Time Travelers

Morning came early today, especially for those of us who'd been out partying like Italians the night before. But we we out on the curb a few minutes before 7:00, and our car arrived on the dot. Introductions were made: Mauritzio, our driver, and Gianni, a guide-in-training who was a bonus for us.

We headed towards Pompeii, via a not-particularly-scenic route, so naps were encouraged. Once we arrived at Pompeii we were greeted by Gaetano Manfredi, our guide for Pompeii. In all the tours I've ever taken I have never been more impressed than I was with Gaetano. He is so passionate, so enthusiastic, so knowledgable - his excitement is contagious.

Right inside the entrance, we got the overview: in 79 AD, the 700 year-old thriving city of Pompeii was buried first under a layer ash, then sealed with lava when the nearby Mt Vesuvius cataclysmically erupted. There it remained: citizens, structures, pets -everything, frozen in time - until it was accidentally discovered in 1749.

I won't go into a turn-by-turn description, but some of the most interesting were the Basilica, which was the courthouse, a home of a wealthy person, the temples, the baths, the restaurants and of course the brothels. Gaetano really made it come alive for us; it was easy to picture a colorful, bustling city. He pointed out how our modern society has drawn on many of the components of early Roman life, which was quite good. Every person in Pompeii, rich or poor, homeowner or condo-dweller, had running water and toilets. Think about the fact that 35% of the world's population today do not enjoy those amentites.... There were no slums- rich lived next to poor. There was no racism, the classes were slaves and owners. However, slaves could become free, and often owners bequeathed their property to their slaves, making them "liberte." Women and men were free to mingle and attend the same events, unlike in many parts of the world today. Everyone got to vote, and elections were once a year so politicians were highly motivated to work for the common good. The way things worked was that your private business was your business - anyone, included slaves, was free to worship (or not) as they chose, homosexuality did not make one a pariah, etc, etc, etc. Tolerance was the order of the day.

At one point Griff said that if classes were as interesting as this he would love school. You know how sometimes you space out when you are listening to someone for a couple of hours? That did not happen in Pompeii - we were hanging on every word.

One sad thing is that the ruins are deteriorating rapidly, due to environmental issues as well as tourism. Archaeology is evolving and better methods of preservation and study are being developed all the time. The body cast are well known - wherever there was organic material in the ash a cavity developed, and early scientists pumped plaster into those cavities, then excavated them. This method destroyed the bones, there are now better ways to do this. It was moving, seeing the expressions of the people that died there, often in agony as they suffocated. You could see so many details, including their teeth and what they were wearing. The good news is that about 30% of the city is still buried, and it will stay there for future generations to work with.

This was an experience we will all be thinking about for a long time.

Gaetano then turned us back over to Mauritzio and Gianni for our trip to Positano. We set off, and ended up in a coversation with Gianni about the Mafia - very interesting. As we neared the coast we saw the Bay of Naples, soon followed by our first glimpse of the Mediterranean (Sea of Salerno) and the city of Sorrento. Even though it was a cloudy, overcast day the light and colors were breathtaking. We drove steep, winding roads that were right on the very edge of the cliffs, stopping on occasion to get out of the car and admire. Heading higher, we entered the town of Positano, The Pearl of the Mediterranean. There are lemon trees everywhere! And the lemons are enormous, about the size of grapefruits. Positano is known for limoncello, a lemon flavored liqueur that we all enjoyed sampling.

The town is built right into the side of the cliff; the buildings seem as if they could just fall off at any time. All the colors are orange, and yellow and faded red and the light makes them shimmer. The roads are old stone, narrow and twisty. We parked, and proceeded to walk down a steep pedestrian-only road, down to the sea.

There we had a delicious lunch (preceeded by some of the local limoncello) - Ben and I had risotta, Connor continues his research into Pizza Margharita, and Griff had Veal Milanese, or as the menu called it: Veal Schnitzel. After lunch we walked on the beach, then meandered back up to the top of the town, stopping in shops and poking around. Connor wants to move there. So, if Beau moves to Gibralter and Connor settles on the Amalfi Coast we will have some good family vacation destinations!

We met back up with Mauritzio and Gianno and headed back to Rome. All of us dozed a bit on the way home, but we are all in for the night. Not even going to visit Pizza Cero - Ben and Griff went to the supermarket for a baguette, we have cheese and salumi and are just going to have snacks and adult beverages here.

It has been a long, perfect day. Tomorrow, assuming there is not a national strike, we will visit the Coloseum, Forum and maybe Victor Emmanuel monument.