Domain of the Golden Dragon Crossing the Prime Meridian- Part 4

Traveling Back to the United States 

Going the LONG Way

27 Sep 1965 - 23 Oct 1965

Adventures in Italy

Part 4

Sunday, 10 Oct 1965 -

The Coopers left Greece the night before for an 18-hour cruise across the Ionian/Adriatic  Seas to Italy. Martha writes a quick detailed postcard to her family telling them about our time in Greece. Nice to know that we had a personal cabin to sleep in on our way to another country. To this 9-year-old, it is much better than trying to sleep on a plane!

We enter into Brindisi the next morning around 10AM. 

Walking through the town’s market place we see all of the sorts of different peddlers & what they sell to local buyers. Here is a local sponge seller.

Things have to be run differently now that we are using the European Railroad. My parents came up with this excellent & efficient travel arrangement. “We had a COOPERative system as we arrived in each city. As soon as we got off the train Mary would sit with luggage, Gib would inquire about timetables & fairs, Stan would phone for hotel reservations if needed. We'd all take the bags to the baggage room where Marty would put fresh clothes in one bag & check our excess baggage.”

We board our train & found seats together for the five-hour ride to Naples. We spend 2 days in Naples. 

Monday, 11 Oct 1965 - 

Martha continues in her Christmas letter, “At this point, we started buying food in local shops to take on the trains with us as we travel through Europe, as food is very expensive on the trains. So, for our supper that evening we had salami, cheese, bread, wine & fresh pears. The European railroad system is very good & we always knew what we were doing. We rode second-class trains & we found them very comfortable. While in Naples we hired our own guide to take us down to Pompeii, 17 miles south of Naples.  

I remember this visit. Here is a souvenir booklet my parents picked up. In the Table of Contents; my parent checked off the places we looked at. This includes the Museum, Forum, Basilica, Temple of Apollo, Building of Eumachia, House of the Vettil, House of the Faun, Arch of Caligula, the Amphitheater, & House of Silver Wedding.

Pompeii was buried under lava & ashes after the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 AD. Serious excavations began at the end of the 16th century.

The item that made the most impression on me was at the museum was of the form of the dog. The victims found in the renovation after discovering Pompeii in 1798, were preserved by running liquid plaster into the skeletons as they were discovered, which takes the imprint of the bodies left in the ashes; this when solidified, preserves the actual skeleton & shape of the body as it was in life.

We visited the Forum. Back in 1965, you can see the top row marble horizontal bars above the Colonnade. In current photos, they are gone.

You can see Mt. Vesuvius in the background.

We walked along on one of the streets where you can see the oval steps for pedestrians to step on as they cross the road.

In the House of Vettil, on the north wall, we took a picture of one of the many "Freso" paintings in Pompeii. This one depicts Daedalus & Pasiphae of Roman mythology. 

Dad takes a picture looking down into the Amphitheater. 

We return to Naples for dinner. We stay at the Grille Hotel near the city's railroad station.

Tuesday, 12 Oct 1965-

We walk around the city of Naples. We stop for lunch at an outdoor cafe. Gib & I enjoy feeding the pigeons. Gib misses the pigeons that he raised in Japan. Mary finds her doll from Italy.

Wednesday, 13 October 1965 - 

After checking out of our room, we walk to the train station to buy our ticket to Rome. It is a 90-minute ride.

Our Naples & Rome Train Tickets

Ruins of ancient Roman Viaduct

We departed Naples at 1100 & arrived in Rome at 1315. We visited Rome for 7 hours. We were able to see the Roman Forum, the Coliseum, the Catacombs & St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City. 

Roman Forum

Interior of the Roman Coliseum 

Interior of the Roman Coliseum

We take a tour bus out to the Catacombs of Domitilla, the largest in Rome, covering 11 miles of caves. We were led into the underground burial tunnels by a guide.

Our guide

The steps that lead us down to the tombs.

You can see the name engravings on the stones.  Artwork is added throughout the tunnels as seen here.

Tickets for St. Peter's Plaza in Vatican City, Rome.

Our tour bus takes us back to the central city & we move on to the Vatican. We purchased tickets to go inside. 

Martha remembers that Michelangelo’s Pieta in the Basilica was on a world tour. The time we were there, the Pieta was in the United States. We saw a reproduction of this beautiful statue.

In the evening, we board an overnight train to Zürich, Switzerland, which lasted 8.5 hours.