Ercolano, Vesuvio

So, waaaaay back at the beginning of December, my sister-in-law and her family visited us. I was thrilled. They are some of my favorite people, and I loved having visitors so soon after arriving.

While they were here, we went to the ruins at Ercolano (destroyed by the same eruption that buried Pompeii) and climbed Vesuvio.

In the town of Ercolano, we saw some stuffed animals hanging out to dry after having a bath.

 

Then we were at the ruins.

The mosaics below were my favorite things out of the whole site. They are gorgeous and so inspirational: the colors, delicacy of the work, shells used as borders, scalloping and wings . . . I adore these.

 

Amazing. Still my favorite art here so far.

After Ercolano, we climbed the volcano. The climb was freezing, but gorgeous.

Steam vents, in case we doubted it is still active.

 

Yeah, it's pretty nice here.