Naples

There should have been a sign welcoming us at the train station that said, Welcome to Naples, We're having a garbage strike! We arrived on Sunday evening where everything was pretty much closed, and garbage was everywhere. Thankfully the hot, humid weather isn't for another few months, so it wasn't stinky. Naples is crazy.....it's completely chaotic and a bit unnerving. We finally figured out how to get into our hotel, after about 10 minutes of minor freaking out that once we got into the compound, there were no signs to direct us to the floor with the "reception" area. All was well, thank goodness we had a phone. We wandered around the Spaccanapoli and finally had dinner at an interesting restaurant....the woman got mad at us for something and she wouldn't give us our bill....quite interesting and a far better story told in person.

The next day we took a hydrofoil to Capri - breathtaking views and a great cool breeze....we walked the tiny alleyways and then headed back to Naples.

On our last full day we decided to scrap going to Pompeii and instead we climbed up to the top of Mt. Vesuvius......it was worth it. The small van took us up to the "entrance" and then it was another 850 feet to the top. The views from the top were amazing, hopefully our pictures turn out. Salvatore was an excellent driver - apparently the driving style is one hand on the wheel, other hand on the horn....honking every 5 seconds to alert anyone coming the oppposite direction to stop.

From there we took a brief trip to Sorrento, with it's quiet streets. We walked around for a couple of hours and then headed back to Naples.

All in all, Naples is interesting - extremely chaotic, but worth a visit.

We are having a great time, although I for one am kind of tired of pasta and pizza.....can I get some sushi in Rome? hee hee.

Ciao!!!