I’ve had the privilege of visiting both Pompeii and Herculaneum. They are remarkable sites (and sights). A touring Pompeii exhibit — not, I think, the one mentioned in Chicago — came through Denver a few years back.
If you have the chance to go to such an exhibit (if not the places themselves), I highly recommend it. The lesson of life interrupted, of a glimpse of disaster overcoming people who had no clue it was coming, and just the plain old richness of understanding of Roman life that both these cities provide is well worth the effort.
Resurrecting Pompeii
A new exhibition brings the doomed residents of Pompeii and Herculaneum vividly to life
Wish that exhibit would travel here.