Naples

Tuesday morning my sister Susan and I took the Circumvesuviana train (which winds around Mount Vesuvius) to Naples, checked our bags, and headed to the Naples National Archaeological Museum, which when we got there found was closed on Tuesdays. Instead, we took the first half of a Rick Steves walking tour of Naples, which I myself found pretty fascinating. Naples is the densest city in Europe, and even more frenetic than Rome. The sun was out, thank God, and Susan found a hole in the wall pizza restaurant with outdoor seating in front of an art school and museum. Susan had a glass of wine, I had a glass of beer, and the waitress brought us a large tray of snacks, bless her heart.  The place was filled with students taking a break on a sunny afternoon, and was a very pleasant respite from our walk. Afterwards we continued on past Piazza Bellini, the place where Bellini got his start, walked through an area made up of bookstores and bookstalls, and wound up at Piazza Dante, where the Metro stop was located and where I took the photograph on the left.

We took a rest in the piazza before heading back to Naples and then on to our hotel near the Rome airport. During this time I was very fortunate to be able to take a photograph of the Crazy Pigeon Lady of Napoli (who turned out to be my own sister Susan), as seen in the photograph on the right. After resting, we returned to the train station and bought tickets back to Rome.  I don't think the clerk spoke much English, or else he was just plain mean. He told me there was a train that left for Rome at 3:05, but since it was already 3:00 I told him I didn't think we could make that one.  He wound up selling us tickets to that train anyway. Why? Why why why?

I had to immediately collect my sister and rush her to the soon to be departing train.  Not only was it leaving immediately, it was also a high speed train that cost 36 Euros per ticket more than the regular one.  Plus, our tickets were for the very last car on the train (car eleven).  Once we got even with the first car, the whistle blew, signaling imminent departure, and so we had to climb aboard and make our way through narrow aisles, carrying 4 bags, through eleven cars.  I wound up falling once, and was helped up by fellow passengers.  As we headed for the next car, a woman ran up to me with our tickets, God bless her, which had fallen out of my shirt pocket when I fell. We finally got to our seats, where I sat panting for  45 minutes or so of the one hour trip, but was still able to summon up enough strength to take the photograph on the left of Susan (aka The Pigeon Lady). Once in Rome, we headed to the airport, where we caught the shuttle to the Best Western Rome Airport, and our flight back to Denver the next morning.  It was definitely time to head home.