How was I to know...

I knew it would be fun to be in Italy, but I had no idea how amazing it would be to explore the ruins.

We spent three days exploring Pompeii, Herculaneum and Vesuvius:


(Pompeii was not only amazing, it was really beautiful. It's massive, but the streets are human-scaled: large enough for an ox-cart, but with stepping stones for a Roman.)


(Vesuvius's double-peak visible over the ruined wall of a temple of Apollo. Before the eruption of 79AD, it had only one massive cone. Now there are two.)


(When early archeologists would hear a hollow spot under their feet, they'd drill a tiny hole and pour plaster into the underground cavity. These casts resulted - this one still has his skeleton intact.)


(On the balcony, outside of our hotel. The owner (besides being a total load) brought us fresh oranges from his garden. The roof-top across from us - you can see the green - had lemon trees and a row of fiesty artichokes at the edge.)

And two days in Rome:


(In the Coloseum.)


(In the Pantheon)