An Accidental Day at the MANN - 4/10

In case it isn't obvious:  I'm the one that does the majority of our travel planning.  I'm usually the one that finds the venues, books the tickets, figures out how to get where we want to go, etc.  Most of the time, I think I do a pretty good job of it, too.  But even I make dumb mistakes every now and then.

I was looking forward to a visit to the Cimitero delle Fontanelle -  one of several ossuaries in Napoli.  This one is interesting as it is mainly a collection of skulls located inside a cave.  Creepy fun!  Looking at Google Maps, I determined that we would take the metro out to Materdei station and from there, it would be a "mostly flat" 9-minute walk.

Sometimes, Google Maps lies.  Or else it has a strange definition of "flat."  In any event, we did have to go down several steep flights of stairs to get down to Via Fontanelle where the Cimitero is located - which meant of course that we would have to climb back up later.

We navigated our way down the steps and up the street - a mix of dirty garages, seedy-looking little shops, and residential flats - only to be greeted by this:

Yup - it was closed, as per the sign on the gate.  Somehow, I'd missed that when I looked up the opening hours online (I did check back later and sure enough, the site is listed as "temporarily closed" due to some ongoing renovations).  Needless to say, I was super annoyed with myself.  It did make me feel slightly better to see that I wasn't the only one who missed it: there was what appeared to be a tour group standing around in the street scratching their heads in puzzlement as well.

So, disappointed, we hiked back up the street - and climbed up all those steps, ugh - and returned to the station.  Resting on a nearby bench, we caught our respective breaths and thought about what to do with our now wide-open day.  Paolo suggested revisiting the Museo Archaeologico Nazionale di Napoli - otherwise known as MANN.   Although we previously visited this museum back in 2018, in that hot, sweaty, leg-aching moment, I just didn't have the energy to look for anything new-to-us to do.  So we got ourselves back on the metro and rode out to Museo station - which has an exit right next to the museum.

Interior courtyard of the MANN

And, as things usually do, it worked out splendidly.  We re-visited some old favorites...

My man Claudius ❤

Artemis of Ephesus

…and found some new exhibits and collections we hadn't seen on our first visit.  There was a Gladiators exhibit this time around, which was interesting - and included skeletons of (probable) gladiators from what is now York, England.  So I got to see some skulls after all!

Gladiator who likely got his head cut off in the arena in York

Ancient arena games-themed art

They also had an exhibit related to contemporary toys and games...it was a bit strange to see those items interspersed among the more classical collections:

Perhaps a modern artistic take on amphorae?  The purple one on the right looked a bit like Grimace

Paolo particularly wanted to see the Magna Grecia collection, which I think we might have missed last time we visited:

The flooring throughout this exhibit area is part of the collection - we had to wear these special booties while in this part of the museum

Detail from the artwork on the vase above

I don't know why, but I like this amusing little guy.

So - a day that started out as something of a disappointment ended up being pretty great after all.  We concluded our day with an excellent meal; we were excited to find that there was a well-rated Japanese restaurant about a three minute walk from our hotel.  I'd definitely recommend Koi if you're in Napoli and in the mood for something other than pizza:

And so ended our visit to Napoli; we spent half the next day on trains heading home (well worth it too, as I would never, never want to bring a car into Napoli - I do not have a death wish).  We were once again stopped by polizie at the train station for an ID check:  

This time, they spent quite a few minutes scrutinizing our documents.  One of the officers gave me a funny look and asked me (I think) to confirm that I am, in fact, Italian as he was scanning my Italian passport.  "Sì, sì."

Hard to believe that two weeks from now, we'll be back in the US.

Riding on a Railroad: Return to Napoli

"We are riding on a railroad / singing someone else's song..."

-James Taylor, Riding on a Railroad

We've had a quiet couple of weeks since our return from Ravenna.  Our American neighbor, who is also resident here in anticipation of citizenship recognition) had a birthday - the day before mine, actually - and threw himself a very nice party at the local bar.  It seemed like the whole comune was there at one point or another throughout the evening; we had a chance to talk with some folks we'd never met or had only seen in passing before.  I spent some time chatting with one of the old guys in town, who told me that he "hates Americans" and also "hates religion."  I said:  "Sono Americana e sono Italiana," so maybe he only half hates me?  He was actually a pretty decent guy (if somewhat curmudgeonly); we mostly communicated via translation apps on our respective phones.  He also showed me a picture of himself with (allegedly) Che Guevara's stepmother and half-sister.  Whew.

The same night we met yet another American; she arrived in town back when we were visiting Bologna, so this was the first chance we'd had to talk to her.  She's here by herself right now, but her husband will be joining her soon - he will arrive the same day we leave to return to the US.  She mentioned that her microwave was broken.  Well, one of the first really dumb things we did when we arrived was to buy ourselves a small, cheap microwave - only to get it home and realize we had absolutely nowhere to put it in our kitchen, counterspace being at a premium.  DUH.  We never even took it out of the box.  We were very happy to be able to give it to her, as she will actually get use out of it, and now we don't have to leave it behind in our apartment or otherwise deal with it when we leave.  Win-win.

Since we've been here, we've found that we get by just fine without a microwave, even though it was something we probably used every day in the US.  Here, though, we simply don't have the same access to processed and/or frozen foods.  I wonder if we'll go on not using one, once we are back in our American kitchen...?

One other thing I did was to connect with a cousin - a third cousin, actually (the granddaughter of my grandfather's first cousin - who is 96 years old!  If my grandfather were still alive, he would be 102). She and her family live in Corinaldo (or thereabouts), the town where my great grandfather was born.  She very kindly invited us to visit the family for the Sunday and Monday of Easter weekend (Easter Monday is a public holiday here, although Good Friday is not).  I'm pretty excited to be able to see Corinaldo.  Particularly the Polenta Well.

But:  we're going to squeeze in another little trip between now and then.  I'm writing this from the second of three trains we'll be riding today, making our way back to Napoli.  We spent one day there back in 2018, and we spent one day there back in February; this time we will stay for four nights.  The weather should be OK, if not perfect:  I think it may rain for a bit in the morning on two of the days; Friday should be the nicest, sunniest day.  This is perfect, because I've booked a tour of Pompeii with a former archaeologist for Friday afternoon.  Paolo has always wanted to see Pompeii, so I'm excited to be able to arrange that for him.  I hope the weather cooperates enough that I can take some good pictures of Mount Vesuvius, too.

Incidentally, the weather at home has been a bit dreary the last few days; however, today we woke up to sunshine (of course we did, because we were about to leave town).  I took a couple of quick snaps from the car on the way to the train station in Termoli:

Our train between Foggia and Caserta is running a bit late; it's going to be a very tight connection from Caserta to Napoli; fortunately, they run trains between Caserta and Napoli every 10 minutes or so, and the cost is quite minimal - about 6 or 7 euros, I think, so no big deal if we have to rebook.  The only minor annoyance, really, is that someone else is sitting in the seat I paid for; so my Paolo is stuck in a seat behind me (it appears my seatmate may also be a Paolo).  This is the second time we've had this issue with Trenitalia.  I don't know if it's a ticketing error or if people just generally sit wherever they want to despite what the ticket says, because Italy.  I suspect the latter.  I wouldn't mind nearly so much if I hadn't paid for first class tickets.  Ah, well, I don't have the language skills to press the point, so I'm just going to sit here and look out the window at the beautiful countryside and think about finding somewhere to go for a good dinner tonight...and also see if this time, I can figure out how to get a metro pass that will cover multiple days in Napoli.

Iacta alea est: Monday in Ravenna

We've been wanting very much to go somewhere in Sicily; but unfortunately, the weather hasn't cooperated - according to the Weather Channel app, it's been cold and/or rainy just about anywhere on the island we'd want to visit.  So once again, we find ourselves in the north, back in Emilia-Romagna - this time in Ravenna, where Julius Caesar gathered his legion, allegedly cried "Iacta alea est!" and crossed the Rubicon on his march into history.

We crossed it as well, by train - albeit heading in the opposite direction:

As rivers go, not super impressive these days, actually.

Because we had such a great experience at our B&B in Bologna, we opted to book into one here.  Also, they had a very reasonable rate.  B&B Corso Diaz is located about a 5 minute stroll from the train station, and very well situated for walking around the centro storico.  The décor has an Italian movie theme; so this is the artwork that dominates our room:

Pretty sure this wasn't on the B&B's website.  But Paolo is delighted with it.

Apart from Sophia Loren watching us sleep, the room is fine; it's actually rather large for an Italian hotel room.  And we have a balcony, too, with a fantastic view of what appears to be a parking garage and its adjacent parking lot.

After getting settled, we decided to head out toward one of the main city squares, Piazza del Popolo and from there, find a nice place to have aperitivo and relax before dinner:

Piazza del Popolo

The stairs to the right lead into the Palazzo del Comune

An ancient column that was discovered back in the 16th century and placed here in 1896

From here, we wandered a bit until we came across the Mercato Coperto (Covered Market) a few streets away.  It's huge - there are quite a number of little food shops inside, with everything from wines to pastas to cheeses to salumi, and more...plus, there's a restaurant on the upper floor:

We ended up having a drinks and people (and dog) watching session at a little place right across the street:

Aperitivo

I say we watched people and dogs, because it seems like half the people in Ravenna have dogs by their sides.  Taking one's dog everywhere one goes is actually fairly common in Italy, from what we've observed - but it seems particularly so here.

Following aperitivo, we moved on to dinner; we had a 7:30 reservation at Passatelli 1962.  The restaurant is somehow associated with a movie theatre next door; the dining area also has its own large screen on which episodes of Mr. Bean were projected while we were eating (not a bad choice since there's not really any dialogue you need to follow):

Tortellini emiliani for me and a seafood salad for Paolo

Paolo's seafood risotto was delicious; I ordered orata (bream)

I forgot that in Italy I have to de-bone my own fish.  I grew up listening to the Dr. Demento radio show, and I was reminded of that classic tune, Fish Heads

On our walk back to our room, we noticed that the town was very quiet; we didn't see many other people out and about, even though it wasn't particularly late (note that people do tend to eat earlier here in the north than they do farther south).  As in Bologna, I'm not sure whether Ravenna is always this quiet, or whether it's just like this on Mondays, or if it's this way simply because tourist season hasn't yet really begun.

Wednesday: More B-o-l-o-g-n-a

Wednesday was our last full day in Bologna - as I realized this, I regretted not booking in for a few more days; there is so much to see in the centro storico.  To get the most out of our time, we decided to ride one of the City Red Bus Tours in order to view as much as we could (and to take note of places we might want to visit on a future trip).  The tour took about an hour to complete its circuit.  I tried to snap some pictures from our very good seats - upper level, right in front - however, as it was a bright and sunny day, there was a lot of reflection on the glass windows, so my photos didn't come out as well as I would have liked:

Bologna

Porta Maggiore a/k/a Porta Mazzini

The ruins of Castello di Galliera

FYI:  unlike in FL, we can say gay in Italy.  Particularly in Bologna, from what I read.

Painted porticoes

Porta Castiglione

We'd next planned to visit the Museo Civico Archeologico (Paolo was especially looking forward to it), but when we arrived, we were told that only two of the exhibits were open - the rest of the museum was closed due to some ongoing renovations.  As they were still charging the full admission price for very limited access, we opted not to visit (it will be something to look forward to next time, I guess).

On the other hand, had we gone there, we might not have discovered the Archiginnasio.  This building was originally the central site of the University of Bologna; it now houses a library, the former anatomical theatre (reconstructed after having been bombed in WWII), and Stabat Mater Hall.

Some of the 6000+ coats of arms of former university students

The anatomical professors' chair

Anatomical theatre

Center ceiling detail

Stabat Mater Room

Virgin and Child fresco dating from the 1500s

Look closely and you'll see a book titled Invertebrata of Massachusetts

Some more of the 6000+ coats of arms of former students of the university

After our visit to the Archiginnasio, we walked back the the Santo Stefano area for lunch.  It was very warm and pleasant in the sun, so we chose to sit outside for a very leisurely meal/people-watching session at 051 Santo Stefano:

I had the lasagne alla Bolognese - nothing at all like any lasagne I've ever eaten in the US; I need to try making this!!

In fact, we had a rather large lunch, such that we didn't bother making any dinner plans for later.  Needing to walk this off, we headed over to another church we wanted to see (we'd passed it on our bus tour) - Chiesa del Santissimo Salvatore (Church of the Holy Savior).  On our way, I stopped to take several pictures:

Bologna hosts a jazz festival; this tribute to Benny Goodman was installed in the street last year according to this article

Art installation entitled Big Wide Eye (in English - perhaps because the artist was born in New Zealand...?)

I liked all the heads on this building

The white plaque states (more or less, according to Google Translate) that Guglielmo Marconi was born here.  He was the first to transmit words "without the aid of cables and wires, from one hemisphere to the other" for the benefit of humanity "and the glory of his homeland" 

We didn't stay at Santissimo Salvatore very long as there was an ongoing Eucharistic adoration, and although there were signs saying visitors were welcome, we didn't wish to disturb the devout.  I did take a few pictures from the back of the church before leaving:

Our last stop before returning to our room for a little rest was at a church very close to our B&B - Chiesa di Santi Bartolomeo e Gaetano (Church of St. Bartholomew & Saint Cajetan - yeah, I had to look him up:  he seems to be the patron saint of gamblers and the unemployed.  Sounds like a bit of a shady character to me).

I have absolutely no idea what the connection is between this church and Our Lady of Quinche represented by the statue on this side altar.  There was a sign in Italian describing the original statue in Ecuador, but it didn't say anything specifically about why they have a replica here in Bologna.

Looking up at the main dome

Having been a pretty full day, and still having pretty full bellies, we returned to our room to rest and digest; though we did venture out later for drinks and dessert.

And thus ended our (too) brief sojourn in Bologna.  The next morning, after another excellent breakfast at our B&B, we checked out and made our way down the street to the taxi stand for a ride to Bologna Centrale to catch our train home - which was not only once again late, but my Trenitalia app said our train would be arriving at Bin 4, when it actually arrived at Bin 6 ("bin" being short for binario, that is, "track" or "platform").  I'm not sure why we had issues with late trains on this trip; until now we really haven't experienced huge delays - but now we better understand why people complain so much about the trains in Italy.

As we were waiting for our delayed train, my phone rang.   It was a gentleman from Hertz (the company from which we rented our vehicle) asking, in hesitant English, if we knew our car was parked at Termoli train station, because the police wanted to tow it!  At least, I think that is what he was trying to say.  WTF?  I replied to the effect that of course we knew it was parked there, because we parked it there.  I explained that we did pay the full amount allowed on the parking meter, and that we were literally about to get on a train bound for Termoli and would be back later in the afternoon.  I begged him to call the police back and explain that we were on our way, and to ask them to please not tow our car - which he kindly agreed to do.  At least, I think he did; I'm not entirely sure he understood me, actually.

Practically the whole ride back to Termoli, I was catastrophizing this in my head, imagining various scenarios of us trying to explain to the police that we did in fact pay for parking although it's possible we didn't pay enough because we are stupid Americans who didn't understand the meter machine; trying to figure out how to get our car back; possibly being stuck overnight in Termoli, etc.  Paolo, on the other hand, being a more reasonable sort of person, was fairly calm and not terribly concerned.

When we arrived back to Termoli, there was our car, exactly where we'd left it - and not so much as a ticket for a parking violation.  Of course, that doesn't mean we won't get a ticket in the mail six months from now, because Italy - but thankfully all my worry was for nothing after all.

Now that I've finally written out this record of our trip, I'll explain why it took so long to do so.  On the Tuesday, I somehow managed to hurt my left wrist and hand - one of those situations where you somehow just "move wrong," although you're not quite sure exactly what you did, and something cracks/slides/clicks/pops out of place, and bam, you have pain.  I'm a righty, but didn't realize just how much I use my non-dominant hand until I couldn't.  Anyway - I've been resting it as much as possible and taking an anti-inflammatory, and I am about 99% better now.  But that's why I've been writing in fits and starts.
  

Coming up this week:  Paolo has to go back to the questura; we both have appointments to get haircuts.