Round-the-World Holiday, June 23 - July 28, 2003

This little temple dedicated to Aesculapius was in the middle of the lake. We were more impressed by the dozens of turtles that were in the water with us. I've never seen so many turtles in my life!

After Rome we left for Naples. Naples sucks. We dropped our bags off at the hotel and headed for Herculaneum, which got torched in the same eruption of Vesuvius as Pompeii. It's less famous but the Snook (who's been to Pompeii) thought it was far better. There were less tourists, anyway.

Here's Herculaneum with Vesuvius in the background. Apparently the last eruption was in 1944, at which point the everpresent plume of smoke finally disappeared. Somehow that didn't make me feel any safer.

After seeing all these ruins made of stone, I kinda thought that that's what the houses looked like. Turns out I was wrong. Houses in Herculaneum were plastered and frescoed with bright colors and intricate designs. You only see bits and pieces, but it's enough to get the idea.

The best thing about Herculaneum is that they just hand you an audio guide and set you loose. You're free to walk around into all the ruins. I couldn't help but compare it to stupid Stonehenge, where you have to stand behind a rope fifty feet away. Anyway, here's the Snook with some more frescoes.

A pretty alcove. I seem to recall that at least one of the paintings at the top was a recreation to show you what it would have looked like.

Here's me and Snookums in the College of the Augustals, which was some sort of cult of freemen dedicated to Emperor Augustus.

Another pretty fresco. They seemed to do a lot of trompe l'oeil stuff where your eye would be tricked into seeing three-dimensional moldings and fake windows.