Palestrant Cruise Journal-3

19 July 2001 Naples

Allow me to first establish my credentials. I was raised in New York City; I have ridden in NYC cabs and merged into the Holland Tunnel. I have driven across the Key Bridge to Georgetown in Washington, DC. I have even taken a left-hand turn in Boston. But I say this unto you: the drivers in Naples are the craziest I've ever seen.

We were allowed a little respite in the morning, joining a 9:30 tour of the city's legendary archeological museum. It was on the bus from the harbor that I first witnessed the horror, the beautiful madness of Downtown Traffic. Cars sped like kamikaze pilots on espresso, darting around other vehicles to get to intersections first. There were lanes in the road, but these were treated as quaint anachronisms. One tiny hatchback zigged wildly across our path, sucking in its breath so as not to lose it's entire coat of paint. Our tour guide, consummatly Italian, smiled. "Women drivers... they are somewhat transgressive. It is good to be a little transgressive now and then. You should try it! " We noticed the clearly-from-Mississippi couple that had been our dinner companions three nights previously seated behind us, agog.

There were other signs that we were no longer in the north. One was the billboard for a sale at Herrod's featuring a bare-chested woman, beaming pertly. The palm trees along the streets were also a clue. Another was the landscape itself. A cliffside road brought us up to see breathtaking views of the coast. The city is dressed with islands such as Capri and Ischia, and still lives in the shadow of the great Vesuvius that buried Pompeii. It is the third largest city in Italy after Rome and Milan, but unlike most of the larger cities in the New World, it has grown organically. Its skyline now features skyscrapers mixed with ancient castles, one of which stands at a major intersection downtown. (But has apparently not been mangled by the traffic as of yet. ) The sun itself seems to give Naples a classic Italian feel- desultory and informal. It's just too hot to be uptight.
Many folks spend their entire visit at the excavated ruins of Pompeii, but another hot tip from Laurie led us to go first to the museum, a converted fifteenth-century palace. It contains almost all of the artifacts found in the city: perfectly preserved statues, mosaics, even actual unbroken, decorated glassware from two millennia ago. In short, it blew our minds. Jen and I had both studied Renaissance art. I had always assumed that the techniques developed in the sixteenth century were an extension of ideas from the classical period, but images of Egyptian glyph and perspective-less Greek vases had always dictated my impression of what classical art looked like. The mosaics here had all the depth, perspective and understanding of human anatomy of any of the works by Raphael or Michelangelo. The eyes were exceptionally expressive, carrying incredible shadings of emotion. The museum featured theatre masks, not neoclassical, but in the "current style" of 79 A.D. Sculptures were also akin to sixteenth century work that we had seen in Florence, but predating them by a millennium and a half. The pieces were often enormous, such as a mythologically-descriptive piece featuring a man holding back a rearing bull poised to strike at his stepmother. In some ways, the work was far superior to its later counterparts. A statue of a general on horseback, for example, made it quite clear that the steed was no filly. In fact, phallic images were quite prominent in the statuary, from fertility ornaments to brothel advertisements. Our guide was quite cool about these, reminding us that it is the American culture that is puerile and adolescent.	Even when looking back at these pix, Jen exclaimed, "That's my house!"
We took a quick lunch back on board, then finally joined our tour to Pompeii itself. Or sort of. As we were learning is Princess' custom, we stopped for a 'bonus' on en route. They have agreements with prestigious and often unique shops to enhance their tours with demonstrations. That the stores often make loads of sales this way is purely intentional. On this occasion, it was the Italian art of hand carving shells into cameo broaches. The artists carve the shells to reveal the darker color - or indeed colors - of the interior. It is very meticulous, detailed work and quite beautiful. Also quite expensive; we made it out with our wallet unscathed. Pompeii itself is not an excavation like anything else I've ever seen, in person or in pictures. It is simply enormous, stretching for miles and miles. It would not take a whole day to see all of it: it would take three. Fortunately, we had a hyper-enthusiastic and very knowledgeable guide to highlight his favorite attractions. Like Naples, it still sits in the shadow of the volcano that once entombed it. Seeing it now, a full scale city, gives a visceral impression of like in Ancient Greece or Rome that I, Claudius only dreamed of. Our guide was particularly enamored of this layering of the two Classical cultures. It was a startlingly advanced city, replete with curbs, sliding doors, plumbing.