Hi Everyone!

Today I toured the ancient and suddenly destroyed city of Pompeii. I have to say it was a bit overwhelming being there and getting to see the scale of it all. An entire city lost in moments. I learned (and it makes sense really), that when the volcano was erupting, the people did not realize the imminent danger that was upon them. In fairness, Mount Vesuvius does feel a long way off when looking at it - they had no clue or prior knowledge that something like a pyroclastic cloud could come rattling down at them at almost the speed of sound O_o.

There is a common misconception that the bodies you see are the actual people frozen in place - that is only kind of correct. As they were excavating the ruins the archaeologists started to find cavities in the compacted ash - with remnants of bones and other bits and started to realize they were unearthing the remains of people who were caught up in the devastation. So, they started to pour plaster casts of these cavities to try and salvage what they could and to make sense of what they were seeing - those are what you are actually looking at when you see what looks like people frozen in time at Pompeii. Still very striking though to know and to see how these people were cowering and essentially frozen/burnt in place. Horrific actually.

The site is indeed an ENTIRE CITY that sprawls out for dozens and dozens of blocks - including the city square, mayor's house, and of course, the town brothel.

Amazing experience to walk there and to take it all in.

I stayed in a nice little hostel in the new city of Pompei (yes just one i) which is just a few hundred meters away from the ruins.

Very cool experience.

Highlights maybe not captured in the video:

• You can see wheel tracks ground into the stones. Think how long it would take wood wheels to grind out grooves into solid stone?!?? Cool.

• Lots of tourist traps in Pompei. People trying to get you to pay them extra for special knowledge and maps of the ruins. About 4 or 5 people tried to stop me on my short walk between my hostel and the ruins. Watch out.

• Traffic in Pompei is a bit crazy. It's at the crossroads between quite a few highways/tollways - more to see in my next movie touring Mount Vesuvius + The Amalfi Coast so stay tuned.

Having a blast!

Eric