Our hotel, the Best Western Paradiso, is the white building
on the left, with a view of the city and harbor below.

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This is the Funicolare that ran on rails up and down the hill - servicing five stations.  The station in the middle was near out hotel. This is the area at the bottom of the hill near the Funicolare station Bill with our friend Louis, who joined us for the first part of our - trip.  They are outside the Naples National Archaeological Museum, - one of the most important and leading archaeological museums in the world. The museum has an unprecedented collection of Roman-Greco - antiquities from Pompeii, Stabiae and Herculaneum Atlas kneeling with a globe on his shoulders.  Dating from around - A.D. 150, it's the oldest existing statue of the Titan of Greek mythology - and more importantly the oldest known representation of the celestial sphere.
A busy square in Naples Pompeii was buried by lava and ash from Mt. Vesuvius in A.D. 79.  In 1594 workers - digging a tunnel to supply water to a nearby village found the first signs of the old city. - But it wasn't until 1748 that workers started digging at the site of Pompeii, - and that work continues to this day.  Shown here is entrance to the ruins. The Forum -- an open place where people would gather for meetings and entertainment. One of the streets of the city.  The stones Larry is standing on were stepping stones for - crossing over the center of the street.  During rainstorms the streets were often filled with water. The paintings on the walls can still be seen, and the detail in some of objects is outstanding.
The gardens in the city are well maintained. The stone object is a grinder that was used to make flour - for bread which was baked in the ovens in the rear. This is a cast of one of the volcano victims.  Archaeologists made these molds from the hollows - in the lava left by the decomposed bodies. Liquid plaster was used to fill the cavities to make the casts. Back in Naples -- our last view of the city from the hillside In Rome near the old Forum.  We are accompanied by Louis's friend, Mauro, who lives in Rome.

[ Europe Trip in May and June 2006 ]
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