Pompeii and Herculaneum

It's hard to put into words the effect this trip had on us.  Before we went, I had absolutely no idea how huge Pompeii was.  I suppose I had imagined a couple of streets of uncovered houses, pretty much archaeological ruins.  What I did not expect was to find myself walking around a city, of which there was still a huge amount buried beneath millions of tons of volcanic ash.

The weight of the ash caused all roofs to cave in, so these have been restored.  But most of the uprights, the pillars etc., are original.  Historians have identified the seeds in the gardens, and have planted again the fruit trees, flowers, and shrubs that once proliferated in the gardens of the houses.  In this picture we can see the huge ornamental fishponds, which would have been home to ornamental fish and pond plants. 
It was like looking over the wall, into someone's beautiful garden early in the morning, while they all still slept inside their house.  But the sheer scale was mind-blowing.  There were long long streets, paved with shiny flat stones which still bore the ruts of cart wheels.  The colours painted on the interior walls were vibrant and bright, and the shops with their marble counters and great pottery urns for storing foodstuffs were as fresh as any takeaway in my town today. 

In the giant piazza, surrounded by enormous pillars, there is currently an exhibition of sculpture by a Polish artist.  Although these pieces bear no resemblance to the historical artefacts which once graced plinths and podiums here, they somehow were totally in character and added a real sense of drama and power to the scene. 
Herculaneum was smaller, due to 70% of the surface area of it having been built over centuries later, and I can tell you it is a bit surreal walking around a ruined town when at the end of a street there is an apartment block with washing hanging from its verandah!

Here we saw the most moving sight; huddled and bundled in the boatsheds and storage cellars, where they had run to hide from the tide of volcanic mud flowing down from Vesuvius, were skeletons of men, women and children.  Not the casts of bodies which were left lying in the streets of Pompeii, but the actual bones and skulls of real people, fleeing for their lives. 

And still giant Vesuvius towers above, and no-one really has any idea when it may erupt again.