Bob's cold, which he came down with the moment we boarded our ship, came on suddenly and laid him low for the first couple of days. Today, however, he rose from his sick bed to walk with me up to the Naples Archeological Museum in the rain. I think he went to be good to me and may suffer the consequences. Gary opted to stay on board.
We saw the museum about ten years ago on a tour, so this trip was almost like an original visit. It contains many statues, mosiacs, frescoes, and artifacts from Pompeii and Herculaneum which were frozen in time by the eruption of Vesuvius almost two thousand years ago. There's no doubt that our Italian ancestors lived well--or at least the 1% did.
Some statues in the museum came from excavations in Rome. The largest--in fact, the largest ever recovered--is The Farnese Bull, a dramatic scene in which two life-sized men are in the process of tying a woman to a horse to punish her for something she'd done to offend one of the gods. I doubt that she'll do that again.
On the way back to the ship around 1:30, we naturally stopped at a shop for a "ricca" version of the famous Napolitan pastry "sforliatella." Okay, okay. I admit I read about it in Rick Steves' guide book where he accurately describes it as having light layers of flaky pastry dough on the outside filled with sweetened ricotta cheese inside. Heavenly!
The cruise itself is typical of most others--food, food everywhere and not a calorie to count. We opted for a table of six at night and have a retired couple from Queens, currently living in St. Petersburg, Florida, join us. I think they'll be compatible companions.
Last evening was the first of three formal ones. Gary looked like something out of a magazine. I do not think that Bob and I in our put-together tuxes suitable for carry-on luggage were too much of an embarassment.
Saturday, October 13: Civitivecchia
I'm writing this from a sidewalk cafe where we stopped for coffee and free wi-fi. This port is mainly a jumping-off point for buses and trains headed to Rome, but having just spent almost a week there, we opted for a day off from touring. Tomorrow we stop at Livorno. We had thought about a trip to Pisa or Lucca, but there's a train strike predicted. So, maybe we'll have another day of no touring. I refuse to take organized ones.
Bob's cold is better, but he's far from over it. Maybe when we get to Barcelona or Casablanca he'll be feeling better.
We saw the museum about ten years ago on a tour, so this trip was almost like an original visit. It contains many statues, mosiacs, frescoes, and artifacts from Pompeii and Herculaneum which were frozen in time by the eruption of Vesuvius almost two thousand years ago. There's no doubt that our Italian ancestors lived well--or at least the 1% did.
Some statues in the museum came from excavations in Rome. The largest--in fact, the largest ever recovered--is The Farnese Bull, a dramatic scene in which two life-sized men are in the process of tying a woman to a horse to punish her for something she'd done to offend one of the gods. I doubt that she'll do that again.
On the way back to the ship around 1:30, we naturally stopped at a shop for a "ricca" version of the famous Napolitan pastry "sforliatella." Okay, okay. I admit I read about it in Rick Steves' guide book where he accurately describes it as having light layers of flaky pastry dough on the outside filled with sweetened ricotta cheese inside. Heavenly!
The cruise itself is typical of most others--food, food everywhere and not a calorie to count. We opted for a table of six at night and have a retired couple from Queens, currently living in St. Petersburg, Florida, join us. I think they'll be compatible companions.
Last evening was the first of three formal ones. Gary looked like something out of a magazine. I do not think that Bob and I in our put-together tuxes suitable for carry-on luggage were too much of an embarassment.
Saturday, October 13: Civitivecchia
I'm writing this from a sidewalk cafe where we stopped for coffee and free wi-fi. This port is mainly a jumping-off point for buses and trains headed to Rome, but having just spent almost a week there, we opted for a day off from touring. Tomorrow we stop at Livorno. We had thought about a trip to Pisa or Lucca, but there's a train strike predicted. So, maybe we'll have another day of no touring. I refuse to take organized ones.
Bob's cold is better, but he's far from over it. Maybe when we get to Barcelona or Casablanca he'll be feeling better.
