Ho!

The train to Nice Ville and then to Genova progressed without incident except for an annoying young Hungarian who kept trying to talk to me even after I gave him a cigarette and a cookie. I was able to pick up my ticket to Napoli and board the train, where I promptly fell asleep only to be awoken by a nasty, SS-like conductor who threatened to turn me in for not having my ticket properly updated by none other than myself. I was so startled at being asleep, to begin with, that I was extremely perplexed and momentarily couldn't remember who or where I was!! The incident caused me to remain awake until getting off the train seven or eight hours later!

Sometime after 20:00, two guys got on and it wasn't until our car emptied out and we discovered that we all spoke English and they told me to tag along with them when we got out at Statione Centrale. They were going to a B&B but it was late and they weren't sure what the situation would be like. After we disembarked from the train and got lost and spent a half-hour trying to locate our whereabouts, we took a taxi and finally got an expensive room in a Best Western Hotel immediately across the street from the B&B where they had their reservation. The next morning, we got rooms and I spent the next six nights there.

Napoli turns out to be wonderful, noisy, traffic-congested and scooter-ridden. George dragged Dave and I everywhere. Tuesday was pouring rain in the morning yet we left for Pompeii and got pretty wet and soggy, we returned to the hotel and changed for dinner. We went to "Bambi," a restaurant that the receptionist told us to try. "You know, pizza was 'burn' here!" Coming home, however, we got lost and had to walk back all the way until we finally made it and crashed into our beds. The next morning, we went to the Museo di Archaeologica, where after an unusual amber exhibit, we viewed the ancient erotic collection (sex as a talisman), glass paste beads, a mosaic collection and then it was off to view Erculeo!! We actually somehow got a guide for this museo and I shot a lot of photos. Speaking of photos, I wish I had time to download but it's impossible now to do it.

The next morning the guys left and I spent the entire day walking around Napoli photgraphing and viewing the markets, the amount of dogs sleeping, the amount of men sleeping, the architecture which is gloriously arranged and went to the hotel with a bottle of wine to sleep...