cat63 | (no subject)

More pictures from Pompeii on Saturday.

Pampas grass outside the hotel.

Path up to the city gates

The Basilica, where court cases were heard. It must have been even more amazing when it was complete.

Water spout, providing drinking water for visitors to the city.

We poked around a bit in some of the more obscure corners and this was another of the mosaics that we stumbled over.

Wall painting in the Macellum.

Not a celtic stone circle but a Roman fish market :)

Amphorae in storage.

Altar in the Temple of Augustus. Amusingly, to a fan of Lindsay Davies' Falco novels, the two chaps carrying the religious paraphernalia have the title of Camilli :)

Wall plaque on a street corner.

Exposed hypocaust in the Stabian Baths.

Stabian Baths

Stucco detail, Stabian Baths

Stucco decoration, Stabian Baths

Cart tracks.

Palaestra, Stabian Baths

House of the Faun, the eponymous statue.

House of the Faun, entranceway

House of the Faun, mosaic.

House of the Faun, mosaic picture of doves stealing a necklace.

House of the Faun, Roman cubism :)

Tower in the city wall

View down into a city from the walk outside the walls.

Tower at the Porta Vesuvio

Castellum Aquae - this was the point where the main aqueduct entered the city and the water was piped out from it.

Tomb in the Porta Herculano necropolis

Detail of the restored roof of the Villa Dei Misteri

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I'm assuming that the gent with the orange backpack is your esteemed husband,

Indeed, it is none other than he :)

In his Tilley hat, which apparently makes him look suspicious as he got searched on the way out at both Birmingham and Frankfurt airports, but not at all on the way back when he swapped it for his Rolls Royce baseball cap :)

Fauns - they do not look nice like Mr. Tumnus.

I think it's a satyr, actually, but I'm not an archaeologist, so what do I know? :)

And cart tracks - into stone....how is that possible?

Rob thinks maybe they used metal "tyres" to reinforce the wooden wheels.

Don't apologise - I like your random commentary :) It was so great to have time to wander round and just peer at random things

A Tilley hat makes one look suspicious? Yet a baseball cap advertising a line of luxury sedans is okay....is this capitalism at work again? Forgive my jaded response; I'm reading about modern China at the moment and am feeling quite bitter towards the manufacturers of luxury anything. Did you know that there are 200 million migrant workers living in shantytowns on the outskirts of Shanghai? I didn't, and I'm pissed off.

I guess, considering what Romans wore to war, that there must have been expert metalworkers about so who's to say that there weren't metal tyres about on wagons? I don't remembering seeing any in Asterix and Obelix, but they were in Gaul and maybe iron tyres hadn't reached the frontier. :)

A Tilley hat makes one look suspicious? Yet a baseball cap advertising a line of luxury sedans is okay....is this capitalism at work again?

I think the key thing is that Rolls Royce also make aircraft engines (in fact the car business is no longer owned by the Rolls Royce company - no, I have no clue what that's about) and perhaps someone wearing a hat with their logo is a less likely candidate for doing naughty things to aeroplanes? Mind you, it could be a complete coincidence or to do with the time of day or what the particular security person had for lunch for all I know :)

Did you know that there are 200 million migrant workers living in shantytowns on the outskirts of Shanghai?

I didn't, but I knew things in China must be pretty lousy still. Have you read Jung Chang's Wild Swans? The things that happened under Mao were truly sickening too.

I guess, considering what Romans wore to war, that there must have been expert metalworkers about so who's to say that there weren't metal tyres about on wagons?

seems entirely possible - they were very good at inventing things (and nicking other people's inventions for that matter :)).