Pompeii

 Since we had 3 full days to spend in the Rome area, we decided to use one of our days and take a day trip to Pompeii.  All of the kids (with the exception of Abbie) had learned about Pompeii in school.  We took a high speed train from the main train station in Rome (Roma Termini) to the Naples train station (Napoli Centrale).  We then had to take a local commuter train from Napoli Centrale to Pompeii Scavii.   There were definitely some logistics to manage there, but it was not hard to navigate.  And, with the exception of a delayed train on our return trip, everything went smoothly. Note the views of Mt. Vesuvius in the background of these pictures.  You can see the mountain well from the forum (main plaza) of Pompeii, looming eerily in the background.

We all very quickly decided that we did not regret taking on the logistical challenge of getting here.  It was truly one of the most fascinating places I have ever been.  It is a 1st century ghost town frozen in time.  Natalie had actually just studied it and read a book about it in the spring before our trip.  She served as our tour guide specifically teaching us all about why there were large stepping stones across the streets.  Apparently the stones were necessary to keep people's feet out of the bottom part of the street where waste water flowed. We saw remains of homes and restaurants with ovens and grist mills.  You could see the holes in the countertops of restaurants where large soup pots sat.

It was amazing to see how preserved the town was in so many ways.  You could still see frescoes on the walls of homes and the colors in mosaic tiles.  We visited the "garden of the fugitives" where a lot of body casts were made from the lava that had hardened around victims as they tried to escape Pompeii. It was truly fascinating. I'm sure touring with a professional guide would have been so neat and informative.  However, we had already paid for a tour of the colosseum, so we needed to do Pompeii more affordably.  We showed ourselves around and a we packed a picnic lunch for the day.  There is so much to see there that we really only scratched the surface.  The kids got in for free and Charlie and I paid online for "skip the line tickets."  It was definitely worth it because the line was very long to purchase tickets on site.   We still had to visit a second ticket booth with our kids to show they were minors and qualified for free entry.  However, that second booth did not have a long line, so overall it was worth it to pay online to skip the line at the gate.  I recommend going as early as possible as I can only imagine it would get super hot as the day wears on.  We were blessed with a cloudy/almost misty day, so we were never hot.  That was unusual weather for that part of Italy in July, but we were very grateful!