Pompeii and Rome Day 5 and 6

Monday, May 07, 2007
Luke and I just arrived to the apartment. It is 2145. We left this morning at 7.00 on the dot. We passed the Campo’s market as a few stalls were setting up. We took the short bus to the Termini train station and had 30 min to wait for the 8.30 am bus Intercity to Napoli (Naples). We could have taken a train in 15 minutes but that was a Eurostar and cost €15 more each and got you there 30 min earlier. We didn’t feel the need to pay the extra.

We sat in a coach ette a little train compartment for 6 people. It had a door and curtains. There were assigned seats and it was pretty comfy too. We sat with an engaged Michigan State college couple backpacking across the highlights of Europe. They were going to Pompei too. It was kind of nice to talk with normal Americans.

We got to Naples followed the signs in the station for the “Circumvesuviana” train. That’s a line of trains that goes locally around the Naples area to the smaller towns and around Mt. Vesuvius. We found the right train and for €2.20 we were taken on the 30 min ride to Pompeii. It was not raining currently but you could see the rain and hear some lightning. We got off at the stop and the excavations were literally a block away.
The admission was €10. The excavations was in an area at least 3 square miles large. You walked a bit, saw some of the columns left of their Forum. Saw some neat views of the current time Pompei. The other direction you saw Vesuvius. It’s funny that I didn’t look solemnly at it like this volcano ruined the people and preserved this town. The view of Vesuvius was cloudy and dark blue with occasional sounds of thunder. At first I didn’t believe it was thunder. I thought it was suitcases rolling over cobblestones.
A neat thing we saw were 2 or 3 large stones (about 8-12 inches high) where the crosswalk would be where you’d cross your street. The stones were placed just so that the people could walk on them elevated from the water and drainage on the street and so that the carts could wheel right over them and control traffic a bit. I thought that was interesting. We saw some fast food places where there was counter tops over the fire and you’d put a pan or a grill over and cook/serve your food.
I, of course, took a pic of Luke behind there. He just loved to pose for it, I could tell by the enthralled expression on his face. I got to see what I have been waiting for; a field full of poppies. I like poppies probably mostly because they are red. So, I got my moment and my picture. We weren’t able to follow rick’s tour very well nor the map provided very well. We also weren’t terribly involved in the “exhibits” as all of the things of interest: frescos, furniture, landscaping, was absent; it was just the shell of the foundations sometimes shoulder to 11 feet tall walls. It was also very hot and sunny despite threatening to have a major storm on top of us. Long story short and excuses aside, we decided to leave relatively soon after we arrived to the Scavi maybe an hour and a half to 2 hours. There was very much more to see. We hoped what we were really interested in would be shown at the Museo Archeologico.

We took the short train back to Naples. By this time we were absolutely STARVING! Luke said, “what are we going to do after we first go get pizza?” Luke navigated us with minor difficulty to this city wide known pizzeria called Pizza Antica de Michele. We knew we were at the right place when we saw 17 people waiting with their number to get seated. We had to wait maybe 20 minutes. They called your number and you found the dirty spot where the people who just left were sitting. They cleaned the table. We ordered 4 Peroni beers to quench our thirst while waiting to order. They had but 3 pizzas on the menu, without cheese, with cheese and extra cheese. The normale pizza size was like on a 15 inch plate. The pizzas are baked in a wood fire oven, done and dark on the crust and slightly doughy in the center. The pizza was thin so you could fold it and wrap it, the sauce was pretty thin too. It was so simple just tomatoes and a little bit of spice, a few circular slices of fresh Mozzarella and a small sprig of basil in the center. I suppose you have to like the pizza where pizza was invented. The place opened in 1870 and has been family run ever since. It was good, and cheap, only €3.50 per pizza and €1.50 for a bottle of beer, the cheapest we’ve seen.

We then went to the Museo Archeologico via a street nicknamed Spaccanapoli. They had crude stands set up to sell toys, sunglasses, miscellaneous household items. Definitely not tourist oriented. It was kind of a nice change actually. The streets were cobbled and not terribly well maintained. It seemed like a long walk to the museum. Luke read about a few of Napoli’s famous pastries. We found a stand and got the sfogliatella a crispy scallop shell shaped flaky pastry filled with sweet ricotta cheese and they had Baba which was a rum soaked doughnut. Boy do they mean rum SOAKED. We were kind of loopy after the 2 beers on an empty stomach. The lady packed them up as we said we wanted the pastries to go. We put them in the backpack and saved them for later on the train.
On and on to the museum which we still found difficult to get to. We finally got there at 1615. That is already a late day for us! Ahh, we went into the “secret room” where the erotic art from the scavi is kept. The art was supposedly in the private baths and bathrooms of the rich and famous. The male privates were supposedly uses as amulets to ward off evil and make you more virile or something. Anyway what I was getting at is they had this whole glass case cube filled up halfway with a pile of male genital amulets. I thought it looked kind of funny and chuckled to myself.

The rest of the museum consisted of many busts, large greek type statues, frescos and mosaics stolen off the walls of Pompeiian homes, a special amber jewelry exhibit, bronze and glass kitchenware, some mummies and Egyptian artifacts. I was tired and pissy with all the junior high age kids on end of the year school trips. They are so loud and obnoxious. I was never like that, not ever. So we kind of rushed through that museum and decided to take the metro back to the station.

With a little time with the map and some very helpful and well timed advice from a local guy we got onto the correct subway and the right track to get to the real train station. We caught the 1830 Intercity train direct to Roma. I got to see the sunset out my cabin window. Luke was fighting sleep. He always claims he can’t sleep on the bus, plane, car etc. He was almost asleep. Poor Luke. After we arrived we took our metro to the bus stop, and looked at the sign to see the hours- I thought the bus ran til 2330. I was wrong. We went to check another bus line to see what could get us relatively close to our apartment. As we were looking the original bus we wanted drove by, we saw it as it was taking off. Ahh. It turns out that the same bus takes a slightly different route in the evenings to accommodate some of the Theatrical doings in the area. We still got home well enough.

Luke talked to our friend Kevin who is now with his wife and sister on Vacation in Italy. We’ll rendezvous in Rome on Sat or something. We got home, had some leftover cold home made Alfredo sauce on fresh pasta, had some cold potatoes heated up and fried. Nothing like white food and carbs at that too. We didn’t do dishes just went to bed.


Tuesday, May 08, 2007 2030
Good evening again. Here we are. We got up early of course to go to the blessed Vatican. We did however also need to go to the market as it was closed on Sunday and then we left too early to purchase anything yesterday. We got some apples, onions, artichokes ( 4 this time), a different kind of cheese that is semi soft and tastes buttery, bulk spices, fresh mixed salad, fresh minestrone mix, eggs, panne (cream for café). I think that’s about it.

We took it back to the apartment and then skipped to our bus in the direction of the Vatican. There were lots of religious oriented tourist stuff in shops along the way.
St Peter Square is quite huge, the obelisk in the center is quite a sight too. The 2 semi circle huge colonnades with the big statues on top were quite a site, as were the SUPER long lines.
We decided to go into the Vatican museum first. We waited in line to a yet unseen location. We waited on line for about an hour we think. It was sunny and no clouds today so we got some sun I am sure of it. There was this Bosnian or Russian family behind us who stood so close if I leaned back a few inches I would lean on them. It just about drove me insane. You know, this is my dance space, this is your dance space. We finally got to the museum went through security metal detectors and xray bag checks, paid our entrance fee €13 each. Rick said to go into the museum with the mindset not to linger among artworks. He was partly right. You couldn’t linger as there were so many people in your way. There was this one dude who in the first 100 yards of the beginning of the exhibits has taken a picture of each thing he looked at. They weren’t even good pictures, I know, because I was looking over his shoulder at his digital camera. At this rate he’ll be out of memory in 20 minutes. Then there are the school age kids on their school trips, they all are yakking, holding hands for fun (not for safety) and clogging up the quickest route from A to B. “Damn kids,” I found myself muttering to….myself and Luke of course.

We saw some Egyptian Mummies and the jars they put the organs in (don’t ask me why the Vatican has those), statues too. Also some pretty impressive Rapheal “The School of Athens” that Luke studied in his Art Appreciation class and then the “Disputa”. The rest was busts, tapestries, elaborate ceiling frescos, some more Greek sculpture that Michelangelo was inspired by the Laocoon and Apollo. Saw some expensive and rare gigantic marble sarcophagi and a 15 foot wide and 6 foot tall “birdbath” made out of this purple porphyry marble. He selfishly used like all of it. There is no more of this marble available unless it is “recycled” from another piece.

We saw, in contradiction of the Secret Room in Naples, most of the privates of the male statues covered with a fig leaf. Supposedly it was after the Renaissance when a period of conservative movement of priests decided to reform all the nude male art.

Then the biggie, what we all have been waiting for…. The Sistine Chapel! It sure was a hike to get there. Something tells me that if the Sistine Chapel was a separate ticket for just that, there wouldn’t be that many people in the Vatican museum. I would be the gladder for it too. I would have just enjoyed enjoying the Museum at my own pace instead of navigating around other tired and hurried travelers. Sheesh. So, the chapel was BIG. There were people almost shoulder to shoulder enjoying the site, more like trying to take photos of it. Even though there were guards shushing the crowd and telling them every 15 seconds that no photos were allowed. People just kept on taking pictures. Jerks! Supposedly it took 4 years to for Michelangelo to fresco the ceiling. When the fresco was revealed art scholars said that the Sistine ceiling was the single greatest work of art by any one human being. We absorbed all the little scenes painted about Genesis. The focus was creation when God made man, the fingertips of God touching Adam’s and giving his lifeless limp body life.

We went out and to our delight the entrance to the Vatican itself was available to us with no line to wait in. I’ll let Luke take over here as I am bushed. Okay, now the fun begins. Lisa and I were mentally and physically exhausted after all that art. I guess we should have slammed a few more espressos. When we went to go to St. Peters Basilica, we took Rick’s advice and went out this special exit that basically led us to the church. Lisa and I went into the church, and boy, is it huge. Huge would probably be an understatement. They actually have markers on the floor that show how much smaller some churches actually are compared to the St. Pete’s. Lisa and I got out of everyone’s way and went into a little nook and I read the basics from Rick’s book. To the right when you walked in, you could see Michelangelo’s Pieta. More on that later. The first thing that really catches your eye is the monster altarpiece. It is a seven story brass “four poster” canopy for the altar. Only the pope is able to use it for mass though, otherwise mass is held farther back in the church. Underneath the altarpiece lies the body of St. Peter, the first pope, and the person that Jesus told who would lead the world to religion through the church. It was on the church grounds that St. Peter was crucified upside down (he wasn’t worthy to be crucified like Christ, hence being upside down) and died. At that time, St. Peters Square was a race track and a torture field for Nero, the Roman emperor of the time. Christians were actually burned, crucified and fed to lions for believing in God. But look which religion prevailed. So back to the Vatican. When walking around the church, you notice all the paintings on the wall (these were paintings that were large, not the Mona Lisa) and Rick actually tells you that they are mosaics, and sure enough they are. Bernini did most of the statues and the marble work for the church, plus the altarpiece. Michelangelo did the dome (no building can actually be built higher than St. Peters Dome). Ringing the dome and the church about ten stories up are latin inscriptions talking about scripture. The lettering used is actually seven feet high, and Lisa and I were about to dismiss it as false until we saw people walking the “ring” of St. Peters Dome (a tourist attraction that you had to pay 6€ for) and sure enough the people were shorter than the lettering. Wow. We finally made our way back to the entrance to Michelangelo’s Pieta. They put the sculpture behind bulletproof glass because back in ’72, some dude came in wielding a hammer and started bashing the sculpture with it. Of course they subdued him and fixed the damage. What a crazy guy. Rick offered no other explanation as to why the guy did it. I bet though that all the art collectors in the world are paying somebody to watch this guy (obviously he isn’t going to spend life in prison) to make sure he doesn’t “hurt” anything else. The Pieta, which is Mary holding her dead son (Jesus) after he is off the cross, was the highlight of St. Peters Basilica. I learned about this in art class (actually a lot of the things I have seen in Italy I learned about in art class). I could go into detail, but look into it yourself. A wonderful piece of art, and something you could think about for a while (Mary, mother of God, holding her dead son knowing who he is, and what he has done). Lisa and I decided to leave after that.

Once outside we sat on the steps of the church and had lunch. A simple meal consisting of apples, oranges, bread with butter and cheese. Not too shabby. We left from there wondering what we were going to do next, and I decided that we should check out the near by market. Lisa and I ran into a lot of street stalls selling just about everything for cheap. We stopped at a café and had coffee and left for the market. After navigating to the “supposed” site for this huge market, I realized the exact spot on the map (using Rick Steves’ book) was actually not there, but construction was and they were making something. There was no market, it was gone. So Lisa and I walked to the nearest Metro stop and decided to get back home. During the course of getting to the Metro, we decided to hit some of the things that we missed a few days earlier. First was St. Peter in Chains church.

Not only does this church hold the chains that held St. Peter when he was in the Mamertine Prison, but also the chains the held him in a jail in Jerusalem. It is said that when they took these two chains and went to put them together, they miraculously linked together without help. Plus they have miraculous powers. So in this church are the chains, but there is another thing that goes along with it: another Michelangelo sculpture. This one is called Moses, and was supposed to be the crown piece for a tomb for a pope. And the best part was that this church was free to get into, plus there were hardly any people in there. I told Lisa that they could easily charge admission for just those two things. After this church back to the metro.
The second church we needed to visit was right across the stop for the bus off the metro that we had been using for the last three days: Cappucin Crypt. We walked over there and found out that it is closed for repairs or something until the 12th. Great, we walked by it about 8 times and never figured it out that it was there. Oh well, we might hit it on the 12th. So we walked to another church to see a Bernini sculpture called St. Theresa in Ecstasy. We found the church after a not so long back tracking. Lisa and I both thought that the sculpture was placed too far up on the wall to actually see detail, so we weren’t all that impressed. After all these things we actually were able to get back home without too much hassle. We hung some clothes out to dry, tried feeding pigeons on our deck and ate a huge salad. I don’t know why, but salads are just hitting the spot right now. Maybe it is because we are using olive oil and vinegar, and not ranch and other things. It is impossible to find any kind of salad dressings in this country, but back home you have about 1,000 selections. For supper that night I ended up making a mostly from scratch dinner. Lisa had bought a package of fresh spinach and ricotta filled ravioli and we had some ground beef and tomato sauce. So we figured why not put it all together. I browned the meat and added it to the plain tomato sauce with about six tablespoons of one of the spices that we bought at the market. Boy did it turn out spicy! I had to add some sugar to tone it down a tad. But a good spice blend all together. Those guys have a good business with spices. Lisa and I are going to try to get it back into the states, because they all look good. We also stopped and bought some dried mozzarella along with some cream for our coffee. When we tried the mozz, it was awesome, and cheap. So I think that I will have to get more of that. It is almost time for our cheese tasting. I told Lisa that we could get 100 grams of all these cheeses and have a huge taste testing of these great cheeses. We shall see, maybe on one of our down days. But that is about it. ljf