Side trips in Italy

We didn't stay for a day or two in every place we visited. There were a few stops we made that were only 1-4 hours long. That's the way you see so much of the country in just 12 days!

First, Pompeii. We all learned about this city in elementary history class. It was covered in the eruption from Mt. Vesuvius. But what I didn't know before was that many people actually escaped Pompeii before the eruption. What happened though was that they came back when the volcano quieted down and that was their fatal mistake. The volcano began spewing poisonous gas and that is how most of the people of Pompeii died.

The ruins of the city are amazing, but again hard to capture it all in pictures. I learned a lot about the city and living in the Roman empire in the first century - pretty amazing stuff! For instance, a smallish city like Pompeii had a gladiator training ground, two theatres and "advanced" sanitation ideas, as well as beautiful artwork and lots of temples. This is the ruins of the main political/social center of Pompeii - the Forum - with the volcano in the background. By the way, it's long overdue to erupt again!




We also stopped in Pisa to see the Leaning Tower of Pisa. It was meant to be the bell tower of the church in Pisa, but started sinking shortly after it was built. I couldn't resist trying to hold it up!






We also spent some time in the cities of Verona and Bologna and at Lake Garda. But since they weren't incredibly interesting places (although not bad places), I won't waste your time. On to Milan!