Pompeii, 2013

We visited Pompeii Scavi, the ruins, twice in 2011, and left some of the longer posts I have done, starting at http://roadeveron.blogspot.it/2011/03/day-in-pompeii.html. We like classical stuff. A lot. We visited again on Friday, spent most of the day, saw lots of sites we'd visited before but also got to see several new ones. Specific sites open and close without notice, but the people at the information desk generally know of special openings and closings. Thus, they might tell you the House of the Village Idiot will open today only at 2PM, and, if you wait outside, sure enough, by 2:30, someone with the mother of all key rings will show up, unlock the padlocked doors, and proceed to his/her next showing. In our experience, apart from a few of the perennial favorites, that's how the really good stuff is presented.

We proceeded straight-away to our perennial favorite, the
Villa of the Mysteries, which we found to be undergoing
research, restoration, etc.; this is the main room, three walls
of which are covered with some of the best frescoes in
Pompeii; it was a treat to see them with ample light and also
to watch all the calibration, measuring, photographing going
on; it was fairly early in the day, the Villa is well outside the
walls, and we had the place pretty much to ourselves

Details from the Villa of Mysteries

Ditto

Ditto again; Dionysan Mysteries, BTW, not Dashiell Hammett

Speaking of city walls, we walked them a bit,
hoping for a short-cut; we'd never paid much
attention to them before; so here is what a
Roman city wall looked like in the 1st century

Mosaic in the House of Apollo

House of Amorini Dorati

Ditto; snakes were good luck charms...

Many people wonder why the House of the Faun takes up
nearly an entire block; I like to tell them, well, there are the
Haves and there are the Have Nots; the residents of the House
of the Faun obviously were Haves; it says so on the door
step...

Temple for worship of household goods, no,
gods

In the Stabbian Baths

After years of work, now finally open

In the House of Menander...there's Menander
himself

Frescoed atrium garden wall at Menander's

Special place...we'll be back