Pompeii

A city that was frozen in time.

If Orvieto is Disneyland, than Pompeii is Harry Potter World.

You go to Harry Potter world to walk the streets that you have read about in books. To see in real life what you have only imagined. And that’s what it was like to walk through Pompeii.

It’s a city that was destroyed by the volcanic eruption. Mt. Vasouveus preserved the entire ancient city just as it was. We walked the same sidewalks they walked, and saw where they took their baths, and gathered for meals.

It’s different from the rest of Rome which has been built upon with layers of history. Changing over time as each generation builds the next layer. Pompeii is a frozen picture.

What I found most interesting was learning what people did in the last minutes before they died.

It was between 11am-2pm when they would have heard the crack. Then seeing and feeling the small stones falling from the sky before the rocks and ash came crashing down. In that moment when they realized the danger, some went running home to their families, some gathered jewelry, some left bread baking in the oven. But the instinct of their decision changed their future. Because some people were able to escape, while others were frozen with the city.

It made me wonder - what would my instinct be? What would I do in those few seconds before death? Would I grab my belongings, would I leave things undone, would I go to my family?

What would you do?