Vesuvius erupts again!!!!!

I signed up for a day trip to Pompeii led my my professor Dr. Nicholson. He teaches my Art in Rome class as well as my Baroque Art class. Before we left he warned us about the recent volcanic activity with Pompeii. Volcanologists were predicting an eruption at any time. We read the articles and listened to him, but didn't take the warnings too seriously. We took a bus down to Naples early in the morning to get started. We went through Pompeii, houses and piazzas, gardens and brothels. That was when the alarms started to ring and the ground started to shake.... just kidding! Haha! But I did have alot of fun with Photoshop!!

One really interesting thing about Pompeii is that biologists have recreated the gardens as they were before the eruption. All of the same flowers, fruits, even the colors are supposedly the same as they once were. Thats pretty impressive science!

The coolest thing about Pompeii, what differentiates it from other ancient ruins, is the body casts. When the first excavations were happening, the archeologists realized that the pockets of air they found with human bones at the bottom were actually bubbles that were the exact shapes of human bodies! So when they found a pocket of air, instead of digging around more, they would fill the pocket with plaster, let it dry, and then chip away the lava from around it. Some of the impressions were so precise that I could see belts and pleats in clothing! One body was actually screaming, and I could see his teeth!

We also saw the bath building. The towel hooks were still on the walls! The bath building has the oldest known person-made dome ceiling. It has a hole at the top, just like the Pantheon, but I think it was designed to let the steam out.
All-in-all, Pompeii was sweet. Thank goodness we survived the trip! Haha!! I am still planning on going back to actually see Naples at some point before I leave. I have to try this pizza place I'm reading about in Eat, Pray, Love and see Herculaneum, which my Uncle Ron and Aunt Cindy have convinced me to see ;)