A little bit of Italy in Times Square

Ever since I saw the first ads for the Pompeii exhibit at the Discovery Center on 43rd Street, I've been dying to go.  We had planned to go as a group, my Italian tripmates and I, but it just got too hard to coordinate schedules.  I went today with one gal pal and we had a great time.  The only downside:  they won't let you take photos.  So I guess I'll just post some of the pics I took in 2007.

There were hundreds of people clamoring to get into the Harry Potter exhibit, and maybe a dozen wanting to get into Pompeii.  Fine with me.  The less crowded, the better.  Kind of like our day in Pompeii.  Anyway, first, you're in an enclosed room where an employee tells you to turn off your phone and don't take pictures.  You watch a three-minute 'here's what happened in Pompeii' video, then you're in the exhibit.  It's really incredible.  Being able to get so close to all those frescoes and statues is amazing.  It was so incredibly difficult to not touch everything, even though there are signs everywhere that say 'don't touch'.   The painstaking detail to the mosaics was gorgeous and it's just unbelievable how vivid the colors still are.

Once you look at all the stuff that probably decorated people's houses before they were destroyed (and after you wander into the brothel replica that's behind a pillar to hide it from kids, but the kids walk in anyway), you go watch another video that is a time-lapse video of what happened during the Vesuvius eruption.  There's vibration and sound and light and wind--it's pretty cool, then you're escorted into the other side of the exhibit, which includes the plaster casts of bodies recovered.  Some of the casts are replicas (like the one of the crouching guy--I got a photo of him in Pompeii and it's good to know they didn't move him), but some are the actual casts.  No matter how many times I see them, they're still so eerie.  And it's mind-blowing to think of the actual perfect-storm of chemistry that must've happened for everything to be so incredibly well preserved.  Apparently, the ash adhered to the bodies and solidified as the bodies decomposed.  Then, when the bodies were discovered, scientists figured out how to pour plaster into the natural molds that developed. 

After you wander through the 'graveyard' they've put together, you can see a newsreel about the 1944 eruption of Vesuvius, which is really interesting.  Then you see timelines of the volcanic eruptions, the development of the archaeology and also some architecture of the destroyed homes.  You also see some carbonized food that was recovered, along with cooking tools, jewelry, medical supplies, cosmetics and mortuary items.  The breadth of items recovered is astounding.  Every corner you turn, there's something amazing to look at.  They've also included some interactive computer stuff that's pretty interesting, but I'd rather look at the real artifacts instead of simulations of them.  That's just me.

I was feeling pretty tired by this point, so we finished up and headed down into the gift shop.  OK, I wanted one of everything, but settled on some magnets.  Of course, when the cashier was ringing up my purchase, she dropped one of my magnets and it shattered.  I said I don't want that one anymore.  Funny how things could survive a volcano but not a hardwood floor!  :)

It was a really grand exhibit and I would definitely consider going back, even though it's quite pricey.  I immediately came home and looked at my photo album from our day at Pompeii.  It was a gloomy rainy day that day, but it was also one of the most wonderful days of our trip.  So much history and drama--I can't wait to go back someday.  Enjoy a photo from today, and the rest are from 2007.