A closer look at the small theater (Odeion) revealed that many of the seats had been removed. According to our guide, one of the modern day politicians had taken the seats to use in a different location and never replaced them.
We were following a fairly common route through the ruins as were most of the other tour groups. This led to some heavy-duty congestion in some of the common viewing areas so, in order to get people-free images, I often had to try to fit my shots in a small clearing between our group and the groups following us.
The roads of Pompeii were not paved in gold but rather were paved with large polygonal stones set between raised curbs and if you had the time to get off of the beaten path of the primary tourist routes you could find plenty to study in the smaller side streets.
