Travel Diary. Pompeii and Vesuvius.

A short train journey from Napoli has brought me to Pompei on a scorching hot day to walk amongst the streets of 79 AD, and I don't think that I have ever seen anything so impressive.
I am walking down a street with shops either side, tracks of cartwheels ground into the stone roads, graffiti on the walls, and into a courtyard leading into someones home. The walls have the remains of red plaster that is adorned by pictures of servants carrying pots , and delicate patterned borders. Huge pots used for grain storage are buried into the ground. Further in and a huge stone bath appears with wall fittings to store the towels, and toilets. Out into the street, through the brothels, and there at the end is a magnificent stadia for entertainment with gladiatorial events. This was a real golden age for the merchants and noblemen that could afford this rich lifestyle. I also wonder if we have really advanced that much in our present day?
This site is huge, after four hours I am really finding the heat unbearable, and whereas you can find a breeze at some point in Naples to cool off, the walls here are sheltered.
On to Vesuvius by minibus. The driver thinks it's cool to look at his mobile phone whilst driving up the mountains winding roads, and cheers up when another driver pulls alongside and passes him a beer. He tells us we have only 1800 metres to climb to reach the peak which sounds good but it is one hell of a vertical climb. The crater is 80metres across and very impressive. From this point you can look down onto Naples, Sorrento and see the lava flows towards Pompeii. You sense that when it erupts again, and it is over-due, Naples could be doomed.( The last eruption was 1944 killing 20,000)