September 18-20
Pompeii was amazing! The city itself is so BIG and they've only excavated 1/9 of it, with the thought that when technology improves, they can do more and be more careful, and they can leave some for future generations, which is really cool. Maybe someday I could come back and work on restoring a fresco in a newly uncovered section! That would be awesome. Many dreams. We also went to Paestum, where there are temples to Athena, Apollo, and Hera that are still in really good condition. Friday we actually started by going to the National Museum in Napoli (Naples) which was amazing. They have all kinds of statues, frescoes, artifacts... everything you can imagine from all the major sites in that region/state, including stuff from Pompeii. The quality of preservation that the ash created was incredible - some of it looked better than things you find in modern antique stores or your Aunt Fannie's attic! After the museum we went to Pompeii, then we went to Paestum and Herculanium/Ercolanium on Saturday. In Ercolanium we went to the virtual museum, which I had read about a year or two ago. You should look it up - I can't even describe it but it was the best museum ever - totally interactive and all technological. Sunday I went to mass with one of the other students at the Basilica in Pompeii, which is the most beautiful and richly decorated church I have ever seen in my life - frescoes with such details and vibrant colors... it had such quality Michelangelo could himself could have painted it yesterday! It also had mosaics in gold, glass and precious stones and metals, pillars of colored marble, and the wood was all dark, heavy wood. It would be worthy of a king or the pope. My favorite part was the oculus/dome at the top of the church in the center. It was on two levels - the first had saints looking up toward the center, which was set deeper than the saint level and depicted the ascention. After mass (at 7am) we went to breakfast and went to La Reggia di Caserta, a palace in Caserta with gardens, a palace, a small castle, a fish pond as big as a small lake, and statues everywhere. Xenn, Katie and I rented a bike for 4 and rode all over the property. We barely made it back in the hour we were given. We got back to Orvieto at about 6:30pm (after a short stop to buy buffalo mozzarella cheese, which comes in soft balls bigger than a man's fist... soooo yummy. The hotel was nice enough, but I still had 3 roommates. Fortunately, we each had our own bed, and I managed to get the double bed for myself. Everyone else was too busy being nice and doing the "don't take the last slice" rule, so I just went over and sat on it and claimed it.
