June 1

So here we are on our very last full day in Italy, and still there is another adventure to enjoy! This time Franco, our GSE coordinator for District 2100 and our planner for the entire trip, volunteered to take us to a nearby inactive volcano because he knew how disappointed we were that we couldn't visit Mount Vesuvius. (Terrible rainy weather prohibited us from flying over it in the 6-seater plane or hiking the volcano as scheduled.) So off Jason, Nick, and Jane went while Martina opted to sleep late (a luxury we had precious little of in the last 30 days.)

Franco picked us up at 8:30 a.m. and off we went, first to the tip of the land mass area called Posillipo on which our residence (Instituto Denza) was located; then we drove north along the sea coast to an ancient and historic area by the sea where Romans and Greeks had settled. Being with Franco was a real treat because he not only is an engineer and architect but also a true Renaissance Man with extensive knowledge of the history of ancient Italy and the Greek and Roman settlements. He gave us a running commentary, including pointing out as we drove the island in the bay where Ulysses was buried, and also the ruins of a huge Roman coliseum, the second largest Roman structure, topped in size only by the coliseum in Rome. The island where Ulysses was buried rose from the sea in 3 days in 1552.

As we arrived at Solfatara, there was a mystical feeling about the place. And for an inactive volcano, there were plenty of jets of steam and sulfur escaping from holes in the ground. It was easy to understand why the Greeks and Romans felt this place was the entrance to the nether world. It was a ceremonial site where they killed sheep and poured sheep's blood into the erupting holes and asked the ghosts of ancestors to give them guidance. We were able to walk (carefully) among the erupting jets without too much difficulty, but it was fascinating to see the heat (312f) erupting from the ground and feel the heat of the soil through the soles of our shoes. The ancients also used this site for health reasons, since the inhalation of sulfur gas has been know since ancient times to have healing power for respiratory ailments.

On a coffee break at Solfatara, Franco explained how Naples even today still has many noblemen, including princes, barons, and marquis. They are not noble by blood but by appointment by a ruling monarchy at some time in the past. Some of them are part of the committee (and have been for four centuries) that is in charge of the St. Gennaro treasures and museum. (See our earlier trip to the Museo of San Gennaro.)

Sunday afternoon Barbara and Franco graciously invited us to their home to meet their family and extended family (all living in the same building) and friends at a farewell party. It was a lovely affair on the terrace with lots of wonderful Italian food - pies with escarole and peppers, procuitto and melon, special bufala mozzarella, pasta and a delicious desserts, all of course with wine (and water too, for the day was very warm). Barbara is an Englishwoman and has participated in many Rotary exchanges (this is Franco's 9^th GSE year) and was very welcoming. Their two daughters, Elsie and Fanny were there also and later in the afternoon, Fanny, who is very talented on the piano, treated us to a few songs. She's also quite a sportswoman, and she and Nick played with the hackeysack Martina had given her. Barbara and Franco even recommended some summer reading titles for Jane about Naples.

Then off to the Denza to pack and rest before our last dinner in Italy! We walked to a nearby restaurant - not the one where they didn't want to serve us only wine the night before - but this one provided it's own challenges. Everything Jane wanted to order was not in season - it was a seasonal restaurant. But we managed to be fed and then enjoyed a wonderful gelato at the café down the street. To bed early because we must meet Franco at 3:45 a.m.!

May 31

Today was our second to last day of the trip and boy did we live it like true tourists! We decided we were going to go back to Capri to get some more shopping done and really explore more of the island.

So, we made it to the port, decided to take the fast boat this time and got there in about 40 minutes. On the way, we all decided that the water was calm enough for the Blue Grotto to be open for us and we tried to will it to be open. Well, I’ll be darned if it didn’t work. The Blue Grotto was open and, once we disembarked our superspeed ferry, we bought tickets. We were taken via motorboat to a sort of Blue Grotto holding area – where motorboats were just sitting on the sea, waiting for rowboats to come and usher their passengers into the Blue Grotto. On the boat ride there, we met Glenda, who was from Florida and living in Spain with her husband, Lee, who was stationed at a naval university in Rota, Spain. Somehow, Lee convinced the skipper to let him at the wheel for a bit.

The Blue Grotto (Grotta Azzurra in Italian) is a sea cave that is difficult to enter due to the low entryway. The rowboat captains had to time the waves just right before bringing us into the Grotto otherwise we would have been crushed by the top of the rocky archway. Once inside, though, it was beautiful. The light shining from outside illuminated the water in the cave with a near-neon blue color, as the light reflected off the limestone floor of the cave.

Once we successfully made our tour of the Blue Grotto, we headed back to the Grand Marina at Capri. From there, we decided to take the funicular up to Capri and start our shopping. This was the first time we really went our separate ways – Martina went solo, Nick and Jason went together and Bruce and Jane were paired.

After several hours of shopping, we all took boats back to the Denza for dinner. We ate a quick dinner and went outside to look for a place to get some drinks. We stopped at the first restaurant down on the main street and headed in. We ordered some drinks and, when the waiter brought them out to us, he asked us what we’d like to eat. We all said that we just wanted drinks. Pasta? No. Fish? No thank you. Bread? Well, no. He left us but soon returned to make sure that we really didn’t want anything to eat. We politely told him that we were fine with just drinks. Within a few minutes, one of his cohorts returned and spoke to us in English. “You know this restaurant isn’t a winery so you’ll have to eat something.”

“We have to eat something?”

“Yes. You have to eat something.”

“So, we can’t just sit here and have our drinks without eating?”

“You have to eat something.”

“Ok. We’ll just finish our drinks and go.”

Then, he walked away. So, needless to say, there was no tip there.

After that, we headed down the street a bit to get some gelato and then headed back to the Denza for a night of rest. Tomorrow, we are visiting Solfatara, a small local volcano, with Franco.

May 30

This morning was Pompei. We took a chartered bus and were accompanied by Elena, a previous student of the Denza and daughter of the President of Napoli Posillipo Rotary Club, and members of the Breschia Rotary Club (near Milano) to Pompei.

We arrived at the Pompei ruins and were immediately struck by the size of a tourist attraction it really was: shops were all set up in the parking lot, vendors were trying to sell us water and hats right literally on the entrance steps. It was a much different experience than we had at Ercolano (which was very organized but not really tourist-y) and Stabiae.

Pompei had everything you would expect in an ancient Roman ruin: a temple in the main square, a temple to honor Apollo, a house with a garden atrium, roads with cart marks, and Mt. Vesuvius as the backdrop. It also, however, had some other things: a brothel where we learned that the pricier employees were upstairs, pornographic murals/iconography on several walls, a barber shop (Jason and Nick’s hair had them desperately hoping to stumble upon a time machine to patronize this shop but, alas, none were found) and 2-feet tall stones in the road for pedestrians to cross safely without stepping in the waste and sewage that would flow down the road.

Also, and luckily, the sea was closeby that the residents could use for fishing and as escape from Vesuvius’ eruptions.

After Pompei – which could easily take an entire day to get through the whole place, it’s massive – we headed to a Catholic church, which happened to be in the middle of a wedding ceremony. It was immense and ornately decorated.

Next up was lunch with Amadeo (the Club president) and the Napoli Posillipo club. As usual, we had a fine feast and headed back to the bus for the Denza. We got back to our rooms at around 5:00 and chilled out for a bit before we had dinner with another, very friendly Rotary Club. Before we went to dinner, we gave Bruce some gifts and he headed to dinner with Sergio.

May 29

At around 10:30, Martina, Jason and Nick headed downtown via bus. Jane decided to stay at the Denza to sleep in and fare la ricotta. The downtown threesome got off the bus at a random stop and spent the day walking around. They stopped at a coffee shop along the way and got some croissants, juice and coffee. During this time, Jane was sound asleep.

After realizing they were in a posh-er section of town and couldn’t afford to buy $300 sneakers, the rain started in. They headed into a bookstore, which was like a huge, multilevel Borders or Barnes & Noble. With just three full days remaining on the trip, Jason and Nick made some very key purchases. After stumbling through Italy for three and a half weeks, Jason bought a map of southern Italy and Nick bought an Italian-English dictionary. Just in time.

We explored a little more and found an internet café, with no help from Jason’s map, still folded and tucked securely in his bag. Martina used her USB stick and started to upload the blog. However, there was a probably with our Microsoft Word file and she couldn’t get the text off the drive. So, she uploaded some pics and an apology note to the blog.

It was getting close to “go time” so we started to look for a bus stop. After (unknowingly) walking past our stop and then proceeded for 20 minutes in the wrong direction, we knew we were getting close so we bought some bus tickets. Just to make sure we were close, we asked the ticket man where we could get our bus, number 140. It was at this point that we realized the magnitude of our folly. He pointed us back to where we were 20 minutes ago and our egos were immediately checked. So, we hoofed it back to the stop and caught the bus relatively quickly.

Eugenio (a Rotaractor from Naples) met us at Denza. Jane and Eugenio knew each other because he came to UPenn a few years ago as a visiting scholar doing his PhD in Entrepreneurial Studies. He contacted Jane, as she is the district Rotaract chair, and helped her start a new Rotaract club in Philadelphia. Eugenio will be his club’s president starting in July. We took a taxi down and Eugenio followed us on his scooter, which had a canopy over the seat and was like a convertible.

We headed to the Capodimonte Museum, a national museum in Naples, currently with a Salvator Rosa exhibit on display. Rosa was born in the 1600s and was one of the most famous Baroque artists from Naples. We met up with a few other Rotaractors, including Florentin, a Rotaractor visiting from Benin, and toured the museum.

After a nice walk through the museum, we had some drinks with Eugenio at a restaurant near the Castel dell’Uovo and headed to Hotel Excelsior for a nice Rotary dinner. At the dinner, we viewed a great anti-drug video put together by the local Rotaract club. They spliced together a voiceover, some text and scenes from popular movies to make an interesting piece.

May 28, 2008

Domenico and his daughter, Gea, picked us up promptly at 9:00 am. Domenico is a member of the Napoli Est club. We headed downtown but first stopped at Domenico’s yacht club, Circolo Nautico Posillipo, on the way for a quick drink. On our way from the bar to the dock, we passed a female aerobic class and thought that it would make a great infomercial for a home workout tape. After catching a nice glimpse of the Bay of Naples, we headed down to the Tribunale (Courthouse) for a morning of justice.

This tribunale was huge and was designed, along with many other buildings in the immediate area, by a Japanese firm. The courthouse was different from ours in several ways: it had almost 30 floors, there were banks and shops inside and smoking was permitted. Once we arrived at the facility, Domenico dropped us off and another Rotarian, Ermanno, took over but Gea remained with us. Ermanno is a civil lawyer and took us around the civil law section of the building. We were able to go in a courtroom and observe a few cases. In this courtroom, there were four tables of lawyers and four judges. After the civil side, a criminal lawyer joined our group and took us to the criminal side of the building, where we were also able to observe a case. The one we spent the most time at was the arraignment of several different people who were accused of dealing drugs. When we left the courthouse, we parted ways with Ermanno but Alberto, another lawyer, accompanied us, along with Gea.

We headed up to a castle which overlooked the city but it was closed so we decided to take in the view and then hit a cameo shop nearby. This shop had pictures of and a letter from Bill and Hillary Clinton and Martina and Jane bought some gifts from the owner, who claims to be the only cameo maker left in Naples.

Next was lunch at Trattoria Vanvitelli. The highlight of the lunch was the introduction of melloncello to our lives. It’s similar to limoncello but it’s made from melons…obviously. But, the best part was that it was served in a bottle that was shaped like a, you guessed it, cello.
We said goodbye to Gea and Alberto and took the subway to the National Archaeological Museum. There, we met Bruce Megill (our Canadian youth exchange pal from Cornwall, we met at Paestum and this was our reunion) and Sergio (another Rotarian) and headed inside the museum. If you’re coming to Naples, you must visit this museum. Inside are amazing frescoes and Roman statues (thanks to the Borbone king Carlo III), a large room with an astronomy clock, an Egyptian section with hieroglyphics and mummies, and the largest collection of artifacts from Pompei, Ercolano and Stabiae in the world. In a PG-13 section of the museum, there is a room where many pieces of erotic art from ancient Rome are on display, with explanations of the reasons why certain pieces were created.

After the museum, Bruce and Sergio took us to dinner. We all enjoyed our food and Sergio told us that this was going to be our best Rotarian dinner of our time in Naples because there was no speech afterward! Another golden nugget that Sergio shared with us is that there is a saying in Italy that means that people aren’t doing anything worthwhile: fare la ricotta – it literally means to make ricotta cheese.

We went back to Denza after dinner, worked on the blog and got some sleep. Tomorrow’s a free morning so we’re all pretty excited for that.

May 27, 2008

At 10:05, Giacomo from Naples Flegreo Rotary Club picked us up and we took a cab down to the historic district of Naples, where we met Alessandro, our English-speaking guide. We met at the Jesuit Square, which contains an obelisk which depicts the life of the Virgin Mary. Fittingly, there is a Jesuit church in this square and this was our first stop. It used to be a palace.

Inside the church, there is a room dedicated to Giuseppe Moscati, a Neapolitan doctor who cured many sick people in the city and was later sanctified. In this room, the walls are lined with silver ornaments indicating the parts of the body that San Giuseppe healed for each person. It’s breathtaking to see all of them on the wall. We went to see another section of the church with wooden busts of saints on each wall. It was then that “the incident” happened. In a brave attempt to capture these busts on film, Nick innocently took a picture of the area. However, his flash went off and alerted the church guard of his wrongdoing. The guard not told him not to take pictures in the church but she now became aware of Jane's and Martina’s exposed shoulders. You are not allowed to have exposed shoulders in a Catholic church. Jane luckily had a sweater to put on, but Martina thought her capped sleeves would have been sufficient. The woman in the church did not agree so we were all asked to leave.

We went to the church of Santa Chiara, which was totally destroyed by bombs in WWII and was rebuilt in its original gothic style. Attached to the church was a beautiful cloistered garden with frescoes on the walls and a huge atrium garden adorned with elegant majolica tile pillars, benches and walls. This area was originally designed for the nuns because they lived there and could only go outside if it was in the cloister.

We continued to visit some more beautiful churches and cloisters (Sant’Angelo a Nilo, Monasterio di San Gregorio Armeno, Piomonte della Misercordia). After a very spiritual morning, we ate lunch at a very famous pizzeria, Anticha Pizzeria e Friggitoria di Matteo. Why is it famous? Because Bill Clinton ate pizza here when he was president! We ate a large plate of fried appetizers before the pizza came out. While we were waiting for our food, a local accordionist came in and tried to serenade us into giving him some money. With some help from Giacomo and Alessandro, we successfully shooed him away.

Next, we headed to San Paolo Maggiore church, which had two ancient Greek columns in its structure. There were originally 8 but an earthquake destroyed 6 of them. Giacomo invited us to his house and we all fell in love with his house and his view of the sea. He told us that he had designed his whole house and that his father was a very famous chief of police. Giacomo was a great host. We had some drinks and came back to Denza.

Once “home,” we took a small walk around the area and bought some snacks and drinks. Then, we took a cab to Caffé Gambrinus for dinner with Rotary Club Naples Flegreo. This coffee house was the main meeting place for Neapolitan artists, musicians and writers in the 19th century and is quite likely the place where many of the most popular songs of Naples were composed. After dinner, we headed back to Denza for a relatively early night.

Thank you and good night.

May 26, 2008

We met for breakfast at 8 am in the dining hall. We ate quickly and had some time to kill before our ride arrived so we decided to head back to our rooms. On the way back up to our rooms after breakfast, Jason and Nick met a Polish student going for his master’s degree in Civil Engineering. They also learned that his roommate is Kurdish.

Paolo and AnnaLisa met us in the Denza lobby and we took 2 taxis to downtown Naples. Taxis + Naples = Adventure. On the way, we learned a few things: people from Naples speak a combination of Italian and Neapolitan; the last eruption of Mt. Vesuvius was in 1944 – as such, many people have forgotten the true threat of the volcano…so much so that 3 villages have sprung up on the craters from the 79 AD eruption and Paolo called their inhabitance there “crazy;” the Borbone had occupied Naples for over three centuries; the legend is that Naples will be destroyed if the alleged egg housed in Castel dell’Ovo is ever destroyed.

Also, in the city’s attempt to decrease the inane traffic, it has begun to build a new underground Metro system. However, digging revealed an ancient Greek port so the project was put on hold. After much discussion, the current plan is to put a museum in the metro station. Naples was originally called Neapolis by the Greeks, which means New City. To further protect the shores of their kingdom, they claimed Naples and used it as a port. Naples was appealing to the Greeks because it had a naturally protected coast and high vantage points to spot incoming ships. Naples proved to be so valuable a port that, within 5 meters below the street surface, evidence of 5 different civilizations can be found: Greeks, Romans, Borbone (Spanish), French and the Dutch (we think!).

Our first stop was the botanical garden, which was first built by the Borbone in an attempt to preserve all the plants in the world – even Eucalyptus trees! We then headed to a cathedral which shares space with the chapel of San Gennaro, the saint who protects Naples from Vesuvius. Underneath the church were ancient Greek and Roman ruins, which included a sophisticated water distribution system, fifth century mosaic floors, and Roman markets. Next, we visited the San Gennaro Museum, of which Paolo is the director. The museum houses treasures that, until it opened in 2001, were unseen by the public for four centuries. Some of the most amazing silver and bronze sculptures reside in this museum along with ornate gifts from every monarch that ever visited the city during San Gennaro’s tenure.

Every year, in May and September, hundreds of thousands of people visit Naples to witness the Miracle of San Gennaro. On one day in each of those months, his blood, which is in a solid state for the rest of the year, liquefies and is presented to the public for their viewing and prayer. We all hope our blood lasts that long.

For lunch, we went to Pizzeria e Friggitoria di Presidente and had our first official Neapolitan pizza. We talked with Paolo and AnnaLisa about politics and our beliefs were confirmed: all Italians want Obama to win.

After some touring in the city, we headed to AnnaLisa’s bookbinding shop, where they specialize in binding custom books…by hand. Amazing. We were lucky enough to see some bookbinding action. They use fish glue, flower glue, needle and thread. Sometimes, a hacksaw is necessary.

We left AnnaLisa and Paolo accompanied us on a taxi ride to meet up with members of the Naples South West Club: Bruno, Ellio and Manuela (not a Rotarian, but the daughter of the club’s president). Manuela came along for her excellent translation skills (she speaks English, French, Italian and Spanish fluently), unique insight on Naples and comic relief. We headed to a yacht club to get a nice view of the sea and get to know each other. Although the café was closed at the club, Ellio and Bruno worked their magic to get us some cold drinks. We were soon refreshed and decided to walk to Castel dell’Ovo. At the top of the castle, there is a beautiful panoramic view of the city and the sea. We took in the view for a while and headed down to the American Bar for some more refreshments while Ellio and Bruno headed back to the yacht club to get the cars.
Today was extremely hot and we were all pretty spent after the castle so we headed back to Istituto Denza, our home away from home. While Jane and Martina rested, Nick and Jason washed their unmentionables in the sink. Jason made some makeshift clotheslines for the window and, well, you know the rest.

Next, Franco picked us up to go to a dinner with the Naples South West Rotary Club. Our afternoon crew – Bruno, Ellio and Manuela – joined us and around 30 other people at one of the longest dinner tables we’ve this author’s ever been at. There was a presentation about a video made about the Commorra (the Naples mafia equivalent) and the House of Abraham, a proposed place of worship for Christians, Muslims and Jews.

After dinner, Franco brought us back to Denza and graciously took Nick’s and Jason’s clothes back home to wash for them. They are eternally grateful for that. Sleep soon followed.

Thank you and good night.

May 25, 2008

Jane went to the farewell breakfast while the other three packed their bags. Jason and Nick brought their bags to Jane and Martina’s room since check out was early but we were allowed to keep one room until 3pm. Jason and Jane then headed off into the shopping area we had located while Nick and Martina located some breakfast and worked on the blog. Jane did some shopping and then sat down at a café. Jason ordered an iced coffee, but was surprised to learn that, instead of ice, it contained ice cream. Martina and Nick saw Gianluca and Giuseppe while they were sitting by the pool. They stopped by to say goodbye at 2pm before they left Ischia. Martina jumped in the pool to cool off and realized the pool contained salt water. Jason and Nick remarked about the fact that everyone was wearing swimming caps or shower caps.

At 3pm, we put our luggage together to get ready to leave. We stopped for a quick bite at a café next to the hotel and then hailed a microtaxi; actually it was the size of, well, check out the picture. Somehow the driver was able to fit all of our bags plus the four of us in there, although bungee cords were involved. Martina and Jane watched out the back in case of dropped luggage on the way to the port. It turns out our driver has relatives in New Jersey and Canada. Nick and Jason went to get our tickets but got sidetracked when they saw food. Jane stayed in the shade waiting for the guys but became concerned when they did not come back quickly, figuring they had a problem with the tickets. Jason emerged first, eating his rucola and prosciutto sandwich, and Nick wasn’t far behind with his half-eaten pizza.

We boarded the boat and placed our luggage on the first floor. Jane, Martina and Jason stayed in the air conditioned indoors while Nick went to the upper deck to rest in the sun. Jane, Martina and Jason rested well while Nick was restless due to the hot sun. We thought the boat wasn’t supposed to arrive until 7:15 pm, however, we docked at 6:30 pm. Franco met us at the port and fit all of our luggage into his car and then hailed a taxi for us so we could head to Istituto Denza. Our taxi driver was very good at making his own lane and was able to get us to the institute very quickly. The Istituto Denza is a private school for students from primary school to post-graduate. We ate dinner in the cafeteria before heading up to our rooms. Jane has a beautiful view of the port. Tomorrow morning we will meet for breakfast at 8am.

May 24, 2008

Martina received an email from Jason at noon asking if she was awake. None of the GSE team was awake before 11am. We went to brunch with the conference guests and were able to see the project posters showing the activities of the different Rotaract clubs. They are a very active group in their communities and worldwide. Jason, Nick, and Martina went for a walk and by a roll of the dice we managed to find a shopping area and a great view of the castle. Jane went to the Rotaract Conference meetings so she could take some information back to her Rotaract members in District 7450.

We then got ready for the Gala. The scheduled time for the gala to begin was at 8:30, Jason and Nick arrived at 9:15 with the intention of being fashionably late, however they were among the first to arrive. There was a cocktail reception on the lawn outside of the dining room. The doors opened promptly at 10 pm. We sat with Tim and a band began to play jazz music. Dinner consisted of a shrimp cocktail, pasta, pasta, and then fish. Martina and Nick danced to two songs and got everyone on the dance floor. Once they sat down, the speeches for closing the conference began. Around 12:30 am Jane decided to head to bed not realizing that the main course, pork, would be served at 1:15 am. Dessert and Champagne was served at 2:15 am. At 2:30 am, Tim showed us how to juggle wine corks and gifts were handed out. Jason had difficulty explaining that we needed an extra gift for Jane and needed an interpreter. Jason’s inability to speak Italian resulted in two extra gifts. At 2:45 am, Jason, Nick and Martina headed out, even though most of the conference attendees were still there.