MEDITERRANEAN!!!!!
- Subject: MEDITERRANEAN!!!!!
- From: C* D*
- Date: Sun, 13 May 2001 06:01:45 -0600
Hello, all you good people. Every once in awhile it becomes
necessary for (self-appointed) superior beings like myself
to remind the rest of you peasants just what it is to be
above the madding crowd!!!
My wife and I just returned from a week in Italy. We spent
three days on the Isle of Capri and three days in Sorrento.
Talk about Mediterranean vegetation! Marvelous! Of course,
we grow most of them in California as well, but somehow the
ambiance makes them look even better here.
We also visited the Greek city (ca 450 BC) of Paestum. I
was awestruck by the Temple which has various names, the
Temple of Ceres, the Temple of Jupiter etc. Why the names
are Roman instead of Greek I don't know. But the columns
were Doric and although we couldn't get closer than about 50
feet, it seemed that they were at least three feet in
diameter, approaching four feet. How they built it I have
no idea. But I just stood there staring.
I suppose part of my stunningment (is there such a word?)
was because when I entered combat as a fighter pilot in WWII
in December 1943, my first base was a dirt airstrip on the
old Salerno beachhead AT PAESTUM!!!! I was 22 years old and
the furthest thing from my mind at the time was
"antiquities". It was my job at the time to create rubble,
not admire it. I saw the "stone barn" from a distance but
never went over to see it. I strongly urge anyone going to
Italy with an interest in the past to visit Paestum.
We also made the obligatory pilgrimage to Pompeii. It is,
of course, fantastic and is a must-see. If you do, get
several couples together if you can and split the cost of a
private guide which you will easily find at the entrance.
They know much more than the tour guides do and if there are
less than ten of you, you can at least hear. We saw tours of
fifty people or more following one guide. I doubt that more
than ten of them could hear the spiel.
We tried to visit Ercolano (Herculaneum) which is said to
be even better, but we couldn't find a parking place for the
rented car so we left.
We drove up Vesuvius but this was a little disappointing
since when we got to the end of the road there was a
concession area and the foot of an enormous stairway (4-500'
high, at least) leading to the edge of the crater. I think
very few people over forty could make the trek. But the road
does follow somewhat the trail of one of the lava flows from
the March 1944 eruption I saw from about ten miles upwind at
Pomigliano.
Now if you would like to join my group of the ELITE, gather
a lot of lira together and come to Italy. (I'm sure the
Grecian people on the list will tell you to come there
instead.) I'm sure many places in the Mediterranean would
give you the same sense of exhiliaration, but I haven't been
there, yet.
I hope the purists will forgive the paucity of botanical
information in this missive, but what could be more
Mediterranean than the Mediterranean!!!!
Sorry, Allesandra, we didn't get to Rome!! ---Chas---
