quit gasping! you all have heard about the erotic art frescoes in Pompeii! these 2 are only a very small portion of what you can see in the town. many more in the "Secret Room" in the archeological museum in Naples, some very explicit stuff there! (why do these exclamation points keep appearing while I'm writing about erotic art??! Ummmm) see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secret_Museum,_Naples but not all of you at once, you'll crash the site! |
if it's Monday this must be the Agean Sea ... a day at sea ... who could ask for more than to sit ... and sit ... and sit ... right ........... relaxing after all the stress of all that sight-seeing and ... as my daughter in law Kami Anderson commented about my sister Lynn Johnson's stress from traveling to Thailand and having the MOST relaxing spa day followed by shopping and fine dining and ... oh well I digress! it's Monday and a day at sea - so lovely, truly it is. and so onward to Sicily, almost Italy but not quite - can't get past the memory of my Italian grandmother making a distinction between Italy and Sicily. ok, I'll admit it, she always said the Siciliani were "mean". is that where Mario Puzo got his idea for the Godfather, from my grandmother?? at any rate, I'm delighted to be getting so close to the real Italy! the port where we dock, Catania Sicily has a Piazza del Duomo with the requisite church, a Norman Cathedral dedicated to St. Agatha and an elephant fountain, the symbol of Catania. it's very near Taormina home to the wonderful, ancient Greek Theater, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_theatre_of_Taormina. Greek Theater in Taormina another night, and believe it or not it's Naples ... sorry, as the saying goes, the armpit of civilization. perhaps that's a bit strong; some people love Naples and some people hate it. I'm among the later; maybe having had my watch stolen off my arm on a former visit has colored my feeling about Naples. my friend, Karen Mills who writes a blog, "An American in Italy" http://www.anamericaninitaly.com/, wrote about how much she likes Naples ... well, that's what makes the world go around ... and keeps Naples' tourist economy going. these pitiful pictures epitomize my memories of Naples: people and traffic and, of course the great archaeological museum with the Pompeii artifacts. however, Naples is the port for Sorrento, the glorious Amalfi Coast and Pompeii so it is to be tolerated, but not for too long - just a quick drive through. Sorrento is on the tip of the Sorrentine Peninsula and is totally a tourist town but I really like Sorrento! one of the reasons is that at night sitting on the balcony of a hotel room sipping limoncello looking across the Bay of Naples to Mt Vesuvius there are fireworks clearly visible from the many villages on the slopes of the mountain. either fireworks or ... well limoncello does go down quite smoothly! no, I really think those small villages celebrate something or other EVERY night! the Isle of Capri at sunset is a constant! another reason to love Sorrento is the endearing old men playing cards in the unbelievable, beautifully frescoed room which is just on the main street and seems too precious to be left to the elements and the vandals. I first saw it in 2005 and it's still there, intact, with the players still at it! then we're off to the Amalfi Coast; unfortunately on this day the weather doesn't cooperate and the view, while lovely, is just not up to what it can be with the sun shining and the water a pure blue. this coast may be one of the most photographed drives anywhere, and it deserves to be. (I've cheated and used a few pictures from a previous trip to show what can be) photo 2 is on the real day, the others are from a sunnier time last stop is Pompeii; a real disappointment because 7 of us had rented a private car and driver and the organizer didn't realize Pompeii must have a minimum of 4 hours and he allotted less than one hour. a further shame because I was the only one who had been before and the others missed one of the great sights in Italy, or anywhere. to those of you who may go in the future: please spring for a guide so as not to miss a single detail of this fascinating place. (Mt Vesuvius in background left) calm down so we can continue to the Eternal City, Rome ...
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Mary and I boarded the boat, Nieuw Amsterdam, in Venice - not ship but boat for those in the know nautically. we arrived in Venice on a midnight flight from Prague via Barcelona (don't know who booked such a terrible itinerary but I'll never use them again!) stayed at a very clean, convenient and reasonably priced B & B; $75 is unheard of in Venice! Casa Gaia if you're interested, http://www.casagaia-venezia.com/dynalay.asp?PAGINA=5 checked in on the ship, oops! boat and then took a vaporetto to have a look at remarkable Venice for about 8 hours, not time enough for in-depth but a good cursory visit. one thing of note: noticeably fewer pigeons in Piazza San Marco ... and that's great! the next day we came to Dubrovnik Croatia. before the war in 1991, Dubrovnik was the only city with its ancient walls still intact completely around the city. now the damage from the war is repaired and the city wall is whole again; perhaps you can see in the picture below the difference in the red tiled roofs how the new roofs are brighter red. but the damage physically and emotionally men wreak on their fellow man is truly monstrous! on a lighter note: Dubrovnik is among the 10 best medieval walled cities in the world and among the 10 best places in the world for a fairytale proposal on Valentine's Day! no proposal for me but then it wasn't February 14 either! guess there's always next year ... anyone? Agrostoli and Corfu: the miss-ables come along on the next 2 consecutive days. I say "miss-able" because even now as I write less than 2 weeks after I was there I can't remember anything distinguishable about them! these pictures are the best I could do, you decide: (though Agrostoli did have the biggest cactus I've ever seen, see below right, reaches the 2nd story roof!) and that pretty much sums up those 2 Greek islands: mis-able! Santorini just squeaks by the miss-able category. I'd seen such beautiful pictures of Santorini but the in-person look didn't live up to the images or perhaps I wasn't on the picturesque part of the island. a LOT of shops with lots of lovely jewelry. I bought a gold charm to add to the charms from other places I've visited, a charmingly charmed charm depicting the Parthenon which will keep Santorini in my memory. Santorini is the largest island of a small, circular archipelago which bears the same name and is the remnant of a volcanic caldara (pictured below) formed by the largest volcanic eruption in recorded history. Etc etc ... if you're really interested: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santorini so I leave you for now with the red, white and blue flying on Greek Santorini ... see you at sea.
my friend Mary Kerchner, (just plain "Mary" in future posts; well, in reality she's anything but plain!) and I arrived in Prague Czech Republic on August 29, 2012. Prague is a city of more than 500 spires and is truly beautiful; http://www.prague-pictures.cz/photos/64/prague-the-city-of-a-hundred-spires the city was not bombed during the War (the "War" will refer to WW II in future posts) so consequently it maintains all of its original baroque and gothic-ness. I had been here a number of times but I never realized how different it is from Florence. besides being much larger, 1.2 million to 370,000 population, the architectural styles are totally different: Florence was home to the Renaissance architectural movement in the late 14th to 16th century, and the homeland of Palladianism, a style which inspired Neoclassical architecture. Prague is a mixture of several sytles including Gothic, Romanesque, Baroque, Art Nouveau. unlike most cities in the US, you would never confuse one for the other. Mary's son, Grant, lives in Prague, is engaged to a Czech girl, Lenka Kubesova, and will be married on 6 October (in the European manner date first). Lenka's parents were kind enough to let us stay in their newly renovated apartment; a lovely flat (in future posts - IF I can remember to say "flat" - apartments will be flats also per European manner) complete with washing machine ... it was free for our use. most generous! Photo 1: shoes are removed at the door; Photo 2: clothes dryer; Photo 3: kitchen with oven, a luxury in European kitchens and the little bitty frige, standard size because shopping is done daily one the most recognizable features in Prague is the Charles Bridge which is invariably mobbed with tourists so unless you go early morning or late night you won't get a photo of the bridge sans people. the bridge is lined with religious figures, my favorite is the crucifix. in the picture below, Mary is in white on the far right and Grant beside her, the tall, dark structure at the end of the bridge is the powder tower. King Charles, 1316 - 1378, is a hero and more; you can't go far wrong guessing that something was built in the time of Charles or named for him, a la Charles bridge, Charles University etc etc. though the bridge may be one of the most famous landmarks, in a city of beautiful buildings, my favorite is the Municipal House; in this case municipal referring to cultural not pertaining to government. it is art nouveau in style with a bit of baroque and gothic thrown in and an "Americky" bar for all the US ex-pats. I love the churches in Italy, Chiesa di Ognissanti in Florence my personal pick, but as for other buildings this Municipal House is a favorite. Mary did not feel well on one day so I was alone walking the streets of Prague in the rain, reveling in the particular sensation that is Europe. Photo 1 & 2: the National Museum with statue of King Charles; Photo 3: Old town square with the Astronomical Clock on the left Karlstejn Castle: on Saturday Mary (mostly recovered) Grant, Lenka and I took the 40 minute train ride to see Karlstejn Castle. (Karlstejn translates to Charles ... unless you think as my son Brian does that names don't translate; Karlstejn is Karlstejn!) looking up at the castle from the bottom of the hill, the mist and low clouds lent the gothic castle just the right air of mystery and a bit of foreboding. we took the English speaking tour - English being only a euphemism for the language the guide was speaking! her "English" was so poor we could barely understand every 3rd word or so; I can tell you only that the castle was built by Charles (see you can't go wrong guessing "in the time of Charles") and that many, maybe 4, of his wives died very young of one thing and another: TB, childbirth, general malaise. the language barrier notwithstanding, it was a pleasant day in the country. on the return, we went to a small wine bar and had a glass of Heuriger, lietally "new wine or this year's wine". in the small shopping area with the bar is a stature by David Cerny which is a parody of the statue in front of the National Museum. ... Charles of course! Cerny has several provocative/evocative works around the city including "babies climbing the TV tower" more of David Cerny: https://www.google.com/search? q=david+cerny&hl=en&prmd=imvnso&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=iuxWULSXJ4SSswaE_4CQBg&ved=0CDcQsAQ&biw=1241&bih=551 and so 'til next time ... bottoms up!
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