Italy II

Italy - Day 3, but I wrote the title as Day III. Get it? Its in Roman numerals. I heard somebody once say that the Romans did amazing things in government, literature, not to mention conquering the world. But they did almost nothing in math and science. That's because their number system sucked. Try multiplying 238 by 14, which I believe is multiplying CCXXXVIII by XIV. And that's not even a story problem. (Claudius left Rome at X:IV going XVII miles per hour, while Augustus...). You still see Roman numerals a lot, though, as the year a movie was made or on a clock. No one can write in cursive anymore, but long live Roman numerals.

In spite of that, somehow the Romans pulled off some great feats of engineering. The Colosseum, aqueducts, etc were all pretty impressive. That leads us to today's destination - Pompeii. You can still see the city and its arch enemy, Vesuvius. Mt Vesuvius is very much still there and they say is still an active volcano. The remains of Pompeii was much larger than I thought it would be. Its not in great shape, of course, but for going through some earthquakes, volcanoes, and 2,000 years it's looking pretty good. What I had always heard about was the molds of people. There were only three  on display. The highlight was the town itself.

The fall of Rome took a few hundred years. The fall of Pompeii took a few minutes. How has that not been a movie? Maybe it has and I'm just not aware of it. Seems like Steven Spielberg would be all over something like that. About half an hour of pointlessly introducing characters that we all know are going to die within the hour, then bam - Vesuvius blows up. Like pretty much every movie of this ilk - It stars Dwayne Johnson. Lots of special effects. About an hours worth, I suppose. They can do it in real time. It ends with a green shoot of grass coming up out of the earth, signaling hope for the future. The end.