Pompeii

The next morning, the Kiwi couple and I got up at 6:30 in the morning so we could catch the Circumvesuvius train and make it out to Pompeii before it got too hot.

Mt. Vesuvius is the only active volcano on mainland Europe. According to The History Channel, "The eruption of Mount Vesuvius took place in the year 79 A.D., when the volcano buried the ancient Roman city of Pompeii under a thick carpet of volcanic ash. The dust “poured across the land” like a flood, one witness wrote, and shrouded the city in “a darkness…like the black of closed and unlighted rooms.” Two thousand people died, and the city was abandoned for almost as many years. When a group of explorers rediscovered the site in 1748, they were surprised to find the city underneath a thick layer of dust and debris."  You can read a more detailed account of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD here.

I really wanted to see the Herculaneum, which is a nearby town that has even better preserved ruins, but was really hot and by noon we were wiped out and no energy to do anything else. 

Pompeii with Mt. Vesuvius in the background.

Statue of Hermaphroditus at the Temple of Apollo

Mount Vesuvius in the background.

Bath house of Pompeii.

"BEWARE OF THE DOG!"  or "Cave Canem!" This mosaic of a guard dog, one of several in Pompeii, is on the floor of the entrance hall to the House of the Tragic Poet, which also is known for its fresco of the Sacrifice of Iphigenia.

I noticed after Pompeii that I had this horrible itchy rash around my sock line and all up the calf of my leg.  I discovered this condition is known as Golfer's Vasculitis.  A conditions mostly experienced by golfers and people over 50 from walking too much in the heat.  Ouch.