Cuppa?

Backblipping my week in Italy, 4th - 9th if anyone's interested :)

Pompeii. The spectacle of the ampitheatre, the gladiator training ground and barracks, the musical theatre and the elaborate temples. The surpising size of the city, preserved almost as it was: every house, shop and venue; every major road and minor street. The horror of the body casts, forever fixed in that final moment, hugging their knees in fear; for better or worse, preserved in a public display.

It was the little details that got me. The cobbled paths dented by ancient wagon wheels; the public water fountains for the the AD 79 pauper and the 2009 tourist; the kitchens, like this one, complete with ovens and worktops. Somebody cooked here every day in the heat and now, 1930 years later, I'm looking at the ruins taking photographs with a digital camera. Archaeology never ceases to amaze me.