Rome via Brooklyn

(1732 words, 9 minute read)

Today started bright and early, as my regional train to Naples would take about 4 hours. I didn’t even have time to get breakfast and a cappuccino before hopping on a bus to Termini.

The train itself was beautiful, taking me through the gorgeous countryside and along the coast of Italy down to Naples. I was a little rushed, but I managed to find a seat to take a nap in, get a little reading done, and knit a little bit. I was definitely hungry and tired, but nothing compares to the early morning light hitting the Mediterranean.

Finally, I had made it to Naples! The train station was so incredibly crowded, and I grabbed a bite to eat at a quick service pasta place in the train station before trying to navigate my way to Ercolano. My phone said it was only a quick local train ride, so I hopped on the Circumvesuviana, full of excitment.

Joke’s on me! I accidentally took the express train to Pompeii. Well, I got off and tried to turn around and take the regular train back to where I was headed. I had a beautiful view of Vesuvius from the train station, there was plenty of shade, and even a place to get water. Nothing had gone so wrong yet! But the train I needed took another half-hour to get to my station, and there was mechanical issues, meaning the trains would not be running. It had now taken me over an hour to get somewhere that was only supposed to take about 15 minutes to get to. Frustrated, I grabbed an uber to the site, hoping to still be able to salvage the hours of sunlight I had left.

I tried listening to a calming playlist in the car ride, as it had already been such a long day, and my phone chose to play me Go the Distance from Hercules, which felt very apt for the situation. I had finally made it! When I heard we weren’t going down here on the trip like they had last year, I had to make the trek myself, and boy was it worth it. It was far too hot to be walking around an archaeological site alone, with a dying phone, and a finite resource of water; but nothing felt more worth it to see with my own eyes. While not everything was clearly labeled, and I had made the mistake of not getting a guided tour, I was able to catch pieces of other people’s tours, as well as just taking pictures of everything to figure it out later.

It really got to me that we knew the names of some of the people who lived there before the explosion, and that we don’t know the names of others. I’m thinking about memory again, who gets to survive this kind of tragedy. I think of the natural disasters during my life time as well, and how we’ve recovered. I was very young during Katrina, and I don’t remember it, but I learned about it years later, and Vesuvius really makes me think of New Orleans. I am so glad we have so much well preserved history at this site as we do, but the whole time I had to remember the incredible loss that came with the modern gain. It’s also fascinating that a few days after I was there, they started deciphering some of the scrolls found in the House of the Papyri (which I didn’t see). I took way too many pictures to put here, but I’ll do some quick highlights with captions for anything I can identify and notes on things I found interesting.

This is one of my favorite pictures from the site. I think one of the things that gets me about Herculaneum is the way life and death are at play with each other here. This is the site of a mass casualty event, that preserved some of the best evidence we have of the ancient world. There are some really sad remnants of the people who lived there, but also the site is full of plants, animals, and new people. There are trees everywhere, all sorts of plants climbing the walls and growing out of nooks and holes. It’s very poetic the way that these things are so intertwined, and it really reminds me of a sort of yin yang relationship between death and life. As a historian, my work completely revolves around dead people, most of whom we will never even learn the names of. The best days I’ve had here are the two days I’ve spent walking around graves. But humans are made of memories, and to remember pieces of the life of one person thousands of years later, that’s kind of magic. Are we really dead if someone still remembers pieces of us? Archaeological sites are so educational, but also very spiritual. There’s definitely ghosts living here.

After baking in the sun, I went up to the indoor and air conditioned Boathouse and Antiquarium. These are small museums but they have some really interesting artifacts from the city that need to be kept behind glass. There is an entire preserved boat, burnt wood and all. I was exhausted by this point, so I didn’t take pictures of every item description.

I took one last look down at Herculaneum, and overheating and exhausted, I headed out to my B&B.

The train out of Ercolano is up on the hill, so I hiked up there just to find out that there is very little signage telling me where to go – even if my train goes to platform 1, which one is it? I missed two trains because of this, and with how uncomfortable it was, I really felt like it was my last straw. But my train came, and I got some beautiful views of Vesuvius and the Bay of Naples on my way to Torre del Grecco, a small town right near Ercolano.

On my walk I saw some local greenhouses and farms, part of the industry out in the Italian countryside. Few of the locals knew much English, but I was exhausted and homesick, both for New York and my roommates in Rome. I buckled down for the night and slept a whole 12 hours that night.

The next morning, I woke up bright and early to check out of my room, and I explored the gorgeous property of the villa I was staying at. If I ever had a reason to be back in the bay, I would truly stay there again. But then I realized it was Sunday, and most of my saved destinations in Naples for that day were either churches or closed. I decided to just head back to Rome to get some work done, get some rest, and be around my friends.

I decided on m way home to take the Intercity high speed rail home, as it was only a little more expensive than the Regionale, and it was a really good experience. I think it was the best value train I’ve taken this whole trip for what you are getting. Would recommend!

The next day, back in Rome, it was a slow day, but I did take a walk to a yarn store accross the river from us, and got rained on. My luck is really not good this weekend. But overall chill day with nothing to report. Excited to be back in class tomorrow!