blossoms due to the mild winters they have here. The weather today was tricky. You start off cool, then hot, warm, cold, and then back to hot. I felt like I was going through menopause. It all just depended on whether the sun was out from behind the clouds, if you were walking, in the shade, wind blocked locations, etc. I found myself constantly adding layers and taking away layers to stay comfortable; it was a little frustrating. Getting hungry I headed back to the forum where it was flooded with other tourists and dogs. I saw Freddy and Ricky, dogs a few of us had met the night before on our way back from dinner. Of to one side I came across some French teenage boys playing wall ball. Interesting to see them horsing around all this history wondering if they realize or care what they are playing around. One sign of old age is when you can see how you used to act and feel, just like those boys, compared to now after time and education it has changed. a sense of maturity, understanding and knowledge. The forum was a good place to people watch, that is where I saw an adorable 2 year old boy running a around squeezing between stone ruins, picking up and playing with the pebbles on the side walk as if at home in his sand box. This large sand box for the Romans was fascinatingly perfect for history and photography lovers. The scale, use of the materials, spaces and city layout made that can’t be understood by pictures or words made the biggest impact on me.