Today at Pompeii, I was surprised to find the place mostly intact, in much better condition than Ostia Antica, considering the fact that it had been struck by the fist of Vulcan. I saw the Amphitheater, Theatre, Domus Caecilii (House of Caecilius; Dakota had studied this guy last year and wanted to see the house really badly), and Villa Misteries. Aman led me and Dakota along a 3.2 km path around the perimeter of the city that took us forever to complete, so we couldn’t see as much as of the city as we would have like to. Nevertheless, walking through streets that had once been walked by ancient Pompeiians and had been covered in ash 1932 years ago, I was caught by a feeling of both mourning and awe. I also saw a few preserved bodies with genuine expressions of fear and resignation.
Pompeii
In the afternoon, I translated some of Vergil’s Aeneid with friends in a really tight space in a really small hotel, and then had a dinner of pasta and potatoes again (Italians love pasta and potatoes, I have discovered). During the evening, we were set loose to wander only in our hotel in Naples, since roaming outside would be almost suicidal.
Today my quixotic assumptions about Naples were shattered: previously, I had thought that Naples, one of the big cities in Italy, would be romantic and bustling with positive energy, on par with Rome. But apparently, Naples is a hub of poverty, and it thus has many thieves and is not very sanitary. I guess sometimes you have to accept the not-so-good parts of life in addition to all the enjoyments that life throws at you...
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