Disaster Day

OK, OK, it was not really a disaster...it was an ADVENTURE!

Celia and I had planned for weeks to make this our day to visit Pompeii, which was right at the top of the list of things Celia wanted to see in Italy. We had purchased our train tickets weeks ago and were looking forward to the trip down to Naples and then on out to Pompeii.

The train trip was a little over two hours, and was pleasant. Visions of Hogwarts danced through our heads (for those of you who know what that means). The countryside was beautiful, etc., etc.

After arriving in Naples, we went to the basement of the Termini (train station) to catch the smaller train to Pompeii. At the ticket window, we were informed that Pompeii was closed! I had carefully checked the schedule before buying train tickets, but we thought maybe they had forgotten to list the closing because Thursday was a national holiday, Republic Day...the celebration of the end of WWII in Italy. But I had to ask why it was closed, and the ticket guy, who did not really speak English, just kept saying BOMBA BOMBA (I can't figure out how to do quotation marks on this European keyboard, so bear with me..quotes in all caps). We finally found someone who DID speak English, who told us that, ironically considering the holiday, they had discovered an unexploded WWII bomb close to Pompeii and had to close the site.

Of course we were glad not to blow up, but were very disappointed. I suggested to Celia that we go instead to the site of Herculaneum, which was a city on the other side of Vesuvius which was covered in mud during the eruption. It is much smaller than Pompeii but actually better-preserved in some ways (for example wood has survived here but did not at Pompeii). It is also obviously far less famous and usually not crowded at all, but was packed to the gills with people diverted there from Pompeii by tour guides who did not want to lose a day's revenue.

Anyway, at the train station we were approached by an Australian man who was looking for someone who spoke English, and was wondering what was going with Pompeii. I told him about Herculaneum and he asked if he could join us. Of course we were glad for the company, so we all set off together. His name was David and he was really pleasant and spent the whole day with us.

Herculaneum was great...I highly recommend it, even if you CAN get to Pompeii.

AFter that we went into Naples proper to see the Museo Archaeologica Nazionale, the largest archaeological museum in the world. Celia said if we couldnt see Pompeii, we could at least see the art and artifacts from it, since they are housed here. If you have been paying attention to our streak of luck this far, you will not be surprised to find out that the Pompeii wing at the museum was closed also! Cleaning or something. I tried to act important and tell them I needed access for research purposes, but they said we coudl only get in if we sent them a request by fax first because Italy is very bureaucratic. I suppose we could have gone to a store somewhere and done it, but we decided not to bother.

The one great thing about the museum, though, was that they have now opened a room that was closed to the public for many years...the "Secret Chamber." You still have to make an appointment, but they were not too busy so we were able to get in. Its the room that has all of the naughty art, mostly from Pompeii and Herculaneum. If you have ever seen photos of the Pompeii brothel, you will know what I am talking about. It was interesting to see, because most of the artifacts have not been displayed previously, and I had only seen them in pictures.

surprisingly, some parents had the very bad judgment to take their young children in (which I think should be prohibited). It was a great insight into parenting choices. For example, one 10 year old (or so) boy kept telling his mother very loudly "Mom, that man sure has a big good luck charm!"

Anyway, the museum was great, and afterwards David took us out for what is supposed to be the Worlds Best Pizza. It was no Papa John's, let me tell you!

We were super tired, and ready to get the train back, so we went to the station, where we waited and waited and our train never came. Finally they posted it up on the board as being 30 minutes late (this was 30 minutes after it was originally supposed to leave). We waited the 30 minutes, and suddenly it was listed as an hour out. At this point we decided to spend some Euros to upgrade to the high-speed train since we had no idea how long we would wait. But for some reason, because of the holiday probably, the high-speed crept all the way back to rome and we got back about 4 hours later than we had planned. But we were safe and had made a new friend, one who wisely chalked everything that day up to Travel Adventures.