Rome to Naples
OK, I’ll pick up where Dan left off with Midnight Mass. Yes, St. Peter’s Basilica IS huge, beautiful and very impressive, but the mass left me feeling a bit cold — both literally and figuratively. We were able to get seats, but we were fairly close to the back and one of the back doors was left open during the mass, so there was a cold draft coming into the basilica. Of course, most of the mass was in Italian, with a couple readings in English and some readings and petitions in other languages: German, Spanish, French, Arabic, etc. And, the music was performed by an all-male chorus, accompanied by organ, mostly in a traditional chant style. Plus, the congregation sang only one traditional Christmas carol — Adeste Fidelis — and we were only supposed to join the choir on the “O Come let us adore him” part. Truly, the music was beautiful, and the gospel reading was sung by a male cantor who had a GORGEOUS voice! It was just very different from the Christmas mass that I am accustomed to and I missed THAT mass. Overall, it was a great experience to attend midnight mass at St. Peter’s and I’m glad we had the opportunity to do it.
On our way walking back to the hostel from the basilica, we called my parents’ place, where the rest of my family were celebrating Christmas Eve. They put us on speaker phone and sang “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” for us. It was great to talk to them and hear all of their voices!
Once we got back to the hostel, we slept for a few hours, got up for the free hostel breakfast and, then, went back to sleep for a few more hours. In the afternoon, we went to a grocery store in the main train station and picked up our “Christmas dinner” that we ate at the hostel — a small, roasted chicken, a salad, breaded and deep-fried olives (we’re in Italy, afterall), milk, wine and cream-filled croissants for dessert. It sure wasn’t anything like Christmas dinner at home, but it tasted good, and it was kind of fun.
We looked and looked — along with a young woman named Emily from Wisconsin who was also staying at our hostel — for an English-language movie to see both Christmas evening and the following evening. Our search, unfortunately, led us only to theaters that were no longer open or movies that were dubbed in Italian — oh, well. We had fun walking around and seeing more of Rome at night with our new-found friend from our neighboring state. “HI” to Emily, who is probably back in Austria, where she is currently teaching.
After running around to four different Rome post offices on Wednesday morning trying — unsuccessfully — to track down a card that my sister, Brenda, sent to us via “Poste Restante” (that’s a whole other story), we got on a train destined for Naples and arrived at about 1:30 pm. The energy of Naples is unlike any I’ve seen in any other city! We walked down a very crowded street loaded with sidewalk markets and many, many people to our hostel — about 30 minutes or so. The streets are packed with cars, buses and motor scooters; red lights are somewhat optional for scooters and pedestrians generally don’t have the right-of-way. But, if you need to cross somewhere, you just need to assert yourself, walk with purpose and you’ll be OK. In the evenings, Neapolitans enjoy “strolling” through this seemingly chaotic mess. Somehow, it all seems to work!
That evening we walked to and visited a couple churches — the Cathedral and another one (I don’t remember the name) where nuns from — presumably — a local convent were participating in their daily, evening prayer service, including the rosary. We sat in on it for awhile and, then, made our way slowly back to the hostel, where we had a pasta, bread and wine supper compliments of the hostel — good and fun!
Thursday, we visited Pompei, the city that was buried by the volcano, Mt. Vesuvius, in 79 AD. More on Pompei and Vesuvius later.
Friday we decided not to go anywhere or see any sites; we took care of some errands and just walked around Naples a bit. We’ll be here for 12 nights while we wait to activate our two-month Eurail pass (so it lasts until the first part of March). So, we have plenty of time to see Naples and the surrounding area.
And, today we took a bus and hiked to the crater of Vesuvius, which hasn’t “blown” since 1944. We saw steam rising from several areas of the crater, but there was no bubbling lava or anything like that. In fact, we watched a group of three climbers descend down into the crater. The sky was a bit hazy, but we still had good views of Naples, the sea and the surrounding area. It was fun!
OK, more later.
Tim
Tags: Europe, Naples, Pompei, Rome, Vesuvius
timdan2
Tim and Dan,nrnrHappy 2007 to both of you! We missed you guys at Christmas, but was sure nice to hear your voices at Mom’s house. I have my beautiful decoration hanging up in my kitchen. I love it!!!nrnrLove both of you!nrnrBrennrnrPS Sorry again about the mail mixup!!nrPSS We finally did get some snow on New Year’s Eve. It is white here now!
Happy New Year, guys! Still following your great travels and viewing the pics when they come in. We are 35 days from a cruise to Mexico, which we are looking forward to. Kenny now wants to go to either Hong Kong (for the Chinese New Year) or Australia, plus we do need to get over to Europe to visit friends and family… So much of the world to see!
Be well. Be happy!
Steve (of Kenny and Steve)