Dani, Em and I caught one of the earlier buses so that we would make it to Naples in, what we hoped would be, the early evening. Apparently we weren’t the only ones who thought Sorrento and Naples sounded fun. The train was crowded: seriously overcrowded. There was luggage protruding from various chairs, duffle bags thrown on overhead railings, and people blocked the walkways until nasty perspiring conductors pantomimed/told the tourists –in Italian- to find another place to stand. We split up out of necessity and waited in successive box-car-link areas near the doors of the train. As the train made it’s stops along the way, people filtered out, finally making enough room for me to meet up with Dani and with Em. One man noticed that we spoke English and took advantage of this opportunity to practice. The Italian’s name was John. He told us all about Naples and gushed about it’s pizza: “You’ve never had good pizza until you’ve gone to Italy, and you’ve never had good pizza in Italy until you’ve gone to Naples.” He was nice at first, but then he wanted to know a few too many details about our plans. I laughed off his invasive inquiries with lofty responses like, “Who knows where we’ll go tomorrow… the World is our oyster.” and, when pressed further, replied, “just takin’ it day by day. Europe has much to entertain.” Later, we dubbed him “Italian creeper John.” Thankfully, he got off two stops before ours. Dani, Em and I talked about how that could have been a bad situation, and then took a few more trains and a bus to finally reach our hotel:[the name of which I can not remember at the moment… I’ll get back to you on that one.] The bus ride made me dizzy. We spiraled up a mountain on thin roads, and when we looked out of the windows, the ground eluded our eyes… what we did see, however, was a lovely drop-off and fresh waves flopping onto the shore. Beautifully unnerving. As usual, we arrived later than expected, but the host was incredibly agreeable. He spoke the English we needed to hear splendidly, and ordered a complimentary bus to take us to dinner. We quickly walked to our room to put our luggage down and freshen up for dinner. I put the skeleton key in the old lock hole, and the three of us were delighted with the colorful room. Turquoise splendor and warm luxurious oranges painted the walls and bedspread. The room had a lovely balcony with folding closet-like doors covered with white lace. The view from the balcony was comparable to the view from the roof-top in Rome in one way: shimmering lights. Only this time, instead of stars alone, the city below twinkled from the lights in the homes of night-owls, and the sea sang it’s all-familiar lullaby while the distant Mount Vesuvius towered over all, daring the stars to touch it’s top. It was wonderful. The three of us hurried to the bus after drinking in the view. The driver was a bit older than us, and asked if we’d like to go to the “discotecha” that night. He was very nice, but we declined. We had plans for Pompeii tomorrow. The restaurant was a fabulous family-style red and white room with grand, larger-than-life, Italian staff and even better food. John may have been a creeper, but he was right about the pizza. Once we’d had our fill, the bus picked us up and we went to bed. The night lights glistened: their reflections in the water. Oh, I love the sea.
I was the first one awake to take a shower and, much to my delight, the sun was rising. Before I continue, I must say that our room was on the side of a cliff, overlooking the city and the sea, so, consequentially, neighbors could not look in. The shower in our bathroom had an eye-level window in it, and the room began to light hazily by the rising sun. I shampooed my hair as the dawn chased away the cool night air with it’s warmth. Once we were all ready for the day, we had breakfast and started our trip to Pompeii. The bus ride down from our hotel still induced slight vertigo, but i didn’t mind because of the beautiful sights. Lemon tree and Orange tree orchards were one either side of the rode, and because of the morning dew, they gave off wonderfully potent aromas. The air was mixed with citrus and fresh lilac that grew wildly climbing on ancient brick walls. Dani has a deep love of Lemon. I have a passion for oranges of all sorts, and Em adores lilacs. We noted these topics in turn, and sat contentedly, though eager to see Pompeii as it would have looked in 79 AD when Vesuvius erupted and covered the city- and it’s remaining residents- with ash. We finally arrived, and haggled for a tour-guide. It was worth it. He took us to see “Cave Carnem”- a mural that warns visitors to “Beware of Dog” in latin. He told funny little jokes and kept us mildly entertained throughout the two hour tour. Hector was his English name. Really though, it was Ecxtore. different, right? He was quite silly. called Dani, Em & I the three Graces from Greek/Roman mythology. :) We went to all the highlights of the ancient city: the jury room, the hog house, servants quarters, brothel, bakery, marketplace, and to the stabian baths. I LOVED the baths. My favorite room was the main area that was used for lounging in warm water after the Romans were clean from their bath… so- in modern terms- the “Spa pool.” It had three cutouts in it’s roof: one facing East, one West, and one North which was directly above and centered in the front of the room. These “holes” were positioned perfectly so that the rays of the sun would warm the water at all times of the day. When we were in the marketplace, he took us over to an enormous caged area that held countless bowls and terra cotta pottery as well as many various artifacts. We saw the cast of the asphyxiated dog, as well as a few other famous casts of people who died in the ash. Our tour guide showed us the ruts of the chariot wheels in the main roads leading to Rome, and told us about the tiny white rocks lodged between the massive ones used for the streets. “These,” he said as he pointed to the little rocks, “are ‘cat’s eyes’. The Romans put them in the road just like the reflectors you see on highways and roads in America. The moon’s light reflected off these little white stones, and they served as ‘flash lights.’” How cool is that?! The Romans were brilliant. He also pointed out rocks along the roads that were carved in the shape of a man’s genitalia. These rocks pointed to the brothel. Take it for what it’s worth, i guess… Hector made a lot of dirty jokes. He also took us to the House of Faun to see the Alexander mosaic. In the foyer we saw the famous bronze Faun statue. As we went, Hector pointed out the terra cotta and lead pipes. These kept hot water hot, and cold water cold, better than any other method before. Once our tour was over, Hector told us where the ‘grave of the 12’ was, and circled the vineyard, the stadium, and a few other points of interest on the map. He asked us if we had lipstick to put on his cheeks so that he could brag to his coworkers that three American girls kissed him… ugh, awkward. we told him we didn’t. we lied. Anyways, after he gave us his phone number, (awkward again) he left, and we went to all the places he’s circled. The sight of the 12 was a bit harder to handle than expected. It wasn’t until then that I started to really grasp the true terror those people felt. Seeing the cast fills of little toddlers covering their faces and adults bodies contorted from asphyxiation was unnerving, moving and heartbreaking. On our way out of the ruins, i got so frustrated at the sidewalk sales-people. After seeing the 12, I certainly didn’t want to have “special price just for me” barked from every corner. blech. When we got away, we stopped at a fresh-squeezed juice stand. Dani got lemon juice and Em and I got blood-orange juice. A blood orange is an orange thats flesh is sort of crimson streaked and tangy sweet. SO refreshing. :) We went back to Sorrento and walked around the town. Did a bit of mindless shopping, got olive oil for Mom, then meandered down to the shore. Watched the sun set. talked. relaxed. let the dying rays of warmth lick my cheeks and neck. felt good. took pictures. was happy. Eventually we made it back to our hotel and made plans to go to Switzerland the coming morning… yea… I know that it was a dumb plan geographically speaking, but, hey, you’re only young once, right? :) haha At any rate, planning took a significantly longer amount of time then expected, and turned into a bit of an internet fiasco. Alex V (Em’s friend) helped us figure out things. He was such a great help. When our plans were set, we flopped into bed. Resigned to the fact that the entire day coming would be spent sitting on trains. But I can’t complain: We were in Europe, and every day was a new adventure.
