Date: Sunday, 2 November 2003 7:05 pm
Subject: Naples, more beautiful from far than near

Hello to all,   I must first thank you for the many messages I received following my appeal for help put out in my last message. I was beginning to get the lues after 6 weeks of traveling, and reading your messages has done a world of good. at least the weather is beautiful this morning after a torrential rain last evening, and the route along the Amalfitano coast where I am now is more pleasant. In passing, the gibberish in my last message was not on purpose, the keyboard that I was using was programmed for another language.   Thursday the 30th of October:   When I got up this morning, the weather was less foggy and at least it was not raining. Happily so, because this was the day of my visit to the Vaticon and to St. Peter's of Rome. I began by going to see the closest cupola, so close that it seemed I could have climbe on it. In effect, there are 537 steps and I think I climbed 320 or more because I took the elevator to save myself the first set. At first the elevator took us to see the interior of the cupola and one could touch the mosaics which run all around the lower part. Then it is possible to climb up to the top, climbing the stairs under the cupola and the outside part, not a mean feat. However, the view at the summit it incredible, and you can see all of Rome laid out at your feet.

Next I went into the cathedral to see the interior, which is immense. Everything is so vast and limitless that it is very impressive. The nave is magnificant and one could easily spend a couple of days just contemplating this alone. The status of St. Peter and his feet, worn by the people who come to touch them. The Pieta of Michelangelo is also an impressive work.

Next I went to see the most important work of Michelangelo, the Sistine Chapel. I rented an auto-guide in order not to miss anything and visited the museum of the Vatican at the same time. The chapel was truly beautiful and its colors very ivid. As in the Louvre and other places I have been privileged to visit on this journey, it was funny to see in person things I had seen so often in photographs. It is a moment very difficult to describe.

Friday, the 31st of October:

This morning I went to stroll around Rome and see the last places that I failed to see in my little book. I went to see the Basilica and I missed by 15 minutes entry into the San Pietro in Vince where you will find the Chains of St. Peter and the famous Moses of Michelangelo. They had closed the church at noon for a special photo session.

The way out of Rome was not obvious, and it took me an hour to finally get out completely. There are two series of circular roads that encircle Rome and since I wanted to take the road by the sea to get to Naples, I had to work harder. They did everything they could to direct us to the toll-road, and happy I had my Michelin atlas that did what it could to give me the right numbers of the roads. I finally got to the coast and stopped at 4:00 at Gaeta according to the clock in my car. Because it was getting dark very early, I didn't want to take a chance. There were huge clouds on the side of the mountain and an intermittant rain.

Did I say according to the clock in my car? What a jerk I am, I had not realized until after I had reserved my room and looked at my watch that it was only 3:00. I had forgotten to change the time in the car because it had been parked since my arrival in rome. I therefore found myself at the back of beyond, without a telephone card, surfing the nine Italian TV channels in my room to see if there was anything good. Not terrible, since that permitted me to go to bed early.

Saturday, the first of November:

Since my departure from Rome, I had noticed a change in the attitude of drivers on the road to Naples. At the beginning, it was subtle, a little encroachment of the median, a furtive passing across the double line, etc. I didn't wonder about it, since I had seen the motorbikes do it, but never the automobiles. But as I approached Naples, it became worse.

This morning, what a bloody mess! The road is supposed to be one lane in each direction with a breakdown lane for emergency use on each side. Here, devil take the traffic-lights, and if it's all bottled up, one can always pass. The slower cars roll with one wheel on the shoulder, and passing happens at top speed on the median line, even with cars coming in the opposite direction, that have to squeeze over. I have never seem people ignore the traffic signs in this way. But, obeying the famous expression "when in Rome, do as the Romans do, I followed suit and got into the game with all my energy.

It's so bad that the authorities don't bother to paint lines on the newly paved roads. The lines are nothing more than useless graffiti in any event. But the worst is in Naples. There are practically no traffic lights and in any case nobody observes them. I had the bad luck to stop at the first red light, and I was honked at to get going. It was necessary for me to run through the red light to keep the traffic flowing. Completely crazy!

Forget about watching out for motobikes and pedestrians, you have to watch out for cars. On top of everything else, everybody honks their horn all the time. Honk to make people squeeze aside, honk to make a slow car go faster, honk to let someone know you're there, honk to turn, honk all the time. This cacaphony was unbearable and I had to get out of there.

Unfortunately, it was not evident how to get out of Naples because in addition to having no traffic signs for getting around inside the city, there was no indication of how to get out. I think there must be a lot of people who stay in Naples because they have not been able to leave! Without joking, I don't know in what town I slept that night because it was too dark I couldn't see anything anymore. I had been trying to leave since 2:30 and I was still turning in circles. They give the names of the tiny villages that do not appear on any map and I had to orient myself as best I could. Impossible!

At least this morning the weather is beautiful, and that makes it easier. I am now in an internet café in Sorrento and I am going to see the coast of Amalfitano.

Ciao,

Paul

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