We're in Italy at the moment

Nov 14, 2024

We left the US on election day, heading to Rome. We spent a few days in Rome, seeing various museums and other historic sites.

We spent a very long four and a half hours in the Vatican Museum, which was a bit much, but also pretty incredible. At the end of that day, I suffered a lengthy episode of atrial fibrillation. It took 4 doses of medication to get my heart back into a normal rythm. I've been feeling a lot better since then.

We then took a train to Naples for the scheduled tour of various cities and sites surrounding Mount Vesuvius. We were in Pompeii today. All I can say is WOW!

Yesterday, we visited a few historic villas, including Villa San Marco. The image below was originally found at the villa, but is now houses in a regional museum. It's my favorite picture of the whole trip so far...something about the combination of colors and the composition of the image.

We're off to see Oplontis. Here is a description of the site from a regional website:

Among Vesuvian archaeological sites, buried following the dramatic eruption in 79 A.D., Oplontis is probably the one that offers the most significant monumental evidence of the Pompeii suburbs. The group of Roman era buildings found, beginning in the Bourbon period, in the modern city of Torre Annunziata, is comparable to an actual city suburb, administratively subject to the jurisdiction of Pompeii.

This will be the final day of this 5-day tour that we've taken with Darius Arya, an archaeologist who has been featured on various TV shows. He's been a great guide, and we've learned a lot from him. He's got an impressive YouTube channel, which I recommend checking out if you're interested in ancient history.

On Saturday, we return to Rome to spend a couple of days with friends from the UK before returning to the US.

On the 11ty front, I just finished catching up on posts and sites that I've uncovered while traveling. You can find the latest posts in the Firehose and the sites are on the home page.

I'll get Issue 61 of the Bundle out shortly after I get back home.

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