Wednesday, May 15, 2013

May 15 - Wednesday - Naples=Delhi minus Bullock Poop


Pompeiian mosaic in Naples Archeological Museum.
Also depicts my expression at discovering my "sandwich surprise"

The Curreri Viaggi bus trip back was slower than the way in, due to a few more stops. The real surprise when I arrived was opening the tuna-tomato sandwich I bought at the Mayflower cafe in Sorrento to find it was actually a tomato-mayonaise sandwich. I wondered what took them so long! Apparently they ran out of tuna, but to make up for it, they made me two tomato and mayonaise sandwiches, all served on god-awful white bread, "english-style". Pretty funny--at least they made an effort to make it up to me, though I’d rather they just told me.

The distance between Sorrento and Naples might as well be an ocean instead of a bay, more like a continent apart. Naples streets are marked by scudding garbage, studded with groups of unemployed men of every ethnicity, and scarred by miles of graffiti, most of it promoting anarcy. Its an ugly city, with unhappy people who call you stupid to your face if you appear to be a foreigner. One woman clucked her tongue at me when she thought I was going to ignore the red “do not cross” light and pulled me back from the street. “English?” she said. “Sure,” I said. She snorted. In Naples, as everywhere else in Italy, crossing a busy street has more ro do with agility and timing than signals.
View from La Chiminee's roof garden. Rain improves the vista

I finally connected with la Chiminee hotel after multiple tries to call them on public phones from the airport--after much sturm und drang, got the people at the airport Information desk to call for me. I was instructed to wait by 'the lavatory" at the end of a row of trees outside the airport--I only figured out where I was supposed to be because another woman with luggage was standing there. It turns out I was instructed to wait by the “rondatory”—the round-about. There followed a wild ride in a private car with a fellow, Lido, who dropped me in front of the hotel.
La Chininee Business Hotel in Naples is an emerald set in plastic. The hotel is lovely--3 or 4 stars, and the restaurant--totally deserted when I got there at 7 (didn't open for dinner until 7:30—someone should tell the front desk) was quite good, considerably better than some places in Sorrento.
A more pleasant street scene from Pompeii in mosaic
The neighborhood is a rough one, and doesn't look like a future gentrification project--the wide dirty street is lined with tiny baby-goods shops, car repair places, a cafe full of locals, and empty storefronts--plus one street shrine to a local saint. Directly on top of, or behind the shops were multi-story--three or more--working class apartments in that blocky prolitariat style--row upon row of them, all with laundry flapping from every tiny balcony. On the street, girls in their late teens, often pregnant, were pushing strollers and/or leading toddlers by the hand. This was not a place for a pleasant stroll, as you were guaranteed to get stared at.

The tram downtown stopped right accross from the hotel, and with a little watchfulness, the stop at Plaza Garibaldi was made. Then came the real problem--where was the big station that was supposed to be there? A huge construction site on the left looked suspect. I folowed the crowd, and came upon an entrance a few blocks away, and after several enquiries--including one to a policeman who insisted on shaking my hand enthusiastically while puzzling over my question (all in the name of Anglo-Italian relations, I'm sure)--found the train and track. If I were writing a guidebook, I’d use some euphemism like "well-used" to describe the metro, but “nasty” sems to fill the bill. In all honesty, its not much different than New York, as that one is largely nasty too.

Made it to the first stop, walked up through the garbage-dotted park to the museum. That is the reason to go to Naples, if none other.
The mosaics were astounding, mostly from the House of the Faun, a mansion that covered a city block in Pompeii—I’m so glad I went to Herculaneum and Pompeii first, to have some idea of the layout and where these wondrous objects were. I can't describe their beauty in words--perfectly preserved, full of color and life, panel upon panel of animals, people, scenes in delicate detail. What must it have been like to chip away at centuries of hardened lava and ash to find these beauties underneath? The terrible and sudden death of the owners of these works brought us, centuries later, a window into life.
Well, hello there!
Two things disringuish the interests of Pompeiians: sex and food, in that order. Paintings depicting sex, penis-shaped pottery and sculpture, and eating and drinking utensils depicting figures with oversized penises are on carefully arranged display in the museum’s “Secret Room”. Visitors are assured that the erect penis was a sign of good luck, as if four-leaf-clovers are hung over every doorway and street sign nowadays! Apparently picture books of sexual positions were there for the amusement of guests at table. That, or porno has retained its popularity over the centuries, and the assumption that it was a daily and very much out-there interest is only that.




Many frescoes survived the disaster, their subjects the slightly more chaste versions of myth. The sculptures were incredible--often copies of Greek work, lifelike and detailed. Ther is nothing new under the sun.
Its interesting what we can or do deduce from the remains of the past. 



What would be the assumptions about me or you if part of our belongings were found intact--say just the kitchen, or bathroom, or bedroom?

Tomorrow, on to Amsterdam, to spend the night in Leiden. At least it will be very, very clean. I'm sorry to leave Sorrento, and Pisello and his dreams:


See more images of Sorrento, Pompeii and Herculaneum on my website gallery page


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