Naples and Pompeii

7/5/2009

The last day in Italy, I woke up and went up to breakfast, where I ran into Amanda, Kara and Athena.  They were all planning on going to Pompeii for the day, and so I decided to tag along.  None of us wanted to bring many belongings along after all the warnings we had had about pick-pocketers.  I left the ship with my money belt tucked securely under my shirt, and my camera in hand, and that was it.  We began our walk to the train station with only a vague idea of where we were going, but luckily ran into several fellow SASers that gave us more detailed directions and instructions for when we got there.  Walking through Naples was even worse than taking to bus through it.  Garbage was everywhere, and lots of areas had very strong and unpleasant smells.  I was happy when I discovered we were not, in fact going to the main train station – which the guy on my flight back from Naples had warned me to avoid – but rather a smaller side station.  We got there and purchased our tickets, and then went down and hoped on the train.
Aside from being somewhat rundown, Naples was hot, and slightly muggy.  I feel like I have never sweated so much in my life.  The train ride to Naples was short, and there were several other SASers with the same plan.  We got there, and walked to the entrance and got in the line for tickets.  When we got to the front, Kara tried to pay first, but she didn’t have the exact change, and the guy behind the ticket counter flipped out.  Nowhere did it say that you must pay in exact change, apparently it was an unspoken rule or something.  He started yelling about it and then stood up in a huff, practically threw a stack of one euro coins at her, and then yelled “now you have all my change, it is yours, take it” in a very rude way!  We were all standing there somewhat shocked by the whole ordeal.  Once we all managed to get tickets, we went in and started our exploration.  Instead of paying for a tour, we grabbed a map that had the key sites marked with numbers, and a booklet that described what was at each number.  Other than the ruins of old buildings, one of the first things we saw was a storage type unit for all of the pots some statues, and even some of the plaster casts they had discovered.  It was very sad to see them and realize that it was in fact representative of a real person.  There was one of a dog that was contorted and on its back, apparently it had been trying to free itself from the chain it was hooked to and run away, but never managed to.  There was another one of a pregnant woman laying on her stomach and shielding her face.  We moved on from there, and wondered around the whole city.
One of the more interesting buildings was the brothel.  Inside the door, there were rooms lining the hallway with pictures above each doorway and a large, stone bed in each room.  One side of the bed even had stones that were slightly raised, like pillows.  None of them looked comfortable though.  The worst part was the two stray dogs that were curled up sleeping in two of the rooms. They were no doubt trying to beat the heat, as all throughout Pompeii it was almost unbearably warm.  There were some faucets around, and as we were walking, we would run our arms or legs under to cold water to cool down some.  Back to the brothel, the pictures about each door were kind of like a menu, which seemed very strange, but apparently there were frequently language barriers, and that was the best approach.  After that, we went to the coliseum,  and a few other of the key buildings.  It was crazy how well preserved some of the buildings were, with artwork and marble counter tops still looking like new.  The streets even showed ware marks in the stone from carts wheeling along them.  There were also crosswalks, composed of large, raised stones, because apparently back when Pompeii was inhabited, the streets flowed with sewage, which the carts were fine to drive through, but the people didn’t want to have to walk in.
We left Pompeii when we were all so hot we couldn’t handle it anymore, and hopped on the train back to Naples.  We walked past the ship looking for food, and when the other girls found somewhere in the less sketchy part of Naples, I continued one block past them to look for some last minute souvenirs.  Then, it was time to go back to the ship.  It was kind of nice to be back on the ship and getting ready to head back out to sea.
We had a belated fourth of July BBQ, and the kids on the ship put on a parade.  They were so cute dressed in red, white and blue with face paint and flags.  And then we had an evening full of meetings and preparing for the next port.  The one day of class that came next seemed so disjointed and out of place.  It flew by and before I knew it, it was the pre-port before Croatia, and then sleep before another four crazy days in Croatia.