Returning to Roman times… COMPLETED - Page 34 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
As of January 1, 2019, we have closed our forums. This is a decision we did not come to lightly, but it is necessary. The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk. The server software itself must be updated, and it cannot be without removing the forums.
So it is with a heavy heart that we say goodbye to our long-running forums. They came online in 2000 and brought together so many wonderful Disney fans. We had friendships form, careers launch, couples marry, children born ... all because of this amazing community.
Thank you to each of you who were a part of this community. You made it possible.
And a very special thank you to our Guides (moderators), past and present, who kept our forums a happy place to be. You are the glue that held everything together, and we are forever grateful to you. Thank you aliceinwdw, Caldercup, MrsM, WillCAD, Fortissimo, GingerJ, HiddenMickey, CRCrazy, Eeyoresmom, disneyknut, disneydani, Cam22, chezp, WDWfan, Luvsun, KMB733, rescuesk, OhToodles!, Colexis Mom, lfredsbo, HiddenMickey, DrDolphin, DopeyGirl, duck addict, Disneybine, PixieMichele, Sandra Bostwick, Eeyore Tattoo, DyanKJ130, Suzy Q'Disney, LilMarcieMouse, AllisonG, Belle*, Chrissi, Brant, DawnDenise, Crystalloubear, Disneymom9092, FanOfMickey, Goofy4Goofy, GoofyMom, Home4us123, iamgrumpy, ilovedisney247, Jennifer2003, Jenny Pooh, KrisLuvsDisney, Ladyt, Laughaholic88, LauraBelle Hime, Lilianna, LizardCop, Loobyoxlip, lukeandbrooksmom, marisag, michnash, MickeyMAC, OffKilter_Lynn, PamelaK, Poor_Eeyore, ripkensnana, RobDVC, SHEANA1226, Shell of the South, snoozin, Statelady01, Tara O'Hara, tigger22, Tink and Co., Tinkerbelz, WDWJAMBA, wdwlovers, Wendyismyname, whoSEZ, WildforWD, and WvuGrrrl. You made the magic.
We want to personally thank Sara Varney, who coordinated our community for many years (among so many other things she did for us), and Cheryl Pendry, our Message Board Manager who helped train our Guides, and Ginger Jabour, who helped us with the PassPorter-specific forums and Live! Guides. Thank you for your time, energy, and enthusiasm. You made it all happen.
There are other changes as well.
Why? Well, the world has changed. And change with it, we must. The lyrics to "We Go On" for IllumiNations say it best:
We go on to the joy and through the tears
We go on to discover new frontiers
Moving on with the current of the years.
We go on
Moving forward now as one
Moving on with a spirit born to run
Ever on with each rising sun.
To a new day, we go on.
It's time to move on and move forward.
PassPorter is a small business, and for many years it supported our family. But the world changed, print books took a backseat to the Internet, and for a long time now it has been unable to make ends meet. We've had to find new ways to support our family, which means new careers and less and less time available to devote to our first baby, PassPorter.
But eventually, we must move on and move forward. It is the right thing to do.
So we are retiring this newsletter, as we simply cannot keep up with it. Many thanks to Mouse Fan Travel who supported it all these years, to All Ears and MousePlanet who helped us with news, to our many article contributors, and -- most importantly -- to Sara Varney who edited our newsletter so wonderfully for years and years.
And we are no longer charging for the Live Guides. If you have a subscription, it's yours to keep for the lifetime of the Live Guides at no additional cost. The Live Guides will stay online, barring server issues and technical problems, for all of 2019.
That said, PassPorter is not going away. Most of the resources will remain online for as long as we can support them, and after that we will find ways to make whatever we can available. PassPorter means a great deal to us, and to many of you, and we will do our best to keep it alive in whatever way we can. Our server costs are high, and they'll need to come out of our pockets, so in the future you can expect some changes so we can bring those costs down.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for your amazing support over the years. Without you, there's no way us little guys could have made something like this happen and given the "big guys" a run for their money. PassPorter was consistently the #3 guidebook after the Unofficial and Official guides, which was really unheard of for such a small company to do. We ROCKED it thanks to you and your support and love!
If you miss us, you can still find some of us online. Sara started a new blog at DisneyParkPrincess.com -- I strongly urge you to visit and get on her mailing list. She IS the Disney park princess and knows Disney backward and forward. And I am blogging as well at JenniferMaker.com, which is a little craft blog I started a couple of years ago to make ends meet. You can see and hear me in my craft show at https://www.youtube.com/c/jennifermaker . Many PassPorter readers and fans are on Facebook, in groups they formed like the PassPorter Trip Reports and PassPorter Crafting Challenge (if you join, just let them know you read about it in the newsletter). And some of our most devoted community members started a forum of their own at Pixie Dust Lane and all are invited over.
So we encourage you to stay in touch with us and your fellow community members wherever works best for you!
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This has been fascinating, Cheryl! I was on a Med cruise in 2009 and although it's hard to pick a favorite spot, we LOVED the Amalfi coast. Pompeii was also very interesting. We were a family of 5 adults....no kiddos on this trip and we had a private guide through Pompeii which was really great so you knew what you were looking at. This thread brings back great memories and makes me want to go back even more than before! Can't wait to see your TR from Herculaneum!
This has been fascinating, Cheryl! I was on a Med cruise in 2009 and although it's hard to pick a favorite spot, we LOVED the Amalfi coast. Pompeii was also very interesting. We were a family of 5 adults....no kiddos on this trip and we had a private guide through Pompeii which was really great so you knew what you were looking at. This thread brings back great memories and makes me want to go back even more than before! Can't wait to see your TR from Herculaneum!
So glad to hear you're enjoying it. Your cruise excursion around this part of the world sounds amazing.
Monday 6 May – part nine: you’d have to be fit to see the whole site!
Then we came to the Temple of the Isis, which was built in the second century BC and was rebuilt after the earthquake in 62AD.
When we got there, it was beautiful, and tree lined outside, which was what we needed, as the sun was coming out fully now, and my goodness it had heated up considerably. They had said that it would only get as high as 69 degrees, but it felt much hotter than that now.
We headed to the back of the site, which is home to the grandly named Quadiporticus of the Theatres, so that we could view that from above. Heck, we didn’t want to have to climb down stairs if we didn’t have to, as a climb down only means one thing – a climb back up again. This place was a sort of foyer, somewhere that the spectators at the theatres could go to stroll during the intermissions. Gladiators’ weapons have been found here, indicating that, towards the end of the city’s life, it could have been used by them as barracks.
It was a beautiful view from up there, but you could only imagine the horrible scenes that happened here in years gone by.
We then headed into the Great Theatre, again viewing it from above. This was built in the second century BC and the seats here were built on the natural slope of the land. This theatre could hold around 5,000 spectators, and it was used for plays, mimes and music and dancing.
We walked over to the other side, so that we could see the Small Theatre, which would have been used to musical performances and poetry readings.
We made our way back around the theatre…
… and headed back outside.
We took a slightly different route back, as we headed towards the Forum.
By now, we were exhausted. It was about 1:20pm, and we’d been on our feet for much of the last four and a half hours. Although we had seen a good proportion of Pompeii, we certainly hadn’t seen all of it, and you really would need the whole day to do it justice – and to be fitter than we are! On that point, we saw a fair few more elderly people exploring it on their own, and kudos to them, as this is not somewhere that I’d want to be touring when I’m a lot older.
Equally, we saw a couple of strollers. This is not a stroller friendly place or wheelchair friendly place. They’ve tried at a couple of places, but really it’s pointless. Much of the ground is uneven, and the roads themselves are generally made up of large stones. You don’t need to be a mountain goat to tour here, but that requirement would certainly help. You also need to keep a good eye on your feet, and where you’re going, as it’s all too easy to twist your ankle on the uneven ground beneath you. This is not a place to walk and photograph, trust me!
I love all the panoramic views you got. They really show the vastness of it. It's also interesting that they've poured new concrete in the theater/arena area. I wonder how recent that was and why they did it.
Slowly but surely catching back up. This place just amazes me. Such beauty and colors still showing through. It appears like some areas have a lit of tunnel like hallways through the stone, if that makes since. I gues it just looks like there are places with narrow stone hallways, and it seems strange to me. It lokes like only one person could fit through it at a time.
I love seeing all the columns too. They are just beautiful.
I wonder what they did do as jobs? Did they have a form of money back then or was it more of a trade type thing?
I can honestly say this is a very large tour, indeed. At this point I would be ready to sit somewhere in a cool place. This part of the city is very interesting, the theater is HUGE!! I can see your point about not a place for wheelchairs or strollers!!!
I'm blown away anyhow huge this place is. It just keeps going and going! You guys covered a LOT of ground in 4 1/2 hours!
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I love the photos of the theaters and the temple. Glad you had some shade there.
Jen, to answer your questions: Yes they had coinage. The Greeks started using coins in the 6th centrury BC and the Romans followed 300 years later. They would have had jobs similar to today's trades. Shoemaking, shield-making, carpentry, ceramics, running brothels, working for the city government, teaching, farming, wine-making.... anything that was needed for the town to flourish.
I love all the panoramic views you got. They really show the vastness of it. It's also interesting that they've poured new concrete in the theater/arena area. I wonder how recent that was and why they did it.
I love the photos of the theaters and the temple. Glad you had some shade there.
Jen, to answer your questions: Yes they had coinage. The Greeks started using coins in the 6th centrury BC and the Romans followed 300 years later. They would have had jobs similar to today's trades. Shoemaking, shield-making, carpentry, ceramics, running brothels, working for the city government, teaching, farming, wine-making.... anything that was needed for the town to flourish.