Pompei

Check one off my bucket list. When I was a little girl, I had a book about Pompei. I thought it was the most amazing book, and today I got to walk through the streets of Pompei! It was a huge city with all kinds of shops and bakeries, and to actually be able to run my hands along the ancient walls and see the chariot tracks in the road gave me chills. As a young girl, I never dreamed I would someday experience Pompei with a group of my students. One of the reasons it was amazing was because we had a tremendous guide who gave us great insight into the history of Pompei. For example, I did not know that the gladiators who fought in the city's stadium were actually prisoners who remained locked up in individual cells surrounding the city's main theatre area. These men were only able to come out when they needed to practice for their upcoming events. How frightening it must have been for them to feel the earthquakes that shook the city in the days immediately preceding the explosion and to see the ash and smell the gases that escaped from the mountain. They had no place to go. This tour was one of my favorites so far.
Karen Wells

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