We See Dead People
We want to get a relatively early start this morning because
we have several things on our list for today.
First is breakfast with Angela.
It is cloudy but not raining as we make our way to the restaurant for
breakfast. “Our” table is set
overlooking the fields and village with pastries, mango juice, yogurt,
tomatoes, prosciutto and cheeses. Angela
brings out a basket of hot croissants as we sit down. She apologizes for the bread being a little
late—it is still baking but she does bring a big plate of scrambled eggs
(courtesy of the chickens outside).
There is plenty of coffee “Americano.”
There is nothing we can say this morning beyond what we said yesterday. This is amazing. We threaten to stay which Angela welcomes
because she needs help bringing in the olives.
It is really tempting. Brother
comes in a little later for check out and it is handshakes with him and hugs
with Angela. A memory for a lifetime.
We’re in the car by 9:30, a little later than anticipated
but earlier than we would like, for the 2 hour drive to our mid-day
destination, Pompeii. We’ve read the
book and saw the movie so here it is live and in person. The original Pompeii was a prosperous port on
the Med under Greek rule and then Rome.
It was an active trading site from around 200 BC but there have been
folks living here for 6,000 years. They
keep digging deeper and deeper finding earlier and earlier signs of
civilization.
The big deal of course is the event of August 24th
AD 79 when Vesuvius blew its top and buried this progressive Roman town of
20,000+ people under super-heated ash 20 feet deep. For the last few hundred years archaeologists
have been carefully wiping away centuries of accumulation to recreate life in
this perfectly preserved window into life 2000 years ago. As you walk through this city of significant
size it is easy to visualize the scenes in the forum, basilica, amphitheater,
baths, brothel, taverns, theater and homes.
You stroll the streets as if you were there then on the same rocks
looking into the same doorways. The big
guy in Rome those days was Jupiter and he watches over his flock from a perch
on the wall of the forum. The sea, which
is now about a mile away, reached the city walls and there are walkways up from
a docking area for traders and visitors to come to the city by ship.
It is raining of course for about an hour of our 3-1/2 hour
visit which is getting to be a serious distraction from out activities. We have umbrellas but it is windy so our
pants are soaked through. We are trying
to read our guide, also soaked, and when we find cover for a second to set down
the umbrella the wind kicks up and blows the umbrella into the first
century. Really, we’re getting sick of
the rain.
We get a good hour of no-rain before we leave which allows us
to find some of the last areas of real interest to us. Inside the amphitheater (lions and gladiators)
they have erected a pyramid that houses many of the human forms they were able
to recreate from the eruption. Many of
the Pompeii residents were trapped in their homes when the ash cloud first hit
and they were literally gassed and buried in place. The ash that surrounded their bodies was
eventually dampened with ensuing rains forming a sort of crust around them. Their soft tissue deteriorated over time but
the form of their bodies remained in the hardened ash and were used to make
plaster casts. That way the
archaeologists were able to recreate the victims in their death poses. Pretty moving for something that happened
thousands of years ago. We don’t think
Ben Carson would have gotten out.
Now it is return-the-car time in Salerno, about 30 miles
back down the road. After we drop the
car off at 4:15 we will wait for our driver from our B&B in Amalfi to pick
us up at 5:00. At 5:10 our host, Vincenzo,
calls us wanting to know where we are.
We eventually decide that we are at Auto Europa and the driver is at
Europe Car. Two different companies a
block apart. (We have evidence in writing that we gave them the right info for
what it’s worth.) Franco our driver does
the death defying run through Salerno rush hour traffic and onto the more death
defying Amalfi coast road. This is a
winding string of switch backs along the side of a cliff with spectacular views
of the coast and little villages clinging to the hillsides. He pulls into a little street strewn with
tourists just as it is getting dark and we honk and nudge our way a couple
blocks up to Residenza Luce.
This will be our home for the next three nights. We are greeted by Vincenzo our host and his
son Marco (about 7 or 8) who help us carry our bags up a couple flights of
stairs to a little reception area and our room.
The room is a two level affair with the bed up and living and bath down. It is beautifully decorated with
Mediterranean tiles and the latest technology (except no English TV channels). We also have a nice balcony over the one
Amalfi street that runs from the sea to the base of the cliffs about a mile
away.
The family of the residenza also has a ristorante just down
the steps and behind the B&B. After
Mary does a load of laundry in the bidet and we have a glass of wine on our
balcony we venture down for dinner. The
hostess is Vincenzo’s sister, Giovana, a very friendly lady who we enjoy throughout the
evening. We think she enjoyed us, but
maybe that was the wine. We have the
bruschetta mista to start and then John gets the gnocchi with marinara while
Mary orders spaghetti with anchovies and sun dried tomatoes. After we each eat half of our pastas we swap
plates and everyone is happy. The liter
of vini rossi della casa helping the cause.
This is the home of lemoncello so we each order one after dinner. Our hostess says she will make Vincenzo pay
for them so free to us. The evening is
molto bene.
It is a short walk before bed. John catches up on computer stuff and Mary
catches up on reading and sleep. We have
nothing planned for tomorrow so time to relax.
What did we learn today?
In spite of the obvious, the Romans of Pompeii really had la dolce vita
figured out a couple thousand years ago.
