Pompeii



 

World Heritage Sites

 

 



 

 

Pompeii haunts me.  I walk among the ruins of a "here today, gone tomorrow" cataclysmic event, which is part of our planet's history.  On August 24, 79 CE, people were shopping for food and wine, bathing in a public spa, or checking into a hotel on holiday from Rome, when Mt. Vesuvius blew.  In the course of two days, this delightful town of 20,000 people was buried under an avalanche of ash and dirt.

Pompeii was tragically lost, then forgotten, then rediscovered nearly two millenniums later.  Its beautiful buildings, mosaics and paintings were given a new birth.  The treasures buried here represent what man does best:  Create.

 

 

 

I can't help but wonder what travelers 2,000 years from now will be paying to see.  The concrete slabs of interstates?  Steel weblike reamains of skyscrapers?  I am 100% sure they will be marveling at something from this century.  It is why I love museums.  They tell the story of the world, all neatly condensed and displayed behind a glass case.

The past is a fascinating place to visit.  Today, however, I am grateful to be here.  And tomorrow?  With the threat of "The Big One" ripping California apart, who knows?  We may be the next Pompeii.