Naples, Italy


It’s hard to believe that it is already Saturday and I am way behind in blog entries—so please be patient as I try to catch up. But we have been so busy it’s hard to find a free moment. We have just arrived in Naples and plan to spend the morning touring on our own in the heart of the city. This afternoon we have an excursion to the Roman city of Herculaneum, destroyed during the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius, but conveniently open to tourists today.

Tuesday, 19 October 2010

A Visit to the US Consulate
We have a busy morning today, but the sun is shining and the temperature is warming as we check out of our hotel and store our luggage for pickup later this afternoon. The hotel staff is especially helpful; they even have photocopies of our passports that they give us—this will speed up the process at the Consulate. After coffee and croissants at the corner coffee shop we taxi to the Consulate, located in the hills overlooking the central city. Not the best circumstances for getting a panoramic tour, but we take advantage of what we have.

Although there is a slight hitch when the photo machine at the consulate breaks down (after taking Will’s four €s, and we have to find a photo shop four blocks away for Will to take new headshots, the whole process goes quite smoothly and we leave the Consulate, new passport in hand, in about two hours.

Back to Being Tourists
We spend the rest of the morning at Guadi’s exuberant fantasy, La Sagrada Familia, still under construction after one hundred years. You can easily tell the difference between the parts of the structure built under the architect’s direct supervision: although the decoration is flamboyantly 20th century, the basic structure is in harmony with most Gothic cathedrals across Europe. The stone is splayed with myriad decorative wild shapes and forms in bright Iberian colors. You may recognize many traditional Christian symbols in the decoration, but you will also find a good number of very puzzling fruit- and animal-like constructions. The new parts are built with smoother stone and more angular stylizations. For some reason (is today a Catalan holiday?). The line to get inside stretches completely around the building and moves very slowly, so we opt for just the outside (the most interesting part anyway).

After lunch (an excellent pizza margherita), we head back to the Barrio Gotico and the Picasso Museum, a collection of the master’s early works. The museum does not contain many of his major paintings, but does give a good sense of his early works and sources. Some early small watercolors of the villages surrounding Barcelona are especially charming. The museum also has a very fine gift shop (in case you want to make plans).

We walk back to the hotel to collect our luggage and taxi to the dock (it’s a really walkable distance—if you don’t have any luggage). All goes smoothly: we have our passports and other worldly positions and are ready to start anew. Our stateroom is very tasteful—amidships on deck 5, starboard—and surprisingly room. There is enough closet space for all our belongings. And I can use my laptop and access the web directly from the room (for a very un-modest fee, of course).

With two people eating on this cruise there will be just too much food to describe it all, so I will only mention the highlights: prosciutto and melon with fig chutney; cream of vegetable soup with Parmesan croutons; traditional roast beef with Yorkshire pudding and horseradish sauce (this is a British ship); Bailey’s chocolate trifle with strawberry coulis for dessert. Our servers, Jane and Wilmer, are very British (via the colonies), and are efficient and pleasant.

We look forward to a good night sleep and another day of touring in Barcelona tomorrow morning.