One volcanic eruption can ruin your day

Pompeii. One word is all you need to say and everyone knows what you are talking about. 

(But there is another town not as well known. That village was Herculaneum. It, too, was buried under volcanic ash and pumice in the Eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD. However, it’s kind of a mouthful to say.)

But we’ll get to that when we get there. And getting there was kind of interesting. I didn’t realize Pompeii was a 3 h drive south of Rome, not far from Naples. Like all road trips, you have to stop.

If it was up to me, all road side gas stations will have gourmet panini.

And provide a comfortable cafe sans a tacky fast food environment.

Yet, you can still buy limoncello in an Italy-shaped bottle stylized in stiletto boot.

Limoncello. A postmeal lemon-based liqueur. Right before going to the ruins of Pompeii, we had lunch. Our meal included a complimentary soda, beer, or wine. I decided to pay extra to add the limoncello. You know, when in Rome—or ~150 mi/240 km near it—do as they do.

My initial first impression was liquid summer. After all, the color matches the glorious sun over the Bay of Naples. Next, an aroma of freshly peeled zest, followed by the perfect lemon drop hard candy sensation…

…UNTIL the unholy extra strength FLOOR CLEANER flavor overcomes the delightful citrus taste you just had! Who in God’s Creation thinks Lysol is fit for human consumption???!!!

I don’t know. Maybe it’s an acquired taste? It turned OK once I cut it with orange Fanta.

One more stop. This time to a cameo shop and art gallery. Sure. I guess there’s a kickback deal worked out with the tour company to bring their guests to the very fine purveyor of handcrafted jewelry, Cellini Gallery Cameos & Corals Their work is done by hand from a conch shell using only the finest, most painstaking techniques. (No, I’m getting nothing from that plug 😜).

What was interesting was browsing their gallery. Some really unusual pieces from the empire. 

Here are examples of the Roman steampunk period.

And then this painting. There must be a story. Insert your own joke. (No credit if it begins with, “Is that a sword or are you…”)

Finally, we get to Pompeii. 

One thing that is surprising is that it is elevated from the surrounding land since most of it occupies a plateau.

Next, it is bigger than I expected. Its highest population was estimated to be about 11,500 residents based on housing units. 

There was a sporting arena and an amphitheater*. Definitely not a podunk town. 

*Confession: I didn’t realize it had both, so when I saw graduated seating rows, I thought  I was near the amphitheater, but I was on the other end of town, where the arena was. Kind of disorienting.

Can you blame me? Once you’ve seen one street in Pompeii, you’ve pretty much seen them all.

Mabel’s photo was taken at several different points. Worst directions to give in Pompeii? “It’s at the corner with the grey stone road and the brick walls with no roof.”

Let’s get back to how big it is. It is about 3.5 NYC Central Parks. If one attempted to walk every street…they must really be bored. Really? 5, 6, 8 h on these streets and you’re asking for a twisted ankle.

You know what else is like NYC? The unearthed pizzeria in the middle of town. Seriously. No, it wasn’t really unearthed, but pizza snobs would like to bury it.

Ancient punishment for ordering pineapple on a pizza?

And woe to those asking for ranch dressing.