Pompeii Basilica

The Basilica in Pompeii. Again I have two copies; an HDR and a standard version. Which do you prefer?

Basilica (pseudo-HDR version)

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Basilica (standard version)

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Pompeii Forum

Here are some pictures of the Forum in Pompeii. At the far end is the Temple of Jupiter. In the distance is Mount Vesuvius. I have been playing around with HDR photography; a couple of the the images below are pseudo-HDR images. The first two are a pair, the HDR version and the standard version. Which do you prefer?

Forum, Temple of Jupiter, and Mount Vesuvius. HDR version.

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Forum, Temple of Jupiter, and Mount Vesuvius. Standard version.

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Forum, Temple, and Mount V. (stylized HDR)

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Forum and Temple.

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Caught in time

A large number of holes were found in the volcanic deposits around Pompeii that represented corpses of people and animals that were buried by the hot ash. The ash lithified before the corpses decayed so that a good mold of the deceased remained. Early in the excavation it was discovered that filling these molds with plaster produced remarkable casts of the victims of the eruption. Here are three of those casts:

Sleeping or taking cover, I don't know.

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A horse?

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You decide what he was doing.

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The alcove

We don't know what this is. The whole area was completely roped off so you couldn't go in and see it, and it had no mention in the map or guide.

Maybe it was a temple? A Macaroni Grill?

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Close-up of that thing.

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Temple of Apollo

Carol played hide-and-go-seek in the Temple of Apollo in Pompeii.

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Vesuvius

We spent several days in the Amalfi Coast region. One day we took a trip to Pompeii. Pompeii was destroyed when Mount Vesuvius erupted in AD 79. This is the picture of Vesuvius from our hotel balcony in Sorrento. Take a look at Vesuvius from above.

Vesuvius across the Gulf of Naples

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Orvieto Train Station

We took the train from Orvieto in Tuscany to Naples. Here are a couple of pictures of the train station.

Going North.

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Smoking is sexy.

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Assisi

Out and about in Assisi.

The Temple of Minerva.

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Up the street after leaving the restaurant.

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Inside the upper part of the Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi. They announced over the PA system "no photography" after I took this picture, so I didn't take any more in the Basilica.

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Montepulciano

Montepulciano is one of the cities along the Tuscan wine roads. There are a bunch of cute cities where they make wine, cheese, etc. Here we have pictures of a wedding, and of Montepulciano from a distance.

We ate lunch at a restaurant in the Piazza Grande. While we were waiting for our order a wedding broke out. Here they're throwing rose petals at the lucky couple.

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Here they're blowing bubbles at the couple.

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What's up with the lady wearing a baseball hat to an Italian wedding?

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Bonus picture of Montepulciano from the Wine road.

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Pienza

Pienza is one of the cities along the Tuscan wine roads. There are a bunch of cute cities where they make wine, cheese, etc.

Carol in Pienza

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It rained on-and-off while we traveled the wine roads.

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Prayers to Mary

Prayers to Mary^* outside the Bernini chapel in the Siena cathedral. Look at the full-size version of all three images to see what kinds of things people pray about. A lot of motorcycle helmets - prayers for safety?

^* I Timothy 1:5 For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus

Motorcycle helmets, neck braces, etc.

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Carol and the prayer wall

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Is that a picture of Eric Estrada?

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Piccolomini Library

These three pictures are of the Piccolomini Library in the Duomo di Siena (Siena Cathedral). It houses precious illuminated choir books and frescoes.

The ceiling and one end.

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One side of the library.

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The ceiling and the other end.

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Siena Cathedral

The outside of the Duomo di Siena (Siena Cathedral).


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Piazza del Campo

More from Siena, the Piazza del Campo.

The Torre del Mangia ("Tower of the Eater") about to be bathed in sunlight.

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The Siena Cathedral rises above the Piazza del Campo.

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Siena Architecture

Here are four pictures of the architecture in Siena.

Basilica of San Domenico, also known as Basilica Cateriniana

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Looking down the alley

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Residences - with laundry.

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The Torre del Mangia dominates the skyline

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Torre del Mangia

The Torre del Mangia ("Tower of the Eater") in the Piazza del Campo, Siena, Italy.


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Carol chowing in Siena

It was dinner time in Sienna and we had scouted a yummy looking gelato shop. When we were ordering Carol order a large 9" cone with 5 (yes 5!!!) nearly tennis ball size scoops of gelato. Of course I did also. And, of course, I finished way before Carol did.

There was no where to eat, so, like everyone else in Sienna we sat down in the large town square. While Carol was finishing her 5!!! scoops of gelato I wandered off to take pictures. Here are some pictures of Carol finishing her 5!!! scoops of gelato (and the 9" cone).


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Here are several pictures of the Vernazza skyline in the evening. Little did they know they would end up on the internets. Notice that the common thread in all five pictures is laundry.

The dinner party.

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Reading while the little woman sets the table for dinner.

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Looks like I wasn't the only one checking out the laundry action.

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At least she wasn't looking straight at me.

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Looking for laundry.

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Gossiping.

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