Travel Post IV

Well, it's been a couple days since my last post, and we've done quite a bit. Yesterday we did indeed go to Pompei and walked all over the place. We decided to just make it a relaxing day, so we woke up around 9 and got out the door somewhere around 11.

Pompei, for those who don't know, was a city a couple thousand years ago, but it was destroyed in the volcanic eruption of Mount Vesuvius. They've excavated about 3/4 of the city and you can walk around and see how people lived 2000 years ago.

I had already been there 3 or 4 times, but it seems like every time I go I get a deeper understanding of it and appreciate it more. It's amazing to see the technology they had back then. I'd even go so far as to say the current inhabitants of this area haven't progressed too much farther than they had 2000 years ago.

There are a couple theatres, and amphitheatre, shops, brothels, churches, everything. The roads are all still in place, the buildings are roofless and a bit damaged, but most of the walls are still in place. There are pictures on the walls and mosaics all over and tiled floors. It's remarkable to see.

A lot of the stuff pulled out of Pompei during the excavation ended up at theArcheological Museum of Napoli, which is where we went today.

Before going from yesterday to today, however, I guess I should say that we ate pizza and had a lot of gelato last night, and slept very well.

This morning we got an earlier start because we had a lot of walking to do. We hopped the 9:30 or so train in to Napoli. I was a little nervous to go to Napoli, just because it's crazy there, but there's a lot of stuff worth seeing there if you can make your way through it.

We hopped off the train (the Circumvesuviana) after 70 long minutes and transferred to the regular Metro. They've done a lot of work to the Metro stations since I was here last. I almost didn't recognize them. We just rode one stop, then took the new moving sidewalks to a stop on the other line (that also didn't exist last time I was here) and came up right near the museum.

The museum was really neat. I'd only been there once before, and that was when I was 19 and didn't know about museums and things. We spent a little time appreciating the sculptures there, then went up to see the artifacts from Pompei.

It was really neat to see all the stuff they had there. There were scales for weighing things and medical tools for poking people, and metal pots and pans. I guess I never realized they had metal back then.

We also went into the Gabinetto Segretto, the secret room where they put all the mosaics and sculptures from the red light district of Pompei. I guess there world has always been about the same as it is now, just with different people in it.

After the museum, we walked a bit til we came to a pizzeria in Piazza Dante. I'd never seen it before, and was planning to go to a different pizzeria that I knew, but we were hungry and it looked good. Annie and I each just ordered a Margherita Pizza (crust, tomatoes, mozzarella, oregano, and oil) and she finally agreed with me that the pizza in Napoli is the best pizza she's ever had.

After lunch we walked down the main street down to the water, passing the Piazza del Plebiscito, and the Palazzo Reale, and ended up overlooking the bay and the Castel del'Ovo. We hadn't been able to see the volcano until then because of the smog, but it lifted as we were walking down there so we were finally able to see it.

From there it was a climb to get back up to the metro station. The only other specific thing we wanted to see was the Cappella Sansevero. After a long, slow hike we made it and it was worth every step. The Cappella Sansevero is a tiny little church on a tiny little street in the middle of a maze of tiny, spooky streets in the middle of a crazy city. You'd walk right past the doorway if you didn't know what you were looking for.

The Cappella is known primarily for one thing: the Veiled Christ. It's a sculpture of Christ after he's been taken from the cross, laying on a bed with some pillows supporting his head, and covered in a sheet with the crown of thorns at his feet. It's absolutely astounding to look at it. It seems as though the marble is carved so thin that you're actually looking through it to the body beneath. You can see the veins (and holes) in Jesus' hands and feet, and see the puncture in his side as he lays serenely under the veil. It's incredible, and well worth the trouble to get there.

From there we wound our way through tiny streets until we got back to the metro station. I'm sure Annie's parents thought we were lost most of the time, and there were some pretty good hills to climb, but I think it gave all of us a better appreciation for Napoli and its inhabitants.

It was really nice to be back where I started my mission 14 years ago. It's been 12 years since I've been back to Napoli. I've been a little nervous to go back, but I think I've overcome that fear now. It's still crazy, but it still feels a bit like home.

After the long train ride back to Sorrento, we found a nice place to eat where I ate the same meal that I first ate my first day in Napoli. It was just as good today as it was back then. Then, of course, we topped it off with some gelato.

Now it's time for bed so we're all rested for the Amalfi Coast in the morning.