Naples / Stabiae

On Friday we left fairly early on a charter bus to Naples. The city itself was dirty, but definitely had character to it. Actually,Most of the "dirty" was due to trash left out in the streets, since Naples was in the middle of a trash-collector strike. We at lunch on a street corner (all 110 of us), and entered the National Archaeological Museum. Dr. Flusche gave us a guided tour, providing the history of each piece we observed, which consisted mostly of who stole it from which part of Italy to put it in this museum. Many of the pieces were removed from the excavation of Pompeii, where we were headed the next day.

This is one of my favorite sculptures that we saw. It's Hercules, bulging muscles and all, resting on his lion skin propped up on a stick, after completing his 12 tasks. It was created during a period that emphasized the strength of the human body -- it's no surprise that the sculptor chose Hercules.

After the museum, we headed to Stabiae, where we stayed in dorms provided by the Society for Restoring Ancient Stabiae. We had a chance to walk through the town and down to the beach. Some of group waded out into the water, but I didn't want sand in my shoes, and the water was very cold. I settled for putting my hands in it and collecting shells, which I accidentally sat on later.

View of Stabiae and Mt. Vesuvius covered in clouds, from the dorm balcony