Pompeii

Today we spent the entire day inside Pompeii, arriving at 9.00am and not leaving until after 5.00pm. I knew the town was large but it is difficult to understand the sheer scale of it until you come here. We are accompanied all week by our guide who is a lecturer in Archaeology at the University of Essex, so he not only took us to all of the most important things to see, he gave us a full and detailed commentary about what we were seeing, and the history and archaeology behind it. That was really invaluable, particularly when you occasionally overheard the level of commentary other groups were getting from their guides! This is a wonderfully preserved mosaic in one of the bath-houses down by what would have been the seashore 2000 years ago; now the shore is around two miles away. A long and tiring day, and only time for a quick shower before it is time for dinner.

Thanks for all the comments and stars on yesterday's Blip. The wi-fi in the hotel is very erratic; after several unsuccessful attempts to upload my Blip in the evening I found it uploaded quickly in the morning. As a result it's virtually impossible to look at other Blips or reply to comments but I do appreciate them. I shall try and upload this now but if it doesn't work, it may have to wait until morning!