What a difference latitude makes!

Napoli could be a different country, a few hundred kilometres from Roma but a world apart and be warned, this post contains X rated material of a sexually explicit nature, and a goat.

There is only so much archaeological ruin one can take. We had had our fill; two towns in two days.

It had been great, an insight, but today we wanted to see the notorious Napoli.

So we were back on the Vesuvius line, back on a train that is so bedraggled by graffiti, so beat up and decrepit it doesn’t look like it will reach its destination.

Once in the city centre, it took us ages to find somewhere that would sell us a travel card, the ticket machines were all for the national trains, not the metro. Even when we went into the tunnels all we found was a full sized train, this turned out to be the metro!

We found our tickets at the tobacconists and headed back to the metro, our first stop; the National Archaeological Museum.

So it looks like we aren’t getting away from the ruins and culture just yet.

This museum had the most complete, well restored sculptures we had yet come across.

This one we found interesting with the two tone stone.

Another two tone, very strange and beautiful condition. Wouldn’t want it in my garden though.

This one is very famous and you can see why, also very dramatic. I certainly wouldn’t want to be wrestling a bull in my birthday clothes.

These sculptures often came with an explanation of their restoration which was quite interesting. Many had lost so many parts, which had then to be re-sculpted.

Another one on the famous list.

The scale of this beast is very impressive.

There were also a lot of mosaics, this one I liked because of the animals, but mainly the birds; are those ibis over there.

It is however quite sad to see them not in the context of their rooms. They loose a lot of life.

Frustratingly, for some reason quite a few galleries were closed. Susana never got to see the coin collection, and there was a rather grand model of Pompeii which we could only glimpse across the barrier. It just seemed they did not have enough people to keep the whole gallery museum open, maybe it was because it is off season, maybe it was because it was a Wednesday?

However, I got to see the mosaics, sculptures and frescoes found in both Pompeii and Herculaneum and brought over here. I was so keen on looking for them, and now, they don’t have any meaning locked in this museum, away from where they belong. Big mistake. SM

But what we had come to see, this was still open.

Now this is what I am sure you have been waiting for;

The rude bits. Be prepared for some pornography.

These bits have been exposed in houses and public buildings for years, then hidden away by the church for shame, then been exposed again…I think we may finally have reached an era where most of us are comfortable having these bits in front of our eyes. Although they would still make us laugh, they would always do. SM

Now that is one nice coat hanger!