Tuesday 3 June: A day at Pompeii; an evening at Spaccanapoli

We got up at 5 am today to get ready for our trip to the digs. We stopped at a caffè around the corner for coffee and cornetti, and caught a cab to the Circumvesuviana station. The Circumvesuviana is the local electric train that serves the communities around Vesuvius, the southern Bay of Naples, and the Sorrentine peninsula. The trip to Pompeii takes about a half hour. We arrived at the Pompeii Scavi stop and entered the site as it opened at 8:30 am. I recommend early arrival for several reasons. First, it’s less hot in the morning. Second, the light is better than when it is directly overhead. And third, everyone else goes late, and since Pompeii can get packed, it’s nice to be there when there are fewer people. Gary and I were alone most of the time. I’ve written about Pompeii before, and how amazing it is to walk through this town frozen in time and catastrophe. Just as I had a couple of months earlier with Beth, so Gary and I encountered many dogs, mostly sleeping in the sun. I lost my sun hat, but Gary found it for me (I had apparently taken it off in the Botanical Garden). We visited the Forum, with its basilica, monuments, and Temple of Capitoline Jupiter, as well as the temples of Isis and of Apollo. We spent a few hours in Pompeii, and saw the large and small theaters, a couple of the baths, and walked through the streets of shops, houses, and apartment buildings. It was pleasant out, sunny and warm but not hot, with a nice breeze. We enjoyed the quiet with so few visitors there.
In the afternoon we returned to Naples. After cleaning up in our room, we spent the evening hanging out in the old neighborhood of Spaccanapoli. We had a late lunch during which I had incredibly good seafood pasta (more octopus!). We ate gelato sitting on an old stone bench people-watching, which we later continued from an outdoor caffè. The people of Spaccanapoli are fascinating. The place is a zoo, and makes Trastevere look conservative. It seems like hairstyles of the early 1980’s are making a comeback here, especially for women. I haven’t seen such big hair since I was in college. The purple and orange lycra made a nice contrast to acid-washed denim and leopard-print stirrup pants. The two winning fashion statements both went to people over seventy. One was an elderly man, walking down the street in boxers and a wife beater, carrying his stove-top espresso pot. Gary said that he was just out of bed and looking for coffee. In the ladies’ category, the winner was a septuagenarian in tight zebra print pants who was picking through trash cans, occasionally crying out in glee as she discovered some treasure. Folks were everywhere on the narrow street, hanging out of windows and balconies, sitting on benches and in outdoor bars, or just leaning on the buildings hanging out. The traffic was incredible, much worse even than Rome. Vespas and even cars darted between the tables of outdoor caffès. Children much too young for drivers’ permits zipped their scooters in and out of the traffic, and cars and taxis barreled down the cobblestones with wild abandon. We saw old women lower baskets on strings from their fifth and sixth floor windows, waiting for a passer-by to take out a note and money, run an errand, and deliver the merchandise to the basket, which would then be raised back up to the window. We could have stayed there all night, but eventually we went in after a dinner of panini on the street, and went to bed.