Surviving Naples
I am safely back in Rome! Honestly, maybe I am crazy (no comments NECESSARY on that one), but all of Naples felt very sinister to me. Outside seemed threatening. Really, I am not making it up...
I slept well in my luxurious private room (I actually missed the way the bed at Roma's Albergo Lucia caved in in the middle... I sleep really well in a saggy bed, I suppose - well, I am back in that room tonight, so...). I woke up early and was out of the hotel within 10 minutes. Things to do!
(A small side note on the state of my pants. I was looking back at my pictures, and I realized that I last washed my pants on September 1, on the farm in France. The first two pairs were dirtied within a week (rainy weather), and so that means I must have been wearing these pants for...ugh! Way too long. Aren't I charming?)
So I left the hotel (It only cost 20€! Was supposed to cost 19.60E, but I was not getting technical - I had gotten way better than I had paid for) and hurried to the Circumvesuvio station. (Let me insert a note here about how classy the elevator was in the hotel - it was cute with the wire grille and sliding door, but it cost .05 centimes to use. A PAY elevator!? Needless to mention, I did not use the elevator). The circumvesuvio is a mix between the train and the metro, and it's route - obviously - is circling Mount Vesuvius. Pompeii is halfway around, and Sorrento is at the end of the route. Long long long minutes later, we arrived. Luckily I had managed to - uh - borrow a book from the hostel. Eleanor Rigby by Douglas Coupland. It was a fast read but so nice to have an English book! Soon I will be out of reading.
But back to the story - I am talking to family on the computer at the same time, so it is hard to concentrate - I dont't want to put this off however, since there is always something else to write about tomorrow! So I arrived in Sorrento, and followed the boisterous Americans to the shopping district. There did not seem like there was much to do there - The 1232th (or so) Italian church, hotels, restaurants and cafes, and shops. The specialty of this region was:
1. Pompeii recreations (statues, mosaics)
2. Pottery with bright colours - lots of green and yellow - which was nice but slightly tacky
3. Tiles with paintings of the region
4. Inlaid wood chess sets and music boxes
5. Lemon Liquer
The best part (well, not best for me, but I wish some of YOU could have been there) was that there were so many liqueur stores, all making basically the same product, that they all offered samples so the discerning consumer could make an educated choice. Sometimes there were free lemon chocolates and lemon cookies too. I couldn't resist trying the liqueur once though - it actually burned the lips! No germs in my mouth after that!! It was actually quite good though. I bought some gelato (green melon and special lemon. As a word of gelato advice, anything with the word special in it usually invilves coconut. Ew! I had made this mistake before, but I had forgotten. The two flavours did not go well together, as the lemoni was creamy and the melon was fruity. Still, gelato is gelato..) and looked at the shops. I was a good girl though! Snap-a-holic with the camera but not shop-a-holic.
I wandered down a side street and was suddenly met with a superb view of the mare and mount Vesuvius. I sat there for awhile enjoying the sun and the sea air, then decided to brave Naples and try to see the Pompeii exibits in the National Naples museum.
Back in Napoli...
The walk to the museum was scary. Nothing in particular (besides crossing the roads. In Rome the cars do not stop at a scosswalk, but they do slow down, and one can step in front of them and they will generally stop. Not so in Naples. They actually speed up towards pedestrian crossings. I had heard it was so, but now I believe it. NOT pleasant, and those Vespas come by even during red lights). I passed a few interesting shops.
The first was a pizza shop, where a they had a washroom (phew!) and where a full pizza cost 1€. Really! They folded it up and wrapped it so I could munch and march at the same time. Manners are fine, but this was Naples! The other shop I passed was a pet shop. However, this pet shop was no typical place (or maybe it was, for Naples...)
There were guinea pigs cuddling bunnies. There were finches with long tail feathers and purple birds with yellow eyes. There were squirrels scampering another cage, and on the front stoop pf the shop was a large strutting rooster. There were not any gerbils (probrbly for the best, since I honestly did not know if I could have walked away without one), and in the hamster cage everyone looked fat and well fed. However. On the top level of the hamster cage was a pink foot with a white legbone attached, and some fluff. This had been a hamster, but it had been ET UP! Then I noticed that in the window, just above the bright plastic animal cages, was a display of handcuffs and huge guns. A pet and gun shop? Why not? Rooster guarding firearms + bloodthirsty flesh-eating hamsters = GOTTA GO!
I hurried to the museum. Admission was a shocking 9€, and then 5€ for the audioguide (unlike in the Met in NYC, where every couple of paintings were explained by the audioguide, in this place I used the machine maybe 7 times in total. Waste of money!). No discount for Canadian students, and about 75% of the displays were closed. I objected and was told that the government decided the admission prices and they could not change it just because ther was nothing to see. Grrr, ITALY! Still, the treasures of Pompeii was open and that is why I had came, and it was so worth it.
Some of the hilights of the museum were (today is a very list-y day. It makes it easier to stay on track when I am so tired):
-The statues of the always-sexy Athena and Julius Caesar.
-The statue from Pompeii (most was from Pompeii) of two dogs closely resembling Ginnie and Maxie attacking a wild Boar. Awww, puppies!
-The mosaics from the floors and walls of Pompeii. One of them used over a MILLION little tiles.
-Paintings from Pompeii. Actual portraits. In the Met museum there had been ancient Egyptian paintings from the pyramids, but I had not been certain that they were paintings (had not invested in an audioguide!) from ancient Egypt. Now, not to be controversial, but since there were paintings from 200 BC - 72 BCE, why didn't some ancient artist ever set up her ancient wooden easel and paint a portrait of Jesus? They painted serpents and middle-class artisans and houses and wild boars, so why not...? Oh well *waiting for angry responses* I am curious though...that would sure cure people of the white-man-with-sandy-locks-and-blue-eyes notion!
-Ancient inventions. The dark ages sure were a drag! Living in filth and diesease, when in ancient times all sorts of nifty technology actually existed. There were surgeries, and water-clocks, and there were even steam-powered dolls who walked and whose eyes moved. And there was even indoor plumbing. No wonder people loved Pompeii!
-The cool corners where I could sit and rest for a minute in relative (this is still Naples after all) safety...ahhh!
-And... the best room of all... The FORBIDDEN ROOM OF SECRETS (they called it something dramatic like that). If you were under 14 you had to go in with a parent. Good thing I am not under 14! What was in the room, you wonder. Casts of Pompeii victims? Mystical instruments?? No! It was a whole display of Penises! There was a display case laballed (one of the few things in the entire museum labelled at all) "24 plaster penises". There were statues of
them jutting up from the floor and thrusting out from the walls. There were organs enough and of such length and girth to make any man hang his head in shame at his own inadequecy. There were penis necklaces and penis rings and a headless statue in a toga with the biggest (ew. only. ONLY! I guess losing one head makes the other one twice as effective? Hee hee!) Italian erection I have ever seen. There were erotic paintings and statues (let me note that there were breasts all over the museum. This was truly a male-oriented room) and little tin figures one inch tall with two inch endowments. The most creative organ I saw was part of a mobile. It had two feet, a little tail, and wings. Every man's dream!
After the museum I took the metro (all that scary walking was only one stop of metro!) back to the termini and got on my first-class train back to Rome. The first class compartment was of course the furthest, and was full of squalling children, and a cell phone which rang out the 'Sex and the City' theme about twice a minute. Ahh, they do know how to pamper a girl in this country!
I am back in Rome. Time to go to bed!
I slept well in my luxurious private room (I actually missed the way the bed at Roma's Albergo Lucia caved in in the middle... I sleep really well in a saggy bed, I suppose - well, I am back in that room tonight, so...). I woke up early and was out of the hotel within 10 minutes. Things to do!
(A small side note on the state of my pants. I was looking back at my pictures, and I realized that I last washed my pants on September 1, on the farm in France. The first two pairs were dirtied within a week (rainy weather), and so that means I must have been wearing these pants for...ugh! Way too long. Aren't I charming?)
So I left the hotel (It only cost 20€! Was supposed to cost 19.60E, but I was not getting technical - I had gotten way better than I had paid for) and hurried to the Circumvesuvio station. (Let me insert a note here about how classy the elevator was in the hotel - it was cute with the wire grille and sliding door, but it cost .05 centimes to use. A PAY elevator!? Needless to mention, I did not use the elevator). The circumvesuvio is a mix between the train and the metro, and it's route - obviously - is circling Mount Vesuvius. Pompeii is halfway around, and Sorrento is at the end of the route. Long long long minutes later, we arrived. Luckily I had managed to - uh - borrow a book from the hostel. Eleanor Rigby by Douglas Coupland. It was a fast read but so nice to have an English book! Soon I will be out of reading.
But back to the story - I am talking to family on the computer at the same time, so it is hard to concentrate - I dont't want to put this off however, since there is always something else to write about tomorrow! So I arrived in Sorrento, and followed the boisterous Americans to the shopping district. There did not seem like there was much to do there - The 1232th (or so) Italian church, hotels, restaurants and cafes, and shops. The specialty of this region was:
1. Pompeii recreations (statues, mosaics)
2. Pottery with bright colours - lots of green and yellow - which was nice but slightly tacky
3. Tiles with paintings of the region
4. Inlaid wood chess sets and music boxes
5. Lemon Liquer
The best part (well, not best for me, but I wish some of YOU could have been there) was that there were so many liqueur stores, all making basically the same product, that they all offered samples so the discerning consumer could make an educated choice. Sometimes there were free lemon chocolates and lemon cookies too. I couldn't resist trying the liqueur once though - it actually burned the lips! No germs in my mouth after that!! It was actually quite good though. I bought some gelato (green melon and special lemon. As a word of gelato advice, anything with the word special in it usually invilves coconut. Ew! I had made this mistake before, but I had forgotten. The two flavours did not go well together, as the lemoni was creamy and the melon was fruity. Still, gelato is gelato..) and looked at the shops. I was a good girl though! Snap-a-holic with the camera but not shop-a-holic.
I wandered down a side street and was suddenly met with a superb view of the mare and mount Vesuvius. I sat there for awhile enjoying the sun and the sea air, then decided to brave Naples and try to see the Pompeii exibits in the National Naples museum.
Back in Napoli...
The walk to the museum was scary. Nothing in particular (besides crossing the roads. In Rome the cars do not stop at a scosswalk, but they do slow down, and one can step in front of them and they will generally stop. Not so in Naples. They actually speed up towards pedestrian crossings. I had heard it was so, but now I believe it. NOT pleasant, and those Vespas come by even during red lights). I passed a few interesting shops.
The first was a pizza shop, where a they had a washroom (phew!) and where a full pizza cost 1€. Really! They folded it up and wrapped it so I could munch and march at the same time. Manners are fine, but this was Naples! The other shop I passed was a pet shop. However, this pet shop was no typical place (or maybe it was, for Naples...)
There were guinea pigs cuddling bunnies. There were finches with long tail feathers and purple birds with yellow eyes. There were squirrels scampering another cage, and on the front stoop pf the shop was a large strutting rooster. There were not any gerbils (probrbly for the best, since I honestly did not know if I could have walked away without one), and in the hamster cage everyone looked fat and well fed. However. On the top level of the hamster cage was a pink foot with a white legbone attached, and some fluff. This had been a hamster, but it had been ET UP! Then I noticed that in the window, just above the bright plastic animal cages, was a display of handcuffs and huge guns. A pet and gun shop? Why not? Rooster guarding firearms + bloodthirsty flesh-eating hamsters = GOTTA GO!
I hurried to the museum. Admission was a shocking 9€, and then 5€ for the audioguide (unlike in the Met in NYC, where every couple of paintings were explained by the audioguide, in this place I used the machine maybe 7 times in total. Waste of money!). No discount for Canadian students, and about 75% of the displays were closed. I objected and was told that the government decided the admission prices and they could not change it just because ther was nothing to see. Grrr, ITALY! Still, the treasures of Pompeii was open and that is why I had came, and it was so worth it.
Some of the hilights of the museum were (today is a very list-y day. It makes it easier to stay on track when I am so tired):
-The statues of the always-sexy Athena and Julius Caesar.
-The statue from Pompeii (most was from Pompeii) of two dogs closely resembling Ginnie and Maxie attacking a wild Boar. Awww, puppies!
-The mosaics from the floors and walls of Pompeii. One of them used over a MILLION little tiles.
-Paintings from Pompeii. Actual portraits. In the Met museum there had been ancient Egyptian paintings from the pyramids, but I had not been certain that they were paintings (had not invested in an audioguide!) from ancient Egypt. Now, not to be controversial, but since there were paintings from 200 BC - 72 BCE, why didn't some ancient artist ever set up her ancient wooden easel and paint a portrait of Jesus? They painted serpents and middle-class artisans and houses and wild boars, so why not...? Oh well *waiting for angry responses* I am curious though...that would sure cure people of the white-man-with-sandy-locks-and-blue-eyes notion!
-Ancient inventions. The dark ages sure were a drag! Living in filth and diesease, when in ancient times all sorts of nifty technology actually existed. There were surgeries, and water-clocks, and there were even steam-powered dolls who walked and whose eyes moved. And there was even indoor plumbing. No wonder people loved Pompeii!
-The cool corners where I could sit and rest for a minute in relative (this is still Naples after all) safety...ahhh!
-And... the best room of all... The FORBIDDEN ROOM OF SECRETS (they called it something dramatic like that). If you were under 14 you had to go in with a parent. Good thing I am not under 14! What was in the room, you wonder. Casts of Pompeii victims? Mystical instruments?? No! It was a whole display of Penises! There was a display case laballed (one of the few things in the entire museum labelled at all) "24 plaster penises". There were statues of
them jutting up from the floor and thrusting out from the walls. There were organs enough and of such length and girth to make any man hang his head in shame at his own inadequecy. There were penis necklaces and penis rings and a headless statue in a toga with the biggest (ew. only. ONLY! I guess losing one head makes the other one twice as effective? Hee hee!) Italian erection I have ever seen. There were erotic paintings and statues (let me note that there were breasts all over the museum. This was truly a male-oriented room) and little tin figures one inch tall with two inch endowments. The most creative organ I saw was part of a mobile. It had two feet, a little tail, and wings. Every man's dream!
After the museum I took the metro (all that scary walking was only one stop of metro!) back to the termini and got on my first-class train back to Rome. The first class compartment was of course the furthest, and was full of squalling children, and a cell phone which rang out the 'Sex and the City' theme about twice a minute. Ahh, they do know how to pamper a girl in this country!
I am back in Rome. Time to go to bed!
posted by Melamondiale @ 12:55 PM
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