Thoughts on Southern Italy
our resident film-maker, Judy Hallet, has interviewed everyone in terms of their thoughts on Southern Italy...here they are...enjoy.
NAPLES
JANUARY, 2006
Interviewed by Judy Hallet
Guil ALMEIDA
Naples: I really liked the views from the top at the Castle. They were breathtaking. I also really liked the breakfast view from our hotel. I was overwhelmed by how dirty Naples was. Rome is antique. Naples is just dirty.
Sorrento: I loved the people in Sorrento. They were so nice. Since so many things were closed, being that we were there in off season, Sorrento was more a people thing. The Cloister of San Francisco was beautiful. I liked the inlaid woodwork we saw displayed in the cloister. The inlaid wooden doors of the Cathedral were also beautiful. They were so intricate and the story telling told through the images on the doors was so detailed and intricate.
Pompeii: It was pretty impressive to see how much was left over from a civilization 2000 years old. The Baths were amazing -- just beautiful. They were really intact. At times, I thought it was a little too “Disney World”.
Capri: Once we got to the sunny side and Marina Piccola the views were beautiful. It was interesting to see a place where in the summer would be so full of people, just completely dead. It is a place where in the high season it is full of people sun bathing -- a place so full of life and then to see it with no one there, it was interesting.
The Best Experience: The best part of the trip was the conversation we had one night in Italian with the concierge, Salvatore, at the hotel in Sorrento. Stanley and about five of us sat and just spoke Italian with him.
The Worst Experience: The worst has been the cold. It was so cold. It was, however, nice to be in a place that was not “tourist central”. On the other hand, it would have been nice to see what it would have been like in Sorrento and Capri in high season.
ANA McKERNAN
Naples: I found it a more “hustle and bustle” city as compared to Rome. It was more like New York City. It was more like a big Italian city. I liked walking through the Spanish Quarter and I loved seeing all the laundry hanging down. It made me realize how many people actually were living in the city.
Sorrento: I liked the contrast with Naples. It was a very small, quiet town. I liked sitting in the bar across the street from the hotel and watching people walking by while I was sipping my cappuccino. I liked the San Francisco Cloister. The balcony up above in the cloister became part of the architecture. The whole experience was different from being in a large city. The cloister was different than a large city cloister.
Pompeii: Later in the day, I found a typical neighborhood where I saw how the average person lived. At that point, I finally got a feeling for the city. I really realized how cities were planned and that this is not a new concept. It was interesting to see how the residential section was planned out next to the shopping section. It was a better designed city than the city where I live in the US -- Albuquerque.
Capri: I liked the Villa St Michelle. I liked the scale of it -- the way it was broken up in a good way. You could picture people living there. It had intimate spaces. I loved the gardens and all the different views you got while walking around the gardens. It was a different experience architecturally just walking around the gardens and the house. The architecture really involved the person.
Best Experience: This is a general statement but I have really enjoyed being with my classmates. It has been the ultimate European experience walking on the streets, getting a sense of the area and being with my classmates. I have really liked that. It really hit me that “I’m in Europe. I’m abroad.”
The Worst Experience: The weather.
JENNIE SANTORO
Naples: I liked going up to San Elmo Castle and seeing the views of the city. You could see everywhere and everything. The views were spectacular everywhere you looked as you walked around the castle. I liked seeing the father with his son on the motor scooter that we encountered in the street. It made me laugh.
Sorrento: I thought Sorrento was a little too cold. I went upstairs on the balcony in the cloisters where it wasn’t so windy and that was much better. I liked the Cathedral. I loved seeing all the decorations on the door. I liked seeing the craftsmanship of the woodwork. It is amazing that the same work is being done today as it was done so many hundreds of years ago.
Pompeii: I really liked seeing the person frozen in time. It didn’t freak me out. I found it really interesting. He was frozen in time but it didn’t seem like it was so long ago. It said a lot to me. It captured the moment that happened 2000 years ago. Buildings all have their lifetime and then are extended into ruins. That moment in time of that dead body captured what really happened at that moment. I really got the feeling of what happened there. I also liked seeing snow on top of Vesuvius.
Capri: The day in Capri was my favorite day. The views were amazing. I liked standing by the Sphinx at the Villa San Michelle. It was really awesome. I liked everything about the day. I really enjoyed the garden in the villa. I liked walking down to the Marina Piccola. It was great walking down the narrow paths and seeing the views. I just liked everything about that day. It was relaxing.
Best Experience: There wasn’t one specific thing. I enjoyed the meals we all had together. I loved it when all of a sudden for no reason at all everyone just broke up in complete laughter. I loved those little moments -- seeing the huge smiles on people’s faces. It didn’t matter what they were smiling about. It was just these little moments when everyone was enjoying each other and themselves. I guess it was the people experience and the naps. No matter where you are, naps are a good thing.
The Worst Experience: The saxophone player on the train between Sorrento and Pompeii.
SCOTT KARSNER
Naples: I liked climbing up to San Elmo Castle. The views were so picturesque. It really was spectacular. You could see the port and Mt. Vesuvius behind it. I didn’t think the city was as nice as Rome. It made me appreciate Rome more. I did like The Galleria. It was a surprise. We made a turn and there it suddenly was.
Sorrento: It was quite peaceful. It was a lot calmer than Naples. You didn’t have to be worried about being pick-pocketed. The hike I took with Paul to the point where there was Roman ruins overlooking a cove was great. It was a great hike. I would take others back to that place. It was something out of National Geographic. It is a place that they would document and put on the map. I also liked the inlaid wood work that we saw. I could really appreciate the amount of work that went into making one of those inlaid wood boxes.
Pompeii: There is a lot to learn from its history. I particularly liked the two theaters. I have an interest in the theater. I liked the way they built the two theaters and the way they thought about sound. The sound traveled vertically up. You could hear things clearly. I liked the verticality of the seats for the views and for the sound. The site lines and the acoustics were so well thought out. We have a lot to learn today from what they did way back then. I liked the stone crosswalks. The sewage and water ran down the middle of the street and people didn’t have to step in the water or sewage. It was a way to prevent diseases. I also saw pipes in the walls -- it could have been for the water system for the city. I want to know more about the town planning.
Capri: There was not much open since it was off season. It was neat to see a ghost town with so few people. I had to imagine what it might look like in the summer. The garden at the villa was pretty but the views there didn’t come close to the views we saw when we climbed to the top of the mountain. The views at the top of the mountain were priceless.
The Best Experience: The best experience was the vantage point we had from the top of the mountain in Capri. I just gasped when looking at the views. The sheer cliffs and the views all the way to
The Worst Experience: No, I don’t know of anything. I did fall down on the trail coming down from the mountain. I slipped on mud and ice. I cut my thumb and got a bunch of thorns in my hand.
Paul FRITZ
Naples: The highlight in Naples was probably the views from San Elmo Castle. I got to look around the whole valley and see great distances. I felt like I was at home. I am from Arizona where there are lots of mountains. In Rome it is hard to get an expansive view. It was great to see beyond Naples. My Great Grandfather came from Avellino, just ten miles outside of Naples. I want to come back and try and find some of his relatives.
Naples has a very different feel than Rome. Rome seems almost dead in the back allies whereas here in Naples it is livelier. It is more like the Italian culture that I am used to. I want to come back and see an opera here. I liked the way the Opera/Theater house looked.
Sorrento: I liked the boat ride from Naples to Sorrento. It was neat pulling into the port of Sorrento and hopping off the boat and seeing the cliffs right in front of us and the niches in the cliffs. I am not sure what they were used for. It was nice to relax in Sorrento and not have to keep your eye on your wallet all the time. The best was the hike I took with Scott. Every time we turned a corner there was something to see. I went over a rickety bridge. There was an Italian guy with a white cap watching me. He was a little bit older, kind of heavy set, and certainly not your typical hiker and he just stood there and looked at me with these strange eyes. He just stared at us. I think it was his own way of saying get off that bridge. So I got off. It turned out that I had to do a little rock climbing to get back on the path.
Pompeii: I had already been there with my family. I also knew it because I studied Latin for four years and there were lots of references to Pompeii. At first, it didn’t have the charm it had the first time I saw it with my family. Then later on in the day, I began to feel it like a ghost town. It had that ancient time feel. After all the tourists had left, it lost that tourist attraction feeling. I started noticing the nocks and crannies that I had missed during the first part of our visit in the morning. I noticed on one of the major axis’s a terra cotta sun dial. I noticed it because it was quieter and I had slowed down my pace.
Capri: I really liked the bus ride. I was surprised how we got everybody on the bus. We kept going higher and higher. The higher we got, the closer to the cliff’s edge the bus seemed to get. Every time we would see another spectacular view, everyone in the bus would whew and wow. It was great. The Villa at San Michelle, it is what I would imagine would be most people’s dream house off the coast of Italy. It is kind of stereotypical but I can respect it.
The highlight of Capri was our hike up the mountain. There were eight of us going up the mountain. It was nice to have a whole group of us like that going up the mountain and enjoying the views together. We had a hard time finding the trail. We went into a hotel and found a map. We followed the map into a small neighborhood and we blazed our own trail up the mountain. It turned out the main path we were on had the Stations of the Cross on them. Finally at the top there was a large sized cross. This was the last Station of the Cross. We weaved our way on and off the main trail. The views were spectacular. Once we got up to the top, you could see everything. It really was nice. It was the best.
Best Experience. There were so many good things, it is hard to pick out one thing. I really liked the hikes and the views and sights.
The Worst Experience: My fingers started freezing up before anything else so I was drawing really badly.
Katherine BURAS
Naples: I didn’t like Naples that much. I thought it was very dirty. We moved too quickly. If the boat ride counts to Sorrento, I really liked that.
Sorrento: It was the complete opposite to Naples. It was not too big nor too small. It was very clean. I definitely liked the San Francisco Cloister. It was my favorite place. I really like that little court yard in the cloister.
Pompeii: I really liked Pompeii. The weather was perfect. I liked the two theaters. I liked them even better than The Coliseum. I liked the way they built things. I liked seeing how they would layer the brick and marble and stone. I liked seeing how the pieces fit together. Looking at the construction and those types of things can be useful for me in the future. I think I want to go into Historic Preservation. So I like looking at old things more than the new. I will probably sketch that first wall where they had the brick and stone. I loved the columns, the marble columns and the stone columns. Each looked similar to the other but each one was built with a different material and a different way but in the end they had the same overall look and purpose. I saw one column where a piece had fallen off, it was actually brick underneath. I liked the big house (the first house we visited) with the garden in the back.
Capri: I definitely liked the hike up the mountain to the top. There were incredible views. I have never been that high up above water. To see the cliffs drop straight down to the water was amazing. Standing up on top of the mountain you could see so far. You couldn’t see the difference between the sea and the sky. I loved being able to see that far away. I liked the boat ride to Sorrento. I sail so I like anything to do with water. One thing that surprised me -- as touristy as it was -- was how it seemed that the architecture was old but not really that old. It was all mid 20th century. It was not new and modern and not really that old. I was surprised that there were not more historic buildings and at the same time that there was not more new development.
The Best experience: The dinners and the happy hours with the wine and cheese before going to dinner with everyone there -- these were great. I thought these were the best things. I want to have a big family so I like it when everyone eats together. I like that big family atmosphere.
The Worst Experience: The cold and having to sketch in the cold.
ALLIE BEHNKE
Naples: I liked going up to San Elmo Castle and seeing the views of the port and the whole Bay of Naples. I liked seeing how the entire city spreads out. I liked the fact that you could walk all around the edge of the castle walls and see everything. I didn’t like Naples that much. I liked The Galleria and I did like the Archaeological Museum. People seemed unfriendly in Naples. There were more Gypsies. It seemed more like the outer boroughs of New York City than Italy. I would never come back to Naples.
Sorrento: I really liked Sorrento. I liked how it was much calmer, more local than Naples. The people wouldn’t automatically speak English to you when you went into a shop. Some places they didn’t even speak English. I would definitely come back to Sorrento when it is warmer. It seems like it is a good jumping off point for other places. I liked the views across the bay. I love water and beaches. The restaurant we found was amazing. I ate there three nights in a row. They had such a huge menu. You could order something different each time and I did.
Pompeii: It was amazing. I think we went at a really good time. The weather was good. There were not a lot of tourists so we could get good pictures without getting people in every shot except for the time when we had two annoying Italian boys when we were visiting one of the theaters. It was a city frozen in time. You could really imagine what it was like 2000 years ago. You didn’t have to piece together the ruins. It is not somewhere I would go back to because once you have seen it, you have seen it but I would definitely send my parents there. It got a little cold at the end. We took some fun group pictures in theater. I can’t wait to see them.
Capri: Capri was amazing. I want to go back there. I could spend a long time there. It is probably one of the most beautiful places I have ever been to. The beaches were really pretty and the people were really nice and inviting. We walked down to the Small Marina. We needed more time to walk along the beach and I would have liked to have seen the Blue Grotto. But when it is warmer, I am coming back and will do those things then.
The Best Experience: The best experience was having everybody hang out together and to see so many places. I definitely liked Capri and Pompeii.
The Worst Experience: The cold. Probably the hardest thing was to sit out for three hours and sketch in the cold. I enjoy sketching. It is relaxing for me but you can’t relax when you are cold. You are supposed to do squiggly lines but not that kind of squiggly.
Matthew STARR
Naples: I enjoyed Naples. I liked it. It was such a twist from Rome. It seemed like New York City ten years ago. Lots of people. Crowded. Never a dull moment. The most impressive moments were walking through the back alleys with the balconies coming closer and closer together and then the dynamic element of the hanging laundry. You never get to experience that kind of environment while simply walking down a hill. The activity, the dirtiness, the business all added to the urban experience. It would be difficult to recreate somewhere else. Although I didn’t see any crime, it would be nice to have less crime but I wouldn’t use the crime or the dirt as a deterrent not to come back to Naples. I would simply be more aware of my surroundings. I liked Naples because it is “The City”. It is the true definition of “The City”. Swarms of people -- just objects stacked upon objects -- spaces scrambled together. It doesn’t seem like you need to be as protective of the past. It is just a city with people moving and building as they see a need.
Sorrento: I loved the ferries. I think they are great. In the US we don’t take advantage of our rivers and water ways. We are too dependent on the car. Sorrento was an extreme opposite to Naples. It was thrilling to me to see such an extreme opposite. For the past three weeks, we have been involved in the fast paced culture of Rome and then Naples. We got off the boat and almost immediately there was a halt in activity. It slowed down so incredibly. This is what made Sorrento that much more interesting. It was such a shift of pace. It was neat to see that life exists like that outside of the city. We have the same thing happening in the US in our smaller towns in a similar way. I felt like I was in a mountain town. It had the feel of a Colorado town, or a small town in New Hampshire or Maine. I loved the vistas. All the neat things that we are all enthusiastic about -- standing on the side of a cliff is always thrilling -- looking out to the sea is always wonderful.
Pompeii: It is the closest I will ever get to stepping back in time. It was fascinating to me to see the lives that others lived 2000 years ago and how we still cherish those lives. I want to see things preserved. I respect that. It is amazing. It tells us so much about the past -- about history. I don’t think we should tip toe around every building downtown but it is important to preserve a city like Pompeii that has already been preserved for us. I didn’t expect to see something so grand, so large. I expected ruins but nothing like that. I also found it interesting how the Italian government capitalizes on it almost like an amusement park. The theaters were gorgeous, beautiful. The theaters were possibly my favorite locations in Pompeii. I liked seeing the houses and I was interested in how they collected water.
Capri: Capri was amazing. On our way back to Sorrento from Capri, I went up on the back of the ship and I looked back. I saw how we can change a perfect situation, location with people and the lights we put on it. We can find such beautiful places and go inhabit them because of their beauty. It is interesting how we collect all these beautiful islands. I kept imagining what it was like for the first person who sailed off the island. It had to have been a beautiful experience. These places we have seen are all these sets, these stages for stories from the past -- from the Greeks and the Romans. It is so inspiring.
The serpentine trail we took was amazing. It was built in the 1900’s. We had to climb over a fence to get there. No one else was there. We were the only ones there. A 500 foot drop. We serpentined down. It was amazing.
The Best Experience: The wine and cheese parties before dinner were great. I loved the camaraderie. Although we have been together in Rome, I think taking us out of Rome was the best thing to do. We have become much more attached.
The Worst Experience: There are always the little things -- the bickering but that really isn’t that important. I know a lot of people said they haven’t liked the cold but that hasn’t bothered me. I really can’t think of anything . It might have been nice to see something “in season” and maybe more time spent around Sorrento and Capri.
ALI MENKE
Naples: I didn’t really like Naples. I thought the city was dirty but when we got up to the top of the castle, I thought the views were awesome. I didn’t like how crowded and dirty the city was and the people were unfriendly. I like nature more than cities. At the top it was better than I had imagined.
Sorrento: I liked Sorrento a lot. I thought it quaint, cute and quiet. Some people thought it empty but I didn’t. The garden restaurant where we had dinner one night was nice. It had lots of gardens. I want to come back to
Pompeii: I really enjoyed Pompeii. It was almost shocking that it has lasted for so many years untouched. It really hit me when I saw the dead people in the wide open space in a little garage. Only one was in a case. It was really special that day because it was so cold there were few people. It was like a city abandoned -- empty.
Capri: I climbed up to the highest point on the island. I had never hiked like that before. I was the first one to the top. I was there alone for about twenty minutes. It was just jaw dropping. There was a point when I just put my camera down and looked out. I sat down on a rock and looked out. I tried to take a picture of myself on the cliff trying not to fall off. It was difficult. I wasn’t too successful. The island would be so different in the summer. The vegetation would be so different. The boat ride to Capri was incredible. I felt like I was coming upon something untouched like a Jurassic Park or Skull Island in King Kong.
Best Experience: I think being at the top of the mountain with friends was fantastic. It was us against the elements. There was a wind storm on the hike down and we were all standing ten feet between each other and still we had to yell to hear one another. It was so dramatic with the clouds moving in and the wind.
The Worst Experience: If anything it was the unfriendly people in Naples. I thought the city would be prettier.
Nikki BLASETTI:
Naples: I really liked figuring out how to play cards (carta) with the lady in the train station as we were waiting to take our train back to Rome. I called my Dad on the cell phone from San Elmo Castle and told him I could see Mt. Vesuvius. That was really nice. The best part at the museum was when we were all drawing a section and I suddenly realized that I was doing it all wrong. Unfortunately everyone else started copying me before I had figured out I had done it all wrong. There was a court yard that was not perfectly symmetrical and I drew an arcade that wasn’t really there. The best part of Naples was roaming the side streets with Ryan. It is a large group and we were able to get away for a while.
Sorrento: The dinner we all had together was great. The food was very good. I had the best mussels I have ever had. I also really enjoyed looking at the music boxes and the inlaid wood boxes. I loved an inlaid Pieta that I saw. I really wanted to buy it but it was $200. I couldn’t really afford that. I liked the hotel we stayed in. It was not like a typical hotel in the US -- not a Holiday Inn. It was very charming. I enjoyed our cheese and wine tasting every night. It was great how everyone contributed to the wine and cheese. I also love how everyone enjoys each other. It is nice how everyone buys food without knowing what it is -- just liking tasting new things. I liked all the stray dogs. Some of them were kind of gross looking but most were nice. They were not mean dogs and they didn’t bark. They were nice.
Pompeii: I liked it when we came upon a gate that was propped up and Ryan and I decided to go inside. The gate was not really chained. Ryan just picked up the gate and moved it. So we were able to go in and run around the ruins. I think it was a residential area. It was a whole neighborhood. Then some Asians followed us in too. Other people had obviously been in there before because there were beer bottles left behind. I climbed up some rocks to get higher and I was able to get some incredible views. I was practicing my rock climbing skills. It was nice to be able to climb ancient ruins without anyone yelling at you to get down.
When everyone left for lunch, Ryan and I sat in the Baths in the Calidarium and we asked each other questions about the place. We discussed the sculpture in the architecture and the off-centered skylight. Everything was centered except the skylight. We talked about the floor patterns. I had fun imagining hiding in the big tub and scaring the next person who would come into the room. The other thing that was cool was sketching out the section of one of the secondary streets. Unfortunately as I was looking behind me I was also stepping forward. I tripped over a chunk of a column and landed knees first on some rocks. My mind went completely blank because I hurt so badly. I was wearing my brand new jeans that I had bought in Rome and I ripped a hole in the left knee as well as a hole in my drawing. I will have to redo the drawing.
Capri: The boat ride to Capri was awesome. It was so cold and so it was a great excuse to hug people. I had four people to hug. I like hugs. Aside from the incredible views, I really liked having salt sprayed all over my face while we were on the boat. It was nostalgic. I felt like I was back on the Jersey Shore. I also lost my hat but if I had to loose my hat anywhere this was the best place and the way. The wind was so strong, I lost my hat to the sea.
The gardens were breathtaking. In such a small amount of space, there was so much variation of plants and vegetation. I liked the juxtaposition between the tall trees several stories high next to the short shrubs. All the plant life was so bold. For this time of year you would think the plant life would be dead but it wasn’t at all. Then you would come across this tiny little stream. It was very encouraging to see this man, Axel Munthe, only a couple of generations older than us preserve something so precious. He not only just thought of the gardens but also of the architecture of the place. I liked how he took a capital of a Corinthian column and turned it into a coffee table. The bus ride winding up the hill was the best roller coaster I have ever been on.
I liked that we stumbled upon that incredible view at the end of the cliff. We just kept going up the hill and then we just stumbled upon this spectacular view. Then we ran into Stanley and Judy and they became partners in crime with us. We helped Stanley over the fence. That was the best part of the trip.
The Best Experience: My favorite part of the whole trip was running down the trail with Stanley and Judy and the boys. It was so unplanned. We didn’t know where it was going to end and it ended at a gate. It was so appropriate. Even though it was exhausting going back up the mountain, it was a wonderful journey. I have never seen the ocean like that. If I ever I had to do that with anyone, I am really glad I was able to do it with Ryan. It was so special.
The Worst Experience: No really nothing that I can complain about.
RYAN NOVI
Naples: Right before we left for Sorrento, Nikki and I wandered off. We discovered how chaotic Naples can be and we got lost. We kept searching for landmarks. We got back although we were ten minutes late. It was interesting to be on top at the castle and admire the layout of the city and the views and then to find ourselves down below in the city lost in the chaos -- that was amazing.
Sorrento: I liked how quiet it seemed with three main streets. It was very easy to get around. I liked the small town quality and the friendliness of the place. Four of us went into a shop and we met this young girl who hadn’t seen anyone our age I am sure for months. She was so friendly. It was a great contrast to Naples and Rome. All the places we have visited have their unique characteristics. Here in Sorrento -- the seafood we had at the restaurant (The Sorrento Inn) -- it was so good. It was well worth the price.
Pompeii: I studied Latin in high school and the text book we had took place in Pompeii. The protagonist’s name was Caecillius. He eventually dies in the eruption and the son tells his story and becomes the new protagonist. I liked the Baths. I was impressed with the minimal organization of the place. Nikki and I spent some time in the Calidarium. We went back there and soaked it up without the other people. There was no one else there. It was very serene. It was interesting to be amidst Vesuvius -- to have it towering over us. I wasn’t quite as excited by Pompeii as I thought I would be. It was a little disappointing. I was looking for the aesthetic beauty. I was looking for something to jump out at me-- amidst all that history. It didn’t happen. It wasn’t there. I suppose it lies between the lines of history and the esthetic beauty. It still, however, was a good experience.
Capri: Capri was awe striking. I loved riding up the hill in the bus, pressed again one another and not seeing anything at all as we drove up the hill next to the cliffs. It was almost terrifying. The gardens at the Villa San Michelle were fantastic. So many subtleties. The stream of water. There were so many layers to that garden. Along with the great views was the juxtaposition of the different plants and textures. I also like the different perspectives as you walked around the garden -- up paths, up stairs, coming upon the tall Cyprus trees and other trees.
After the garden, I loved discovering the path down to the beach. It was one of the most remarkable experiences of my life --- unprecedented beauty. I loved looking down from above and then looking up from below. It was that experience that wants me to want to go back there, to continue to explore the island. I don’t think it would be the same in the summer because it was so desolate when we were there. It seemed as though we were discovering this place ourselves.
Best Experience: The walk down the winding path in Capri to the beach.
The Worst Experience: I can’t think of anything.
AMANDA GANGINIS
Naples: At first I didn’t like Naples. I didn’t like the people. I got shoved by these little kids. It was distracting but I did like going up to the top. I always like going up to the highest place and looking down. After hearing everyone’s positive comments about Naples, I want to go back and look at it again.
Sorrento: It was beautiful. I loved it. It is definitely a place to go and relax. People were so nice especially the lady in the woodshop. We went back two days later and she remembered us. I definitely want to go back and take my parents there. It is like a small town. It was so welcoming. I also liked that it was really high and we could look down at the water. It was so different.
Pompeii: I loved Pompeii. I always wanted to go there. I was excited before even going there. When I got there, I didn’t feel anything special. It wasn’t until everyone left, then it felt special. I went into the houses and I started taking pictures. I had a moment when I felt the soul of the town. I felt like I was filling in the blanks as I was drawing the spaces. I didn’t want to leave but it was getting cold. I would have stayed a couple more hours and gone into some more hidden spaces. As I was sketching, I had to imagine how the people had been using the place, the set. I could imagine the town being alive. This was my favorite experience. I would love to go back during a time like that when there were not so many people. I would find myself in a house after going down a narrow alley. I didn’t realize how much you could explore.
Capri: I didn’t know Capri was so mountainous. I expected something different. I really liked the San Michelle Gardens. We walked down to the Marina Picolla. It was neat to see it so dead. All we saw were the construction workers. It was so different than it would be in the summer. Such beautiful landscapes -- I loved being there. I wouldn’t want to spend a lot of time there but it is a nice place to go for a break. It was nice to have the freedom to walk around and explore on our own. It was a little break for us. I want to go back one day to see the Blue Grotto.
The Best Experience: The best part for me was Pompeii. I loved just exploring the town by myself and imagining how it would have been. I want to read more about it. I would love to do some research on it. I want to find out as much as I can about the place.
The Worst Experience: There really is nothing worth talking about. I don’t want to remember anything bad. I would rather focus on the good parts.
GEORGE LOGUSCH
Naples: I loved seeing it on a Sunday afternoon. I loved seeing the people hanging out their clothes to dry. It gave it a local cultural feel. I liked walking down Via Toledo. It was interesting to watch how people were walking on a Sunday afternoon and then to see them walking on Monday morning. The ages were different on the two days. I noticed the difference when everyone had their day off and then Monday morning, a work day, and how that changed how the people were. I enjoyed the history of the Spanish Quarter. Spain is one of my favorite countries and where I feel the most at home. There wasn’t anything I didn’t like in Naples. The food I can’t really comment on, since all we had was pizza. This is the 12th time I have been to Europe. I see how Naples as a city is a vast improvement over what it must have been ten years ago in terms of cleanliness. Especially if you compare Naples to the Ukraine or for that matter any of the cities -- even Madrid -- ten years ago. They are all really cleaning themselves up. You see it in the cities, you see it in the museums -- so much improvement. I liked the Archaeological Museum. I liked the narrative that was there in the faces and the bodies. It put everything in context of the time. The narrative, the telling of stories in the pictures and mosaics, we don’t have that anymore. Being very Catholic and having that narrative, it is something to look back and see that history.
Sorrento: I loved the town. My favorite thing was buying the inlaid wood boxes. I bought a beautiful one for my girlfriend. Then the lady took me to the workshop down the street behind her shop. She showed me how they made the boxes. She went into such detail that I think I could actually make one myself. It was interesting to see how that small little shop has an international business. She showed me her website and a work order from Michigan. In fact, I am into wood work. I make my own furniture. I want to try doing something from what I saw. She really did show me to such an extent how to make one of the boxes that I think I want to try to make one myself.
Sorrento: It was beautiful. Great food. It was a little chilly. I am definitely coming back when it gets warmer in April.
Pompeii: I loved walking down the streets and trying to imagine what it was like in its hay day. I was not interested as much in the social aspect but more in the architectural aspect. I was interested in how big the buildings were -- what the street fabric was like -- where were the shadows. Thinking about the houses and the interior rooms, I wondered how dark it must have been with only a tiny light well coming into the interior rooms.
Capri: I loved the gardens at the villa. I liked learning from Stanley how to take a picture of the structure of the trees so that I could later sketch them. I liked climbing up the mountain to see the entire Bay of Naples. I got slightly lost on the hillside going down from the top of the mountain. I knew where I was but I couldn’t see anyone else because the bushes were so high. I had to create my own path. I enjoyed that.
The Best Experience: I really enjoyed walking through the wood shop and seeing the different crafts and realizing that my Grandfather had been here in 1943-44. He bought the same kind of wood box, the same design. You can see the same craftsmanship going on today fifty years later.
The Worst Experience: There are always some tough spots in every trip but nothing worth noting. It has been good.
ZACH HOLLENBECK
Naples: I thought it kind of dirty and there were a lot of people just running around. It wasn’t my favorite place on the trip. I liked going up to the castle and seeing the view. The hotel where we stayed was very nice. I liked the boat system here. Neat. You can take a boat anywhere. It is hard to see things during lunch -- the siesta time. Things close down even the Cathedral was closed.
Sorrento: Sorrento was very nice. It felt like the scale of my own home town. The people at the store where they made the wood boxes were so nice. The people in Sorrento were so friendly. It was the friendliest place we have been so far. The food was really good. I was, however, disappointed that they had no cappuccino at the hotel for breakfast. It is definitely a place I want to go back to when it is warmer. The food was really excellent. I had two really good meals. Then I tried the pizza with hot dogs and French fries. This dish was definitely missing something.
Pompeii: Pompeii was so huge compared to what I thought it would be like. It was also further from Mt. Vesuvius than I had thought. I wondered what they did with all the ash and dirt. What did they do with all the rest of the stuff they found? I liked being there with so few tourists. I couldn’t get over how everything was so well preserved. I was disappointed the plaster mold of the dog wasn’t there. They were a pretty advanced society for a culture so old.
Capri: I think Capri was one of the most beautiful places I have ever been in my life. The views from the top of the mountain were wonderful. It was so clear. The weather Gods were with us! It was such a beautiful day. I was surprised that for such a tourist place, it was so shut down. It was hard to find a restaurant for lunch. The hike up the mountain was exhilarating. It was extraordinary to see all those views and to be up there with all my friends sharing the experience. It was exciting. I definitely want to go back to Capri when it is warmer.
The Best Experience: The last day in Capri was definitely the best. It was the nicest weather we had. The views were incredible. Even though we weren’t looking at architecture, it was great. I also liked the dinners we all had together. They were great.
The Worst Experience: There was nothing really bad. Come on, how could it be bad here?
PAUL COLLINS
Naples: I was there the most of anybody in the group. I have been to a lot of places in my life and especially in Europe but it was the most physically frightening place I have ever been. The street, Spaccanapoli is one of the most amazing streets I have ever been on in any city. The amount of shops there and then there was this amazing energy there. You knew it was a very old road -- you could feel that just by walking there. It felt like a current of so many people lives and their history. You could really sense that. I loved the walk that we took from the castle from the top down to the city. It was just interesting to see the juxtaposition of extreme poverty with extreme commercialism --that also made for an element of the excitement too.
Sorrento: It was a welcome refuge from Naples. It was probably one of the most picturesque towns I have ever been to. It reminded me of some of the cliff towns that I saw in China. I was in China when I was eight to ten years old. What also amazed me was the building into the cliffs. It must be so dangerous and then I thought what an effort so many generations of people have put into building the town. It also makes me wonder what it was like before the influx of tourism. People were very, very nice.
Pompeii: It is amazing that it is still there. Kind of like what I read, I wish the artifacts were there and not in the museum. But the shear fact that all that is still there is mind blowing to me. I loved the feeling of being in the bath house with the light. It is amazing how the stone and the tile could feel so soft in an immaterial way. On the way out of Pompeii, I met an American who was a Fulbright Scholar. His project was photographing Pompeii in part. It was neat to me to see the perspective of a photographer and fellow traveler in relationship to my own experiences. We ended up talking about world politics and Americans’ place in it and we found that we were very like-minded. We both agreed that there was more to life than the outside shell. We are all fellow travelers on this planet. It doesn’t matter what other people think of you, if you act true to yourself then you can help change stereotypes.
Capri: Commercialism aside, it was one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen in my life. The Villa San Michelle, you could tell that a lot of time and attention had been given to building it. It worked well with the land and it had a sense of place to it. It was almost like the garden and the building were a preparation for the view itself. The view was so perfect that you needed the bridge to it. I liked the walk down to the Marina Piccola. It gave me a sense of togetherness with my classmates. I really felt like it was a spiritual experience walking down to the water with them. It had a very “real”, very “now” feel to it and then to be able to share that with my classmates was great.
The Best Experience: I guess I liked the views from the higher-up places: from the Castle in Naples or the hotel rooftop in Naples or from the summits in Capri and Sorrento. It has been a dream of mine to come and see this all my life. I knew Pompeii existed and I wanted to go there so that was very cool.
The Worst Experience: I guess the worst was when someone almost ran me over on purpose on the Via Toledo in Naples. He was aiming for me on his little motor scooter going about 50 miles an hour. It is why I felt so physically frightened in Naples. Luckily, I was quick and jumped to the sidewalk.
SETH ANDERS
Naples: Getting off the train in Naples and jumping into the three cabs that we took to the hotel was quite the experience. We were all crammed into the back of the cab. The driver was so wild. It felt like a roller coaster. They have red lights in Naples but it didn’t seem to matter. The hotel was very memorable. It was one of the nicest hotel that I have ever been in -- especially because of the roof top breakfast with its view. I think the feel of Naples is the feel of a big city like Rome. But Rome has the more classic appeal with its architecture and the tourism. Naples was a big Italian city and it felt more authentic to Italy. You were not going to get as much English spoken in Naples as in Rome. I did crack down and I went to McDonalds for an Ice Cream Sundae. It was cheaper. I had accomplices!
Sorrento: The boat ride going to Sorrento was very exciting -- as we stood in the back and the water splashed up. It was really very rocky. We tossed and turned all the way over. It was interesting to be in such “hot spots” -- the summer beach towns -- but to be there in winter. I enjoyed going to a certain woodshop and making friends with the lady who was selling the boxes in the shop. I thought the dinners and the happy hour every night led to great conversations. I also had a great “Conollo” or as we say in English a Conolli.
Pompeii: It was just incredible to step back into an old almost forgotten city. I enjoyed the drainage system. One had to cross the streets on the large sized boulders so that water could pass below you. It was great that you could wander and just imagine what it was like in this city of 20,000 two thousand years ago. It really was a bustling city. I contemplated hiking Vesuvius but then I enjoyed the further exploration of Pompeii with great friends. My favorite sites were the two theaters and their version of the Coliseum.
Capri: As the boat was pulling up to the island, I thought this is the way school should be at home. You could say that I got a kick out of the villa San Michelle. The views to the water and the extravagant gardens led to a nice time for quiet contemplation. On the way out I bought the book by Axel Munthe who rebuilt the former get away palace of the Emperor Tiberius. The rest of the day I spent with seven friends hiking to the highest point on Anacapri. The best parts of the hike were Scott’s fall, the great pictures we took and Paul with his shirt off hurling a rock off the side of the mountain top. I also liked discovering how to play Hearts on the train ride home. This was a great time.
The Best Experience: The best experience was definitely the hard walk to the top of the mountain in Anacapri and then the reward of getting there was a huge thrill for me.
The Worst Experience: Losing my hat in Sorrento. It was not a big deal though, I am glad I left it in Sorrento rather than in DC.
PAT McCARTHY
Naples: Naples I was not too impressed with at first. It was kind of strange walking down the street with all the shops and things. It seemed like a very young crowd. I did like going up to the top to the castle and seeing the views. I also liked the breakfast at the hotel and just sitting there looking out over the water and seeing Vesuvius. It was a nice way to start the day.
I liked the museum. I liked seeing the Chinese Exhibit of the Tang Dynesty. I enjoyed seeing that. I liked the models they did on Pompeii. They were very cool. It was a nice preview to what we were going to see in Pompeii. I was shocked with the erotic room. I was not expecting that.
Sorrento: I liked Sorrento a lot. It had more of a newer classic feel to it. I enjoyed the town. I thought the people were very friendly. It was probably the first time in Italy I really felt I was getting into the Italian culture in a real way. Rome is very diverse and very American especially where we live. You see a lot of Americans. Whereas in Sorrento, all you see are Italian people. I very much enjoyed the feel of Sorrento. The food was great. The dinners were great. The Pizza Diavola was my favorite dish at the restaurant (The Sorrento Inn) that we kept going back to. It was like a basic margarita pizza and then they add salami and hot peppers. In my opinion, the cloisters were by far the best thing we saw in Sorrento. It was a great space to be in. It was very relaxing.
Pompeii: Pompeii was a shocker for me. It far exceeded all my expectations. The fact that it was an ancient city that was still so intact, I thought was incredible. You could walk through this ancient city and know that this was really what it looked like two thousands years ago. You can go and see ruins throughout Italy but you can’t get that same feeling or sense of what it was like as you do in Pompeii. I think my favorite part of Pompeii was seeing The Coliseum. Walking past the playing field, the sporting field, and then approaching The Coliseum was cool. I thought it was nice going down inside it. It was a nice experience. I also liked seeing grass. You got a good sense of what the place must really have looked like from the back part of the city.
Capri: Capri was gorgeous. The gardens of Tiberius were phenomenal. The views from up there were incredible. I was kind of disappointed that it was so cold out but other than that I have no complaints about Capri. I think the best part of the island is the back side. We did a hike down a snake-like path down to the ocean at the bottom. The boat ride back was a lot of fun too. I went outside and just stood there. As it started to get darker, the lights went on and you could see all the cities just lighting up.
The Best Experience: The hike on Capri down to the ocean was definitely the best experience. The views along the path down and the sunset that you could see off in the distance -- it was breathtaking.
The Worst Experience: I don’t think there were any bad experiences. The one night when we went out to dinner and we couldn’t figure out the money situation with the bill, that was a little upsetting.
ANN BROZEK
We didn’t have enough time to see enough of Naples -- to see the better side of it. We saw that one hectic street. It was dirty and everyone was preoccupied with their wallets so we didn’t really get to appreciate the city. I really liked the museum and I wish we had had more time to spend there. It was really good to see the sun dial in the museum and see how the sun hit the spot on the floor at noon.
The hotel was very nice. The breakfast felt very ritzy. I got up for the sunrise. Originally I got up at 6:20 but it was completely dark out. I went down to the lobby and in the little Italian that I know, I asked when the sunrise was supposed to be and they looked it up in a book and told me it would be at 7:22. So I went back to bed and then got back up. The sunrise was breathtaking and enthralling. I was captivated by it. I just stood out there and didn’t even realize how cold it was.
Sorrento. We took a boat from Naples to Sorrento. I stood up outside on the deck of the boat. Luckily I didn’t get splashed but some others did get quite wet from the spray. The boat ride really set the stage for the rest of our trip. It really built up the anticipation for the rest of our trip. Coming into the Sorrento port was like the grand entrance to the coastal area. Because we arrived by boat, we saw everything first from the water -- the cliffs and the port. It was really nice to get off the boat and take the taxi up the mountain to our hotel. We had to go up a road that swished back and forth all the way to the top of the cliffs. The hotel too was really nice. It was exciting to have a water view from our hotel balcony. Being in the ocean air was marvelous. I am from Florida so it seemed like home to me. I loved it. Probably my favorite place in
Pompeii: It was probably my favorite part of the trip. Pompeii has always been a place I have always wanted to see but never expected to visit. I have always been interested in ancient civilizations -- to see how people lived in the past. I loved going into the different spaces. It just felt like everything and everywhere you went became your own discovery. I loved seeing the history. It was something you have heard about and learned about in school and then you actually got to see it. It was wonderful. It was so fulfilling. Pompeii was more extensive than I thought it would be. They were much more civilized than I thought they would be. I was impressed by the road systems and the drainage systems. The organizational systems really impressed me. I was impressed how the old road systems really opened up. I don’t think we give ancient civilizations enough credit. I thought the art work was beautiful. Some of the frescos were beautiful. You could see the frescos on the walls in the private rooms of the first house we went to were beautiful. They were beautiful, simple but at the same time elegant.
Capri: I was very thankful that we got to go there at all. I didn’t think we would get there because of the wind. There was a high possibility that the boat was going to be cancelled because of the wind. The boat ride was fun. It was another great entrance I have to say. It was a little disappointing not to see the Blue Grotto but it just gives me an excuse to go back to Capri again. I really enjoyed the gardens and Axel Munthe’s house. I really want to read his book, his story now. Who wouldn’t want to live there? It was interesting to see one of his journal entries on the wall. He became a doctor at the age of 19. He wrote: “I am not qualified to be a doctor. I have so much to learn. I have to instill a lot of confidence in my patients. Once they have confidence in me, they seem to heal themselves. I have had a lot of luck so far and I hope I continue to have such luck in the future.” I thought it was interesting that he was so humble. I think most doctors in this day and age give so much credit to science and they don’t give enough credit to the spiritual side of healing. I thought it was interesting that he did. As far as the sight seeing part, the views were wonderful from Axel Munthe’s place but it only gave you a taste of what you could see from the top of Anacapri. It is funny because there were eight of us who wanted to make the hike to the top. We knew we had to hike because the chair lift was closed for the season. So we started out with very vague directions on how to get to the main trail. When we had walked and walked and we hadn’t found any signs to the trail, we figured we should stop ands ask for directions -- being the girls that we are. The guys didn’t want to stop and ask for directions. Coincidently the hotel we picked to go and talk to someone was closed but it had a painted tile map on the front of the building. So we looked at it and Ali said: “I think one of the trails is directly behind this hotel.” We went to the back of the hotel and found some stairs. We called Seth over to see if he would check out where it went. He checked it out and said that the stairs keep on going up. So we said: “OK. This is our trail.”
We wove through several houses and ended up on this great trail that was much more vertical than the main trail. Eventually out trail intersected with the main path but we decided to stay on the main trail. We made our way to a little meadow near the top. We were not at the top yet. We proceeded to be “immature” and we began throwing rocks off the cliff. We did everything that would pop into your head when you are near a cliff. We took pictures. We threw rocks. Paul took off his shirt.
We took a little snack break and then we climbed to the very top and got our obligatory group shots with the view in the background. We decided we were running out of time before it got dark. The bushes overcame our heights. We couldn’t see each other. Luckily we found Paul and George by shouting and we were able to make our way down the mountain. Along the way, I fell once because it was so muddy and slippery. But far worse than I, Scott also fell grabbing a thorn bush on his way down. We fixed him up the best we could since none of us had any kind of hiking gear in terms of shoes etc. We were ill prepared. We made it down and got back to where the buses were. We were on our natural high still. We were talked into a 20 Euro cab drive to the port to get to the boat on time. We were eight in the cab which was made for six. So we had a very friendly ride down the steep mountain and back to the port.
The Best experience: I think it is a tie between seeing Pompeii in person and finding our own way up and down the mountain in Capri.
The Worst Experience: The worst -- there wasn’t anything really awful. I did feel really bad for Scott getting his hand hurt and getting his hand full of thorns. It was bad. I thought the trip was well planned. Friday night when we got back to Rome, we spent an hour getting one of the last thorns out of Scott’s hand.
SARA SEPANSKI
Naples: Naples was the first city we were introduced to after Rome, and for me, personally, it was the first city in Italy that I had been to other than Rome, so I couldn’t help but compare the two cities. I noticed right away the difference in the people and the quality of light and the architecture when I was walking through the streets. It was much different than in Rome. I think Naples has a higher skyline than Rome, and therefore the streets are not as bright and because of that they don’t seem as clean.
My first experience with the people in Naples was when we were sent out to find some lunch for ourselves. I was walking with Scott for a while behind this young couple. As we approached a food vendor, we noticed a group of young girls by the stand. They were probably ten to twelve years old. They didn’t even come up to my shoulders. They all had dark hair and dark eyes, and they were all smiling, almost laughing, looking at the couple in front of us. All of a sudden one of the girls jumped out with a can of shaving cream or “silly string,” and she shot the woman in front of me in the face with it. Then the girl jumped back into the circle of other girls. She was immediately surrounded by the girls in the group, half laughing and half cringing because the woman gave the girl the look of death. The woman was trying to go after the girl, but the woman’s boyfriend or husband was holding her hand and pulling her back as if to say: “Don’t waste your time.” It was really shocking to me especially after being in Rome where the people are so down to earth and good natured.
These trips have been so great for me, not only because we have seen great works of architecture, but because I guess in one way or another I have always thought that every Italian city was somehow like Rome, when really each city has its own personality and spirit and history. When I was walking around Naples, it kind of hit me for the first time how unique Rome is and how rich it is in its history and its building. In Rome you turn around every corner and there is a magnificent church or urban space or significant historical monument. In Naples it wasn’t like that. You would walk down the streets and there would be just shops and more shops, one after the other. It just hit me how special Rome was and how lucky we were to be living there. Naples did have some awesome views, though. When coming to Naples I got my first sight of Vesuvius, and that was really exciting for me. I really enjoyed going to the archeological museum. We were in Naples for such a short time, I feel I should go back there and get a more extensive feel of the place.
Sorrento: Sorrento was really nice. I really liked coming to it by boat and seeing this picturesque, charming town. I guess because it was when we visited it when we did, it just made it seem all the more a sleepy kind of town and a place that is at peace with the sea. I got that feeling when we visited the cloisters of San Francesco, with the endearing elderly woman in the inlaid wood shop, and then again from the chef and waiters at the Sorrento Inn, whom we got to know quite well, some of us going back there three or four nights in a row. I’d like to go back to Sorrento to compare its current existence in the winter with that of it in the summertime. But I would go back no matter the season just because it was so charming.
Pompeii: I had learned from a Discovery Channel special on Pompeii the details of the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius and how the people in the neighboring cities and towns had gone to such great lenghts to help the people of Pompeii as they watched the volcano and its progressive intensity. Then to learn on site that the city wasn’t discovered again until somewhere around the 16th century when an aqueduct was being built made it all the more exciting for me because I was discovering Pompeii for the first time, too. In exploring the ruins, I was amazed and impressed by the fact that you could feel the purpose of a street without having the facades or roofs still intact. Just by looking at what was left of the walls and the way they were configured you could discern whether it was a major commercial thoroughfare or a more private residential area of the city. I’d definitely love to come back and climb Vesuvius.
Capri: Approaching Capri, the city didn’t live up to the image I had in my head. Maybe it was because we were going in “off season”. The actual buildings and houses left a lot to be desired. But they didn't ruin the most beautiful views I have ever seen! It was the bright blue water and the spectacular views that really blew me away. I thoroughly enjoyed all the time I spent at Villa San Michelle. There just seemed to be so much wrapped up in that one building that I wouldn’t have minded spending all of my time there. There were the great views, the beautiful, extensive gardens, the home itself, the story behind the home, and then the story of Axel Munthe who built the villa. I really enjoyed the excerpts from the book he wrote, “The Story of San Michelle”, that were displayed on boards throughout the house. It was so interesting. One of the things he wrote that I am still thinking about is that “the soul needs more room than the body”. I think he discovered this in building the villa, and it was something he told his workers time after time when he would make them tear something down and rebuild it in order to achieve the quality of space he wanted. I am still thinking about it because I am not sure what he meant by it. It might be one of those things that means something different to every person. I really want to go back when it is warmer, when I can really enjoy myself. It was so cold when we were there. I had to make trips to the bathroom just so I could warm my hands with the hand dryer.
The Best Experience: That is hard. The whole experience was great, but probably the best part was the first day in Naples realizing just how unique and how very significant Rome is. I also will never forget my first glimpse of Vesuvius.
The Worst Experience: Just my cold nose. It is probably why I ended up with a cold, but that was it.
KELLY DANZ
Naples: When we first got there, I noticed that it was much more congested and busy compared to Rome. I though it was a lot dirtier and very densely populated. My favorite part was the view from the top of the fort. I also liked the Museum. I thought the mosaics were very interesting, very beautiful. I liked the pizza at the restaurant we went to that first night where they claimed to have invented the pizza. Another thing I liked about
Sorrento: I liked Sorrento a lot. On the boat there I was outside on a little deck taking pictures, soaking in the scenery and all of a sudden a big wave came and I got completely wet. The water was very salty. The wave not only got me but Anna and Matt too. The view from the boat was gorgeous so it was worth it getting soaked. I thought Sorrento was really clean and a sweet little town. Everyone was so friendly. The woman in the inlaid wood box shop was so nice. The scenery was just beautiful. I had the best hot chocolate I have ever had in Sorrento. It had fudge in it. I also liked how we were the only ones in the hotel. We all had to hang out a lot and do lots of things together. It forced us to be together. I liked being with everyone.
Pompeii: I have been to Pompeii before but when I went it was in the summer and it was so disgustingly hot. I was miserable the whole day and I don’t remember what I saw. So it was good to go back when we did. I had a totally different experience this time. It was a lot bigger than I remembered it. I thought it was really amazing how everything was so well preserved and we could walk into people’s houses that date back over 2000 years. The place was just breathtaking. Then I was attacked by six Chinese men. I wasn’t really attacked but it scared me at first. I was sitting on these stairs sketching and these old men came up and they surrounded me. Then one of them said: “ We are from
Capri: Capri was my favorite day trip. I thought the entire island and how we went all the way to the top and visited San Michelle was beautiful. I thought the bus ride was really cool how it went along the cliff. It amazed me how the buses would drive so close to the edge of the road and to one another. After lunch we decided to walk down to Marina Picolla. Dave had said that there were some stairs that cut right down the mountain to the Marina. We tried to find them. We started walking down the road looking for the stairs. We kept walking and walking on the switchback road. They were also doing construction on the road and so basically we were walking through an Italian construction site looking for the stairs. We finally found the stairs to the marina. When we got to the bottom, it was beautiful. The sun was starting to go down and there weren’t any people in sight except for us.
Whenever I go to a beach, I always save a little bottle of water from that beach but I had forgotten to bring a bottle with me. So there was a restaurant that was closed but they were doing construction work inside. I went in there and I asked a worker in Italian if he had a water bottle. I saw that he had a big two liter bottle of water for himself. He pointed to it and said that he only had that one bottle. He then offered me some of the water. I told him I didn’t need a drink, I only needed the bottle for the sea water. He said: “Oh, OK” and he then dumped out an almost full bottle of water and gave it to me so I could get my sample from the sea. I was very grateful. That man was really nice. I thought everyone in Sorrento and Capri was friendly. On the way back we had to ask for directions and another Italian man was also very nice and gave us directions. On our way back up we walked up all the stairs we had come down and then found the stairs we had missed on our way down. There were so many stairs, it was ridiculous. It was like hiking up a mountain but it was worth it.
I also enjoyed the boat ride back to Sorrento. I went out on the back of the boat at night and took some pictures of the lights on Capri in the distance. It was really pretty.
The Best Experience: I think it was being in Capri. It was amazing how the buildings were built into the cliffs and everyone was so friendly even in off season. I really want to go back there.
The Worst Experience: No, nothing. I liked it all. It is just really cool to have these experiences. In fact, sometimes I think it is fake because it is so breathtaking.
DAVID SHOVE-BROWN
Naples: Every time I go to Naples, I like it more and more. It is interesting because the first time I was there, in 1995, I was not impressed with the experience. Since then I have been back five or six times. I have really grown to love Naples. It has got this wonderful mixture of cultures and history. You have so many different types of people who have inhabited the city from the Greeks to the Spanish to the Normans and the Italians. It’s really an interesting city. I think the students either they love it or they hate it. It’s a new type of city for them -- it’s denser, it’s louder, it’s overwhelming with its high activity level.
I really liked going up to the top (Castel San Elmo) with the students and then seeing how all of a sudden, it starts to make sense for them. You can point out all the different parts of the city and their histories. You can see the Bay and how the hills of Naples start to pull out of the sea. You can see Vesuvius. From up on top it is so much easier to see Naples and understand the city looking down on it. What I really enjoy is then bringing the students back down the hill. All of a sudden you go from wide to narrow. You are suddenly in a dense forest with the laundry hanging upon you and you are in very narrow streets with tall buildings. The fact that the transition happens within a twenty minute walk is fascinating to me and I hope to the students as well.
I think Sorrento is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. I love how the town falls off the cliff down into the water. I think what is really interesting to me is how opposite Sorrento is to Naples. The way the city works is so opposite to Naples. It is the first time I have been there in winter, which is an experience in and of itself. I have only been there in the warm months when it is just packed with people. It was really incredible to experience the change in a city based solely on climate. There was such a peacefulness of the place -- that is what I really liked about it. It is so detached from the urban environment which I am used to, so to have it even quieter was incredible. I think the fact that the students found restaurants and places that they liked really liked made them feel part of the city and not just a tourist. I really liked watching the bonding that happened with them and watching them growing together. As a group, they started to feel more like residents of the city…more comfortable in general They were finding restaurants that they really liked and trying out new foods. I think this is what make these trips so successful when you see the students try new things and not just stick to what is safe and true. I like watching how the first night everyone got their own dinner but by the third night everyone was trying new things, sharing and tasting each others meals. They got over their fears of trying something new. They also got into trying out local wines. Six people getting six bottles of different kinds of local wines and trying them all to see which one they likes better. All of a sudden you begin to understand which wine you like and you begin to understand better the local culture through their food and wine. Red Lobster doesn’t exactly deliver the fish fully intact. Here we were served the whole fish -- head and tail and all.
Architecturally, I have been to Sorrento many times. The Cloisters I always find so peaceful. I could just sit there with a book all day. But what I find fascinating is to see how the students experience and enjoy these places. My job, are you kidding me, I get paid to go to these beautiful places like Sorrento.
Pompeii: I really enjoyed Pompeii more this time than I have ever before. I think maybe it was because it wasn’t summer and it wasn’t a madhouse. We could experience walking around without me having to shout over swarms of people and muscle my way through the crowds. Generally when you go to Pompeii it is summertime and it is painfully hot. The misconception of Pompeii is that once you have been to Pompeii you have seen it all and you don’t need to come back but ever time you go and especially this time, you see more. You see things that you have never seen before. This is my fourth trip to Pompeii and yet I can still go and see and discover new things. It is wonderful. Architecturally it is a great experience because you get a great sense of place. You understand the scale of things. With the streets, the height of the buildings, you feel the sense of place. You really get to know what it was like to be living in Pompeii in a house two thousand years ago. I think you can actually feel what it was like to be living there.
Capri: Capri was similar to Sorrento in that it is so geographically spectacular. Normally I am there in the summer when it is overrun with tourists and you don’t get to feel part of the place. It was wonderful to explore it without the throws of tourists. It was also a wonderful sunny day. Villa San Michelle is amazing -- the views are spectacular. I can’t believe how any human being would not be impressed with the views. Every time I go, I just gasp at how gorgeous it is.
The Best Experience: My best experiences are very much based on the students and their reactions to things. It has been unbelievable to see how the students have grown and have connected to one another. The group dinners that everyone goes to have been wonderful. People just sit down and sit next to someone and talk to them. Nobody runs to sit next to one special person. Everyone enjoys everyone else. I have really loved how everyone has wanted to go out to dinner together -- all twenty-three of us eating together has been great.
The Worst Experience: Nobody not sick. Nobody not hurt. I know people were bummed out with the weather but no one really complained. The train strike was a challenge but we have a group of people that simply rolls with the punches. When they heard that we might have a strike no one got upset. Luckily the train strike didn’t happen but there are no complainers. It is great.
STANLEY HALLET
Naples: I was very surprised by Naples. It really impressed me. The last time we were there, many years ago, it was considered a somewhat lawless, unfriendly mess of people, dirt and grind. I was actually surprised to find Naples far more complex and far more interesting than that.
Our arrival at the train station was the first surprise. The taxis were quite clean and were lined up in an orderly fashion. Before we knew it, the first cab driver we encountered quickly organized our herd of travelers into three cabs instead of the normally required six cabs. He hustled us out of the station with humor telling the students to duck in the back if we passed by any police. While the old
I liked going to the top of the mountain to see the views from the castle. For me, however, it was more of an athletic feat -- especially going down the stairs from the castle. While the students seemed more impressed with the views from the top, I found the windy top and the 20,000 steps down from the top too high a price to pay for my old knees. On the other hand the great and level shopping street that seems to slice the town in half, was one of the most extraordinary and active urban arteries that I have ever seen. It is what makes cities worth living in. In fact, the urban fabric of the town is quite extraordinary. Although the tight streets in the Spanish Quarter are often called a down right slum, on the other hand, they are full of life and activities that most of our American cities lack. And the fact that they empty easily into this wonderful street of bars, shops and restaurants provides a great living room for everybody. Here we were in the middle of winter and mothers and fathers with their children, rich and poor, were all taking a walk and with everyone seeming to know everyone else. I liked the order as well as the contents of the streets. Walking the side streets especially in the university area was exhilarating. One street was devoted only to musical instruments. I would love to go back to the Great Galleria on a week night and see it filled with all the shops and their customers. Finally I was most impressed with the Archeological Museum. . It is one of the best museums I have ever been in. The room full of mosaics, fine detailed works by great artists was one of the best exhibits of this type I had ever encountered. The room filled with erotic art brought a perspective to Roman life we rarely see. All the exhibits were beautiful and the staff incredibly friendly. We will probably be having a drink with one of the guides when he comes to visit us in Rome.
Sorrento: Sorrento was a pleasant stay most noted for a wonderful restaurant that we kept returning to with our students. There was a conscientious lack of graffiti and again a very friendly and helpful population to keep it that way. While the site is indeed splendid, I found its tradition of building quite ordinary with respect to Italian standards. I thought it was a wonderful place relax in and above all a great place for shopping. It seemed as if everything was on sale, a fact taken full advantage of by our price conscious students.
Pompeii: As I look back, Pompeii represented a lot of walking. I had no idea it was so big. For a relatively small population, it had an extraordinary number of amenities. Incredible theaters, a Coliseum, a never ending spine of shops and majestic temples. Compared to an American suburb of a similar size, Pompeii was one hell of a town. The small theaters were exquisite. The stone work even to this day was beautifully fitted together. I was also impressed with the layout of the streets. I liked the stepping stones that were laid across the streets so people wouldn’t get their feet wet. The idea of people hopping across intersections to avoid the muck of the traffic seemed very civilized.
I was somewhat disappointed with the restoration of the houses and I couldn’t understand why several of the house gardens that were so important were not brought back to life. I was also unhappy with the methods used to protect the understandably fragile remains. They seemed to distract from the experience of understanding and appreciating what once was a beautiful and comfortable form of habitation. I would have expected that the Italians, with their proven ability of design, to come up with a better solution of protecting these ancient places. The trelliswork in the gardens, the temporary protective roofing structures, even the scaffold systems lacked a level of design-thoughtfulness that I would have expected of the Italians. I must admit that this could be a bias of mine. I have seen this condition purveyed in many of the monuments in Rome. Perhaps it is just the winter condition but unfortunately I think the rather clumsy and unkempt manner in which the archaeological ruins are laid bare, once they have been excavated, cries for a more respectful and appropriate response.
Capri: The dramatic mountain island of Capri offered a more splendid site than Sorrento. However the city was more vacant in its winter condition and lacked the more enthusiastic crowds that populate it during the warmer months. On the other hand, the Villa San Michelle and its gardens were promising although best seen in spring. Perhaps the most exciting event was our descent down a winding, serpentine path with extraordinary vistas unfolding at every turn. The beauty of Capri is clearly in its majestic setting. When we last visited Capri twenty five years ago, we remembered only the people we met and walked with. This time it was the landscape that made our time in Carpri so memorable.
The Best Experience: Finally I would like to say I have never traveled with a more enthusiastic group of students -- always excited about their visits to new places. It has also been wonderful to see the joy they exhibit when eating together every night at a long dinner table. I have been told by Italians that the success of a dinner is in proportion to the number of people you are eating with. In this regard, our trip South was a great success.
The Worst Experience: The worse thing was the cold and the wind. I felt so sorry for the students. It was hard for them to draw in such cold weather however there was a lot of very patient and careful drawing to behold. Other than that, the worst experience for me had more to do with thirty years of pounding tennis and the resulting spurs on my feet that seemed to complain on their own when encountering 20,000 steps such as those in Naples, Capri or Sorrento.
Perhaps this made the dinners sitting down together, just that more enjoyable.
posted by dsb @ 7:26 PM
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