The European Extravaganza!

Naples is the new Miami

First off, we have heard about all the 'craziness' in London. Nothing has happened here in Italy (thank goodness), so we are both ok. We still plan to make it to London for the release of Harry Potter... it will take more than bombs to scare us off. Of course, we may steer clear of the Underground until August when we return to London at the end of our trek around the UK.

OK, so, our train to Naples was a true example of the Italian rail system. No more German efficiency here, it was delayed by about 40 minutes. We don't know how the trains get so delayed, since it certainly cannot be the weather. I guess the trains get hot too and need siestas.

Anyway, we once again had a compartment to ourselves... that is until an older Italian man, stumbled by and red-faced asked if he could sit down. We still have not gotten the knack for lying to people about whether empty seats are taken (we are going to start saying they are for our burly man servants), we told him it was free. He then kept talking about how the sun tired him out, and how it made his eyes sick (at least this is what we deduced from his broken Italian... that is right, his Italian was broken... we don't think he knew English). We closed the blinds into the compartment, and he promptly fell asleep. Laura thinks he was drunk, but I don't know. Maybe he was drunk on the sun! It can get to the best of us... and judging from the teeth rotting out of his head, he wasn't in that category.

The rest of the trip was pretty uneventful, although despite the train's claims of having air conditioning, it got pretty stifling in our compartment. At one point, our sun-drunk companion woke up and began offering us cigarettes, but Laura told him neither of us smoked and that he could not either. She then tried to get some sleep because the stuffy, opressive heat was making her claustrophobic.

When we got to Naples, we thought things were going pretty well because the directions to the hostel seemed clear enough. Of course, we soon realized that we could not find any of the streets they had listed on the directions. We began wandering down one street that was entirely taken over by vendors with tents, flogging everything from shoes for €2, to juice and plastic belts. It became fairly obvious that we were going to need some assistance, so we began asking people where the street listed in the directions was. Even though the people lived here, they had no idea. Also, maybe people don't really speak English, or maybe they thought that since we asked for the directions in Italian that they should respond in kind, but although I know the words for left and right in Italian, they were never used. One man grabbed Laura by the arm and began yelling 'acqua' at her; flashbacks of her mom! We did not know where the water was, or why he kept telling us about it. After wandering for about 20 minutes, I looked up and found that we were standing on the street that they had told us to walk to the end of. It turns out that the streets here have 2 names (as does everything in Naples), and the hostel had only given us the last part of it (so, if the street was 'Harry Potter', they told us to go to via Potter.... it changes the way you look for streets!). Eventually a street vendor, tired of us looking lost, got up and showed us where the hostel was. It turns out it was on that first packed street bazar street we had walked down the first time. AAAAHHHH! Oh, two other things: People go shopping on their mopeds here, AND a woman we asked for directions from initially thought we were beggars. Naples is fun.

The hostel here was significantly less impressive than the one in Rome (maybe it's because of the humidity, but regardless, the showers are filled with mould and mildewwwww....). We took a bit of time to decompress and cool down, and then headed off to the Circumvesuviana railway to catch the train to Ercolano so that we could climb Vesuvius. We had no problems making our way there, but when we got out of the station, we had to decide between a cheaper bus that took a longer time to reach the volcanoe, or slightly more expensive option that got there in about 20 minutes. We decided to go with the more costly minibus, and boarded it along with 8 other passengers. Oh man... the ride up was like an amusement ride on crack! We had no seat belts, and our driver just cruised up the mountain's winding roads at about 20 km above the speed limit. As our lives flashed before our eyes, the car stalled. It sputtered to life once more, but soon died again. The guy radioed for backup, and we ended up catching a ride up to the top with another taxi that was on its way back down. In order for us to get in it, however, we had to get back down to the 'turn-around' point... which meant coasting down the hill backwards for about 2 minutes. So terrifying. I guess Laura's mom's claim that if something looks too good to be true, it is!

Nevertheless, we made it to the parking lot, and then began our tiring climb up to Vesuvius's mouth. The road was very steep, and it was covered in sand, so you spent a lot of time sliding. We have no idea how the people in flip flops and platform shoes were making it up. We bypassed the cheesy tourist stands with figurines made out of lava rock (we just pocketed our own samples in their natural form), and made it to the top. At first it all looked rather peaceful and benign, but as we continued to walk, we saw smoke gently curling upward, a sinister reminder that Vesuvius was just sleeping. It was so smokey at the top that you could hardly see the world below you at certain points. It was certainly a tiring endeavour, but well worth the hike. It seems like we just aren't satisfied unless we are climbing up things!

The walk back down was punctuated by my falling into an undignified heap on the road, which caused Laura to (rightfully) crack up and take a photo of me sprawled in the dust. Remarkably, I was unscathed. I guess all that time practicing at university paid off (right, Taryn?).

When we got back to Naples, both of us were so terrified by the noisy streets that we darted into the supermarket to pick up some sandwich fixings for dinner and the next day's lunch, and then spent the evening rotting our brains reading Cosmo and Us Weekly. There were only 2 English magazines at the hostel, but we read them thoroughly. If you want to know the surefire ways to ruin a wedding or tell if a star is pregnant, we can tell you.

The next day, we had resolved to sleep in since we were just spending the day at Pompeii. However, the street market was back in full force, and we soon woke up to their insistent cries. After a meager breakfast (our first in quite a while!), we kitted up and head off to Pompeii. We were beseiged by buskers on the train; one man with a saxophone was particularly insistent and spent a good 30 seconds serenading me. Awkward!

When we arrived at Pompeii, we had intended to get a real-life guide, but thought the prices a bit too steep. We decided to go for the audio guide instead so that we could tour the city at our own pace. Then we opened up the map to the 6-hour projected itinerary, and set off into the ruins.

It was the most amazing thing, being there. It was a very advanced city, considering Vesuvius wiped it out before 100 AD. Ironically, the ash that destroyed the city and killed its citizens is also what managed to preserve the buildings so well. We had a great time looking at the casts of petrified bodies, and not such a good time looking at all the gentle abandoned puppies within the city walls. We don't know where all those dogs came from, but it was so hot out, that we couldn't help but feel so sorry for them. And yes, lizards did abound for Laura, too. It was fascinating walking through the old homes, and seeing the preserved paintings. We even got to see the place with the infamous 'Cave Canem' sign in the entrance (Beware of Dog).

We ended up unwittingly taking our lunch break on a grave site, and made our way to the far end of the city to see the amphitheatre. After about 7 hours wandering about the ancient city, we finally made our way back to the train station to head home. It was blazing outside, so we are incredibly luck to have not turned into lobsters as so many others did.

Naples is a far more derelict city than either Florence or Rome. At many points, we have remarked that it doesn't even feel like Italy. With the palm trees and excessive wearing of neon colours, we feel that you just have to change the language and you've pretty much got the seedy atmosphere of Miami (though neither of us have been there... or care to go). It truly is the city that you visit simply to go elsewhere. In retrospect, we probably should have gone to Sorrento instead (also in close proximity to Pompeii and Vesuvius), but then again, we can fly out of here (and are, in a few hours!) for Paris.

On our way back from the train station, a frightening guy approached Laura and insisted that she give him the time. When she told him that she did not have a watch on, he did this weird hand gesture suggesting that he wanted her to look him in the eyes. It was all terrifying, and we scurried off for the safety of our hostel. But not before stopping at the supermarket and buying a gelato-cake. It was so hot, we could not bear to eat anything that involved actually chewing. We had fully intended to go for pizza while here, but the boisterous streets and sweltering temperatures more than killed our appetite. Our sense of adventure is not greater than our sense of survival!

It would have been nice to have seen the Archeological museum here, but there simply wasn't time because it closes at 7 pm and we often did not get in from our day trips until just before then. So, we have been doing what Fil would approve of, and have just stayed in and socialized with other travelers and caught up on our sleep. Last night we talked to this guy named James who was from Detroit and was in Italy doing some kind of art program. He was a weird punk-rock guy, dressing like an extra from Grease (with rolled up jeans, high top sneakers, and Danny Zucco hair). He also spoke in a very flighty vague manner about art that had Laura and I nodding our heads (despite having no clue about what he was talking... something about the Renaissance) and trying not to laugh. Ah, you've gotta love the pretentious art types.

Anyway, it is off to Paris in a couple of hours. This means braving the public transport system here in Naples, which is pretty much guaranteed to be a horror story. We are hoping that the airport has some shops for us to browse through while we wait to check in. We can't wait to get to the City of Lights, drink some wine, and do some real laundry! Ciao, Italy - it was mostly great. Glad we threw those coins into the fountain in Rome (and fished them out here in Naples... ok, not really!). Next stop, Paris.

posted by Laura @ 8:03 am