Naples, Italy

Wednesday, July 7, 2010:

The Farnese Bull

  

I have so many ideas and reflections I want to share, and not enough time in my day. It is 10  PM here, and I need to complete this entry, do my physical therapy stretches, do some minimal labeling of the pictures from the Naples Museum I am uploading while I type this, and get some sleep. I'm also hoping that my wonderful boyfriend, Don Burke, will give me a call. I decided since my Italian cellphone is supposed to work for free incoming calls and emergency outgoing calls, I'll just hold onto it. Of course, the fact that I have no idea how to make an emergency call in Italy is something that bothers me, but not enough to ask-- I feel too busy!

This morning our group took the train and metro system to the National Archeological Museum at nearby Naples. Members of the group who'd lived in busy and sometimes unsafe metropolitan areas were more comfortable with this whole process than I was. I am from an area of North Carolina that has a public transportation (bus) system, but you call for it 24 to 48 hours in advance to schedule your ride, and it takes you to your destination anywhere in the county. I don't even know if the $4.00 fare is one way or round trip, because I've never used it. Also, Naples is known for having pickpockets and purse cutters and purse and jewelry snatchers who particularly prey upon tourists, so I was nervous about that.

The museum was well worth the trip. I got pictures of marble busts of Roman emperors from the Farnese Gallery, which feels like the seeds of a student project. I saw and photographed the magnificent Farnese Bull. I saw and photographed a slew of frescoes from Pompeii and Herculaneum, mostly focusing on mythology for another potential student project, but I also took pictures of scenes that struck my own interest. Another participant, Susan,, a teacher from Chicago Public Schools, and I found we enjoyed each others' company as we walked through the gallery. She looked at the work from a technical perspective while I was looking at the culture the art reflected. I bought a reproduction Herculanean bracelet and a statuette of a faun for a class project.

  Our group was given directions on how to get home. Susan and I got on a slightly wrong train and went  seven stops out of our way. We realized this when we came to the end of the line and our train shut down. The kindly conductor spoke some broken English, and I some broken Italian, and he managed to get us on the right train to where we could get a connection back to Stabia. There we poked around, got some snacks (gelato for me!) and shopping done, and made our way up to the Villa. I took some video that tried to get some feel for the old-style European feel of the streets on our walk from the downtown area up to our hotel, but I'm not sure how good a job I did. I was going to look at the video tonight and label pictures, but I think I only have time to do my stretches and go to bed. I wish I had an easy way to ask a physical therapist or doctor if I am doing any harm by skipping my full exercise regimen. I hope all the walking up and down stairs is doing me enough good as far as strengthening the leg and knee.

 Oh, our evening discussion session was fantastic. Jessica Tang and Jill Howard gave a great presentation on Roman slavery. There seem to be some frightening parallels between the changes in the economy and farming due to the Roman latifundia system and the government-supported farming system today, as outlined in the documentary Food, Inc. and elsewhere. I have a million more reflections but this is all I can manage for now. Tomorrow we are visiting more villas, going to Boscoreale, and hearing a visiting lecturer on I-wish-I-could-remember-what.

 Postscript: I couldn't sleep and wrote a draft of a little poem about Stabia, the little city where we're staying. But that's fodder for another post.

I would like to thank the National Endowment for the Humanities for making this portion of my studies possible.