Pompeii - the city that was buried alive!

One thousand nine hundred thirty four years ago on 24^th of August, 79, Mount Vesuvius erupted and the volcanic ash buried the city of Pompeii, 20kms away, under tons of molten ash and pumice.

Pompeii remained buried until a group of explorers discovered it in 1748 and were surprised to find that 

under the thick layers of dust and debris, the buildings, artifacts and skeletons left behind in the buried city 

were mostly intact. Join me for a virtual tour of Pompeii as it exists now. At the end of the post is the link where you will find the complete history of Pompeii.

Ruins of the Apollo temple

Ruins of the Jupiter temple with Mount Vesuvius in the background

A paved street. The blocks in the road allowed pedestrians to cross the street without having to step onto the road itself which doubled up as Pompeii's drainage and sewage disposal system. The spaces between the blocks allowed horse-drawn carts to pass along the road.

As excavators continued to uncover human remains, they noticed that the skeletons were surrounded by

voids in the compacted ash. By carefully pouring plaster of Paris into the spaces, the final poses, clothing, and faces of the last residents of Pompeii came to life.

Ruins of the Forum

Ruins of the Eumachia's building

Eumachia was the public priestess of Venus in Pompeii during the middle of the 1st century AD as well as the matron of the Concordia Augustus. Using her wealth and status, she funded the construction of a large building next to the public forum in Pompeii.

It is an amazing walk into history.

You can read all about Pompeii here

Ultramintz - The Art of keeping cool!

Mints and me go back a long way! And we have had a love and hate relationship ever since.

I still remember my first cigarette in the late 60s. It was branded ‘Cool’ as it was menthol flavoured and every time I lit it up and inhaled I felt cool (Literally and figuratively). Gradually as years passed I moved on to different brands and sucked on mints to ward off the bad breath caused by smoking. 

Always carried a packet of mints in my pocket to ensure that the surprise meeting or date went off with a pleasant minty breath. Then it became sort of addictive and my mouth would feel sore after a couple.

Then my job involved talking to a lot of people which again dried out my mouth and then again it was the lovable mints to my rescue!

Somehow all of a sudden I stopped usage of mints, due to me being afflicted with diabetes and the sugar in the mints would not help.

And now out of the blue comes this magnificent product - the mother of all mints – Ultra Mintz! It is Ultra cool, literally and figuratively too!! And yes it is sugar free too; hence I can suck on these Ultra Mintz all I want without a pang of guilt! It is the latest offering from ITC and is designed for discerning people who are 

conscious of their calories and sugar levels. It sure is a premium mint packed in a designer case and though tiny it does pack a punch. Each of these mint is laced with peppermint oil imported from France and is made from the finest quality of menthol. Further, it is powered by speciality cooling compounds for super cooling! And the best part is they are sugar free. So any time I want to feel the coolness in my mouth or whenever I wish to get that minty feeling to refresh my mouth of stale breath all that I have to do is pop an Ultramintz and that too without any guilt pangs or worry about the sugar damaging my health!

The best thing about these classy mints is the packaging. They are all packed in a tiny box which is then packed I a designer case which when opened looks like a jewellery case! And rightly so! It spells class all the way. One can even gift these as maybe return gifts or just for the heck of it. You can rest assured, your gift will be appreciated for a long, long time and will be talked about with a hint of menthol freshness!

And this is something that goes beyond any age barriers. It can and is being enjoyed by my mother who is in her eighties, my son who is in his twenties and me! So don’t think that these UltraMintz are for the teenagers or the youth only. They are for all who love to keep their breath fresh any time of the day or night!

So go for the Ultra Mintz – the mother of all mints! And keep fresh and cool, always!

I am reviewing mint-o Ultramintz as a part of the Product Reviews Program at BlogAdda.

A Roman walk

The best way to feel the pulse of the city is to go for a walk. And that is exactly what we did in Rome. We went on a walking tour of Rome. It was amazing. It was a free walk and we could tip the guide at the end of the tour if we were happy.

The tour started in the evening at the 'The Spanish Steps' between the Piazza di Spagna at the base and Piazza Trinità dei Monti, dominated by the Trinità dei Monti church at the top. The Scalinata is the widest staircase in Europe!

In the Piazza di Spagna at the base is the Early Baroque fountain called Fontana della Barcaccia ("Fountain of the ugly Boat"), built in 1627-29. According to a legend, Pope Urban VIII had the fountain installed after he had been impressed by a boat brought here by a flood of the Tiber River. Here we were informed that we could safely drink water from any of the numerous fountains in Rome!

In the piazza there is the house where English poet John Keats lived and died in 1821; it is now a museum dedicated to his memory.

As we walk down a few steps we come across The Column of the Immaculate Conception, a nineteenth-century monument in central Rome, located in what is called Piazza Mignanelli. The column was dedicated on December 8, 1857. Atop the column is a bronze statue of the Virgin Mary, sculpted by Giuseppe Obici.

Further down the road we were shown the street where the local Romans did their classy shopping.

And then again another water fountain which was not only meant for humans but also animals!

We were taken aback when we were introduced to Galleria Alberto Sordi, a shopping arcade named after the actor Alberto Sordi. What a marvellous structure! It was built in 1914 on the site of Palazzo Piombino.

And on we marched to The Column of Marcus Aurelius, a Roman victory column in Piazza Colonna. It is a Doric column featuring a spiral relief: it was built in honour of Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius and modelled on Trajan's Column. The spiral picture relief tells the story of Marcus Aurelius’ Danubian or Marcomannic wars, waged by him from 166 to his death. The carvings are amazing!

Then it was The Palazzo Chigi that is the official residence of the Prime Minister of the Italian Republic.

The Temple of Hadrian is a temple to the deified Hadrian on the Campus Martius in Rome, Italy, built by his adoptive son and successor Antoninus Pius in 145 and now incorporated into a later building in the Piazza di Pietra (Piazza of Stone - derived from use of the temple's stones to build the piazza).

Now it was time for some excellent Italian coffee! It was aromatic and delicious. Now I know why Italians

love their coffee!

The Church of Saint Ignatius of Loyola at Campus is a Roman Catholic titular church dedicated to Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Jesuit order. This is absolutely amazing. This is a must see church.

The art inside is spellbinding!

The Pantheon was commissioned by Marcus Agrippa during the reign of Augustus as a temple to all the gods of ancient Rome, and rebuilt by the emperor Hadrian about 126 AD.

The building is circular with a portico of large granite Corinthian columns. A rectangular vestibule links the porch to the rotunda, which is under a coffered concrete dome, with a central opening to the sky. Almost two thousand years after it was built, the Pantheon's dome is still the world's largest unreinforced concrete dome. It is one of the best-preserved of all Roman buildings. It has been in continuous use throughout its history, and since the 7th century, the Pantheon has been used as a Roman Catholic Church dedicated to "St. Mary and the Martyrs" but informally known as "Santa Maria della Rotonda." The square in front of the Pantheon is called Piazza della Rotonda.

Our last stop was The Trevi Fountain. Standing 26.3 metres high and 49.15 metres wide, it is the largest Baroque fountain in the city and one of the most famous fountains in the world. It is believed that if one tosses a coin over ones shoulder in the fountain one’s wish will be realised or at least you will come back to visit Rome yet again!

Our Free walking tour of Rome operator was New Rome Do check them out if you visit Rome. We loved it!