The last stop of the traveling Pompeii exhibit is in Seattle. So, we went…
…on a Tuesday. It was crowded with school children whose favorite part of the tour was to try to sneak into the “naughty room” where the frescoes of copulating couples and other things were on display.
It was a marvelous exhibit. Beautiful artwork, so well preserved it was hard to imagine its age. I mean, you knew it was old, but not 1500 year old.
The pieces (both artifacts and art) were displayed so the viewer had an idea of the life and times of a Pompeiian, what they ate, how they entertained themselves, etc.
After you enjoyed their lives, you were taken into a little Disneyland-ish theater to watch Pompeii rendezvous with Vesuvius.
In 24 hours the city was gone.
Buried.
In Ash.
There were some survivors… a window-in-time where they escaped. Many more would have survived had they not realized that that window-in-time closed with an explosion of heat and ash. You see, some escapees, thinking it was all over, came back to pick through the rubble that had been their homes.
After the movie, you went through two rooms filled with resin castings of the ash-covered bodies. It was pitiful and I didn’t feel the need to photograph them. I’m sure you can Google them if you want to have a look. Bodies frozen in time.
It didn’t make me feel any better to know that the actual bodies had decomposed thousands of years ago. What remained were impressions. Nor did it make me feel any better to be told they all died instantly by the heat and then covered with ash.
They still died.
But then, we all do.
I remember backpacking with my boy friend down in the Sierras. He caught a fish and cleaned it for breakfast. It was so fresh when we put it in the frying pan to cook it, it flipped around and nearly flipped out of the pan.
The contortions of the body casts of the Pompeiians reminded me of that fish.
Now there’s a happy thought.
It’s spring here in the Pacific Northwest! The grass is greening. Trees are leafing out. The frogs at the creek are in full voice. I’m reminded of that Bambi song about springtime. You know…right before Bambi gets twitter-pated? In fact, I do believe I shall leave you with that catchy little tune. It’ll get the taste of all that Pompeiian ash out of your mouth.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9FXdLcrkss
Have a great week, Peeps!!
