Day 7: February 15th
Ciao! Salve!
Today we visited Herculaneum and the National Archaeological Museum. Later we arrived in Rome!
Herculaneum was a coastal city closer to the top of Mt. Vesuvius than Pompeii. Only a small portion of Herculaneum has been excavated, so we could see it all from above. We entered through a tunnel carved out from the lava through the port entrance. Right there we could see the skeletons of people who were hoping to escape on a boat. It was really cool to see, but it was also creepy to imagine them as real people.
Herculaneum had a lot of different styles of houses. A lot of them were very large and had high ceilings. Some of the frescoes (mural paintings) used black paint, which was something that I hadn't seen before. Black paint demonstrated wealth because it was the most expensive paint color in ancient Rome. In Herculaneum, it was interesting to imagine looking out from a garden (which would have been richly decorated) to where the sea port was at the time. I imagine in the spring and summer it would have been very beautiful.
After Herculaneum, we drove to Naples to visit the National Archaeological Museum. We had lunch in Naples, where we were served eggplant layered with cheese and sauce. We have had so many different versions of pasta and pizza so far that this was probably the most adventurous food (it was really good though).
At the National Archaeological Museum, the first exhibit we saw were the mosaics. The first room of the exhibit had four columns beautifully decorated with mosaics. I never realized before that columns were something that may have been decorated with mosaics. The mosaic exhibit also contained a lot of pieces from the House of Fauna, a large house that we saw in Pompeii. In Pompeii, they had a lot of replicas of the decorative sculptures and mosaics, so it was cool to see the real thing.
The next exhibit we saw was more secluded and full of erotic material. After that, we saw the exhibit of frescoes. I love painting and looking at paintings, so it was incredible to see ancient frescoes so well preserved. Some of the frescoes were only in white and shaded with darker colors. All of the other frescoes we saw were very colorful, so I liked the different choice of simpler colors.
At the museum we also saw statues, busts, glass, a whole room on writings in Latin, and an exhibit on ancient Egypt. I really enjoyed seeing the National Archaeological Museum, and I would have loved to see more.
Afterwards, we drove to Rome. We checked into our hotel, which is pretty nice. The rooms are large, but the wifi isn't always working that well. We all have rooms next to each other nearby a separate room which is great for late night card playing. I'm excited to see what Rome entails!
Today we visited Herculaneum and the National Archaeological Museum. Later we arrived in Rome!
Herculaneum was a coastal city closer to the top of Mt. Vesuvius than Pompeii. Only a small portion of Herculaneum has been excavated, so we could see it all from above. We entered through a tunnel carved out from the lava through the port entrance. Right there we could see the skeletons of people who were hoping to escape on a boat. It was really cool to see, but it was also creepy to imagine them as real people.
Herculaneum had a lot of different styles of houses. A lot of them were very large and had high ceilings. Some of the frescoes (mural paintings) used black paint, which was something that I hadn't seen before. Black paint demonstrated wealth because it was the most expensive paint color in ancient Rome. In Herculaneum, it was interesting to imagine looking out from a garden (which would have been richly decorated) to where the sea port was at the time. I imagine in the spring and summer it would have been very beautiful.
After Herculaneum, we drove to Naples to visit the National Archaeological Museum. We had lunch in Naples, where we were served eggplant layered with cheese and sauce. We have had so many different versions of pasta and pizza so far that this was probably the most adventurous food (it was really good though).At the National Archaeological Museum, the first exhibit we saw were the mosaics. The first room of the exhibit had four columns beautifully decorated with mosaics. I never realized before that columns were something that may have been decorated with mosaics. The mosaic exhibit also contained a lot of pieces from the House of Fauna, a large house that we saw in Pompeii. In Pompeii, they had a lot of replicas of the decorative sculptures and mosaics, so it was cool to see the real thing.
The next exhibit we saw was more secluded and full of erotic material. After that, we saw the exhibit of frescoes. I love painting and looking at paintings, so it was incredible to see ancient frescoes so well preserved. Some of the frescoes were only in white and shaded with darker colors. All of the other frescoes we saw were very colorful, so I liked the different choice of simpler colors.
At the museum we also saw statues, busts, glass, a whole room on writings in Latin, and an exhibit on ancient Egypt. I really enjoyed seeing the National Archaeological Museum, and I would have loved to see more.
Afterwards, we drove to Rome. We checked into our hotel, which is pretty nice. The rooms are large, but the wifi isn't always working that well. We all have rooms next to each other nearby a separate room which is great for late night card playing. I'm excited to see what Rome entails!
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