Campania

I just got back to Rome from my week in Campania.  I had a great time and saw more than I could have imagined.  Pompeii and Herculaneum were some of the most remarkable places I have ever been.  It rained a bit while we were in Pompeii, but that didn't stop us from seeing as much as possible.  I am completely exhausted, but it was totally worth it.  The food, as usual, was unbelievable as well.  I won't waste your time telling you every detail, but rather I will just post a selection of pictures and add captions.

Tiberius' cave in Sperlonga.  Essentially this is a manmade cave used as a dinning room for the Emperor Tiberius.  There were originally statues everywhere, but more spectacular anymore is the view.

View out into the Bay of Naples:

This is a thermapolium in Pompeii.  Essentially these are roadside shops that serve food - including hot food.  This is a picture of the countertop with storage containers built into it.

Wall painting from Pompeii.  These are literally everywhere.

Here is another picture of a thermapolium, but with a nice view of what the storage containers look like.

This is a carbonized wooden partition from a house in Herculaneum.  Wood hardly ever survives and so this is extremely impressive.

View from the atrium of a house out towards the street.

Mt. Vesuvius looms in the background.

Amphitheater at Capua.  The superstructure didn't survive so well, but this was actually the second largest amphitheater in Italy (behind only the Colosseum).

I left out a lot of details, but I'm rather tired and have a ton of work to do.  I couldn't take as many pictures as I wanted to because it rained quite a bit, but oh well.  Hope all is well on your end.

Best,

Adam