Italy!

First off, I have to give many thanks to the people who helped me plan my trip - my Uncle Tony came through with an incredible amount of awesome and useful advice at the very last minute, my friends Kfi and Toby also gave me extremely helpful recommendations about places to stay and things to do and things to avoid. I really appreciated all of it, and the time they took to give me that advice, and I think it made my trip a lot more enjoyable that it would have been otherwise. Grazie!

Diving right in and picking up where I left off last - in Venice, Italy. I spent my last day in Venice being touristy with a German girl I met in the hostel. We took the Vaporetto (bus-boat) to the cemetery island first and explored. The island is divided into multiple sections and we explored a few, the headstones had a disconcerting tendency to feature prominent pictures of the deceased. Even more disturbing, I think I found definitive proof that vampires exist

After the cemetery we continued on our way to Murano, the glass-blowing island. You get off the Vaporetto and are immediately directed to the glass factories to see an exhibition of the technique in a room that is, I'm sure by coincidence, located right next to the factory store where you can buy really exquisite pieces (if you can afford any)

The next few hours were spent visiting the glass shops on Murano, picking out presents for friends and admiring the unique works of art there

In the afternoon we took the vaporetto back to Venice, and rode another one up the Grand Canal to see all the facades facing the canal, and because I was too cheap to spent 30 euro on a gondola ride.

There was some pretty fancy-looking-but-also-crumbling painted marble buildings and the famous Rialto bridge which I somehow managed to never once cross while I was in Venice.

The afternoon ended with a wander through the one part of Venice I hadn't been through in my wanderings, the sestiere (kind of like "borough") of San Polo. It was a charming neighborhood which had a real sense of being lived in. I also briefly stopped by Scuola Grande di San Rocco to catch a glimpse of the exhibition of gigantic paintings by Tintoretto that line the walls - with this perverse feeling that since you couldn't take pictures of the art, it's kind of like I never saw them at all - before having to dash back to the hostel to grab my bag and catch the train to Florence.

I got to Florence pretty late at night and had to find my hostel. This is my least favorite part of entering any new city, because the directions are usually lacking a few key points and you are obviously unfamiliar with the city and it always always always puts me in a cranky mood when I don't know where I'm going and I'm lugging Bessy, my giant backpack, around looking for my bed. The hostel I stayed at in Florence wins the award for worst directions ever given to find a hostel by people who live there and should know better.

Here's a breakdown of why I was so very very cranky when I finally checked in

Directions say "From the central station of Santa Maria Novella, exit right"
- problem, there are three exits to the Station. You need to leave from the left exit if you hope to find the street. 

"and continue down Via Panzai (the Piazza dell'Unit d'Italia will be on your left). Continue along Via Panzani in the direction of the cathedral, il Duomo. Go right to Piazza della Repubblica"
- problem, they forgot to mention WHEN you go right to this Piazza della Repubblica. In fact, what happens is that you actually REACH the Duomo, panic because the road you were following ended, and ask the lady working in the money-changing booth where the Piazza is.

"after 1 block turn on the right in Via Porta Rossa"
- problem, it is two blocks

"and ask for Via Pillicceria"
- I don't even know what it means to say "ask" for the street, it is right there after you make the right (so long as you go two blocks not one before you turn)

".n.1 (please pay ATTENTION: in florence we have double numbers you just have to see the ones in black or blue color)"
- if this is a problem why not just say, it is on the right side of the street? Also, I only saw one, n.1., I don't even remember what color it was.

That evening I took the chance to get to know Florence, walking up along the Arno, past the Ponte Vecchio, where you could not pay me enough to take a chance on entering one of those shops on the offchance the not-so-terribly-strong-looking wooden beams decide to give up the ghost

I didn't really know where I was going so after I while I crossed the river on a whim and had to duck into a pizza store to avoid a sudden downpour. Once it ended I decided to climb up to the top of Piazza Michaelangelo for a panorama view of the city at night. The climbing up part involved a number of stairs/pathways through this park like area that covers the hill leading up to the piazza. It was a mistake to do this alone, at night, after reading the Shining for the last hour. I made it to the top alive, and was very thankful that there were a few other tourists up there. There was also a very very pretty Christmas tree that defied all attempts to take attractive pictures of it, a glorious view of the city, which did the same, and a bronze replica of David, which did not.

After admiring the view for what felt like an appropriate amount of time I walked back to my hostel, crossing the Ponte Vecchio along the way (safely in the center!) and climbed wearily and with significant discomfort, into my top bunk bed. Because there was no ladder. And I was still suffering from my twisted knee of two weeks before.

Tuesday was my first full day in Florence, I had no specific plans, and I hadn't been able to find advance tickets online for the Uffizi Gallery and I was terrified by all the stories of 3 hour long lines for the advance-ticketless so I started the day by checking it out to prepare myself for how early I would have to get there another day. The line was a total of zero people long. There was a longer line to get in if you had advance tickets. This was the first time I realized what an advantage it was to be traveling during the off season.

It took me many, many hours to make my way through the Uffizi, which is filled, gallery after gallery, with Renaissance art. It was pretty overwhelming. I don't love Renaissance art and now I've seen enough of it to feel like I can state that with authority. There are no pictures allowed so you'll just have to take my word for it that I've been there and seen it. My biggest complaint is that the subjects of the paintings varies almost not at all. I could not believe how many "Madonna and the child"s there were. Also, with rare exception the religious paintings all draw from the New Testament, so I don't know the stories they are referencing, and have no real context for them. My favorite in the entire museum was the room of Botticellis, particularly the Birth of Venus. I stumbled out of the gallery after noon having gone in around 9 am and decided to make a full day of it by going to the Duomo (Cathedral). The outside of the Duomo is beautifully patterned and in a way unlike any other I had seen or went on to see in Italy.

I had heard that the inside of the Duomo frequently disappoints compared to the exterior, but I found no faults with it.

After the Duomo, I spent some time researching a trip to the Cinque Terre I had planned for the next day. The Cinque Terre are five villages on the coast that you can reach by train from Florence and then spend a day hiking between them all. I stopped first at the tourist information office and used their WiFi to look into it and then across the street to the train station to ask about tickets and timing. I went to the information office and asked for train times. The man behind the desk asked if I wanted the information for that afternoon and I specifically said, no not the afternoon, the next morning, and the earliest train time. He printed out the time for the afternoon. I asked again and also asked for return information for the southernmost village. He printed out the morning times, but only for the northern village. When I asked for more information he LOST IT and started lecturing me in Italian until I gave up and left (to what I imagine was his satisfaction).
I meandered across the river Arno to visit the Pitti Palace

It was there that I discovered that I was out of memory on my camera's card and that the memory card I purchased in the airport in London was not compatible with my camera. So instead of going inside the palace, I sat outside and painstakingly erased pictures off my camera and then made sure it was working by taking pictures of myself

The sun was starting to go down as I crossed back across the river

to the piazza in front of San Croce where I found the city's Christmas market.

San Croce is filled with Renaissance masterpieces and also the tombs of some super famous Italians

 I also found out there are some Renaissance themes I like, mainly when they paint about Hell

I spent quite a while in San Croce and then took my leave and decided to visit the Synagogue. Unfortunately it was already closed.

While trekking back to the hostel I stopped and bought a working memory card for my camera and got caught up in a sudden riot/protest. While I was in the piazza in front of the Duomo there was a march of a number of African men walking/yelling/knocking over trashcans, and they were attended by a total of about seven riot police. It was not an encouraging sight. There were a lot of people standing by and watching in the square and they marched through and there was a distinct feeling of violence in the air. It was unsettling in the extreme, especially because I had no idea what was happening. Although this graffiti I witnessed being drawn suggested it had something to do with anti-fascism.

I found out later that a fascist had opened fire on unarmed Senegalese traders in a random attack in a market place in the north of Florence, killing two before I believe killing himself.

I  made it back to my hostel safe, and waited a few hours before venturing out for dinner and trying, but failing to find a bar recommended by my friend. In that time I discovered that three of the four Cinque Terre trails were closed and it was looking like rain all day, so I changed my plans and decided to spend the next day in Florence instead.

I slept early that night and woke the same so that I could go the Synagogue since it opens early and doesn't stay open for long. There is a ton of security, and part of that is that you can't take pictures inside. The inside is absolutely breathtaking, decorated in a geometric swirl pattern of red and blue that was really unique. Upstairs there was also a small museum to record the Jewish history in Florence. The exit lets out into the gift shop where I was conned into buying a couple of overpriced postcards because the "it's a mitzvah" which I mentioned was an unfair tactic to use. Effective though.

The forecast of rain was unfortunately accurate. I took refuge in the Palazzo Vecchio. According to Wikipedia the Palazzo "Old Palace" is the town hall of Florence and one of the most significant public places in Italy. And "although most of the Palazzo Vecchio is now a museum, it remains the symbol of local government: since 1872 it has housed the office of the mayor of Florence, and it is the seat of the City Council."

The tour starts in the Salone dei Cinquecento, lined with ginormous murals and the usual fabulous ceiling.

I discovered more art that I liked, in the accurately named "grotesques" that cover every inch of wall that isn't covered by a more cohesive painting.

 It was also home to probably one of the  most ornate and intimidating judgement chambers I had ever seen

The rain had more or less let up by the end of my tour of the Palazzo Vecchio and I walked over to check out the open air gallery of statues in the adjacent Loggia dei Lanzi, seen in this picture at night (I tried to take this picture two different nights, this car was there both times)

The weather remained on the nasty side, cold and occasionally rainy, so I found myself a a nice cafe, some hot chocolate and sat and read my book and used the free WiFi while deciding against visiting the Pitti Palace and instead finally took myself off to the train station to buy my tickets for Rome via Perugia for the next day. From the train station I walked to the San Lorenzo Market, but it was closed. I took the hint and went to my last stop of the day, the Galleria dell'accademia to see David. I saved a euro on the admission price by getting there late and once again there was no line and no wait to go inside.The gallery starts with something of an introduction to sculpture, and it certainly changed my mind regarding an art form I had previously spent little time thinking about. The amount of detail was crazy! Ringlets in the hair, shoes on feet, draping, all of it was so delicate. And then I got to the room with the David. It absolutely blew me away. I was compelled to take a sneaky picture of it (since none are allowed)

The statute is so overpowering, I literally didn't want to leave its presence. I finally tore myself away and walked past the Duomo in search of L'Art Bar

This time I found it, and Kfi was 100% right about how worth a visit was. They make out of this world cocktails and during happy hour for a reasonable price. I got a strawberry daquiri and a ginger mojito while relaxing with The Shining.

That night at the hostel I ran into someone who had been in my hostel in Nice, this was the first of many similar experiences, it seems that most people that travel in Italy follow a fairly similar path. After drinking in the hostel I went out night with a group that included the boy from Nice, three Canadian girls studying in Nantes and a couple of Danish boys. We ended up at a karaoke bar (my favorite!) singing Britney Spears and Adele. It was pretty much DJ's choice, there was no list and you just had to make suggestions and hope he had something to play for you that you knew.

I didn't sleep much that night, waking up super early to catch the train to Perugia. The sun came up as the train took me through central Italy, with lakes to my left with an honest-to-God castle on an island in the lake and gentle mountains rose to my right.

I arrived at the Perugia train station, after a brief moment of panic since there are multiple Perugia stops and I wasn't entirely sure if I knew which one I needed to disembark at. Just in case I packed up my things and rose to find the door through another car. Luckily, it both wasn't my stop AND the people sitting across from me came running after to inform me that I had left my camera and my phone in the car when I walked out. This was definitely one of the nicest things anyone has ever done for me when traveling. I couldn't find the bag deposit at the train station so with Bessie on my back I followed the signs to the mini-metro. Which is exactly what it sounds like. A tram that would not look out of place outside of a Disney park and rides kind of like a rollercoaster.

The mini-metro took me up to the top of the hill, where the old towny medieval part of the city is. I was in Perugia because my uncle Tony had recommended it as a great town for walking around. The first part of my visit there was spent sitting though, as it started to rain almost as soon as I got there. I found solace in a cafe recommended by my guidebook and waited out the worst of the storm. The first thing that I liked about Perugia was the presence of city maps on most of the corners. This allowed me to find the tourist office and the woman working behind the desk was kind enough to offer me a place to store Bessie until the bag deposit opened in a couple of hours. Relieved of my burden I set out to walk. This was my main goal for the day, walking around the town. I started at the main fountain, which apparently is one of the most important works of medieval sculpture (in the world?).

From there I walked up the main pedestrian drag to the edge at the top of the hill and looked out over the valley. I took an escalator from the building standing there that led down into an unexpected warren of rock corridors filled with a market. I was on the hunt for a specific basilica so I kept going, following further escalators most of the way down the mountain and getting myself really very lost in the process. I eventually found a tour office that was able to set me back on the right track and I found my way. This was the emptiest church I had been to on my travels, and I was finally able to take my time and admire it in peace. I was the only tourist there and one of only five or so people in the building.

By the time I was done it was time to retrieve my bag from the tourist office. I walked instead of taking the escalators. The path was steep and ended in a long sloping set of stairs up to the top of the hill.

I took the minimetro back to the train station and left my bag with a hostel outside the station for 5 euro and took the minimetro back to the top to continue my wandering. The rain had cleared and the views were priceless.

I walked all over the town, heading up as high as I could, up these little twisting stone pathway and streets and stairs, finding myself face to face with incredible views and stunning landscapes

I discovered that Perugia has self-guided walking tours, with plaques that have explanations and directions on them.

I followed one to this gate and then continued down the hill getting myself happily lost. When I finally found my way back I stopped for a coffee and to read while watching the sun set over the valley. With only a few hours left in Perugia I entered the Duomo where there was no pictures allowed, and one of the coolest nativity scenes I've ever seen set up inside. It was in miniature, had multiple levels, and running water in use to imitate streams, waterfalls and working fountains. I took the time to get lost once more in the back alleys, watch the sun set completely and then caught the minimetro back to the train station.

I took the train to Rome and arrived fairly late, but my hostel was only a few short blocks from the station and the directions were easy to follow. My room had been "upgraded" free of charge to a six bed ensuite dorm. It was actually quite nice although the bed springs were so loud I swear you could hear every time I inhaled. This was also the second instance of "it's a small world" as I was sharing the room with the two Danish boys from the hostel in Florence. I was exhausted so I slept early and woke up refreshed and ready for more sightseeing.

I started by walking the mile or two down to the Colosseum and signed up for a guided tour. I was really excited for the Colosseum. I had never really had any interest in going to Rome or any thought that I would actually be there, but I still felt a shiver when I saw its iconic shape for the first time.

I signed up for a guided tour at the Colosseum and this was the third "it's a small world" the Canadian girls I had met in Florence were on the same tour. I learned a lot, and was suitably impressed by actually being inside the Colosseum.

I felt a little uncomfortable about smiling when taking pictures there, since it's kind of awkward to smile on top of a graveyard. It did solidify how much I dislike being told I can't go places, as much of the place is fenced off. This was an unfortunate constant in much of Rome. From the Colosseum I walked past Constantine's Arch and into the Roman Forum/Palantine.

The Palantine and the Forum were time consuming and not particularly interesting. The ruins are for the most part, just foundations. It takes a lot of imagination to piece together much of the area and it's very monotonous if you don't.

I might have liked it more if I had paid extra for a tour guide, but overall, not the best way to spend time in Rome in my opinion. From the Forum I walked across town to the Trevi Fountain. I followed signs ("Trevi Fountain this way") only to find that the signs will start you in the right direction but fail to mention when you need to turn. So I found myself at the top of a very steep hill at the Quirinale, what I did not know at the time was that it is "the current official residence of the President of the Italian Republic. It is located on the Quirinal Hill, the tallest of the seven hills of Rome. It housed thirty popes, four kings and eleven presidents of the Italian Republic."(Wikipedia) although I can definitely vouch for the "tallest of the seven hills" part. I trudged back down the hill and eventually found myself at the Trevi Fountain. It was the most crowded place I had been yet on my travels. It was also eerily familiar looking, almost as though I had seen it before. Given the crowds it was a fantastic place for people watching. I settled in for a bit (next to my brother's doppleganger) and watched while listening to the sound of the fountain.

From the fountain I followed the everyone-does-all-these-things itinerary and walked to the Spanish steps. I still don't get it. I don't get why these are important. I don't get why everyone feels the need to come here and take pictures. And this is after I've looked it up multiple times in my guidebook to see what I am missing. Not to mention that if the steps are what you care about, they are so covered in people you can barely see them.

Just for kicks I walked up to the top, dodged the depressingly common very old beggars, and then took in the view and came back down with a plan. I was going to go find the Mausoleum of Augustus by the river. It was closed. Probably another victim of the off-season restoration. Without another plan I just walked towards the nearest metro station on my map. On the way I passed  through the Piazza del Popolo, home to one of the city's many Egyptian obelisks

My luck was not holding, I reached the metro station and found it closed, possibly due to the regularly scheduled transportation strikes I had been warned about. I walked back through the piazza, at which point a flower vendor decided a good selling tactic would be to sneak up behind me, and touch with lightly with a rose before offering to sell it to me. He failed. I walked fairly quickly back to the Spanish steps, trying to keep warm as the sun set and took the metro from there to my hostel. It was so crowded that I'm almost positive my feet didn't touch the ground while I was on the train. I was concerned about pickpockets in such a crush before I realized that no one could possibly move at all, and so there was no need to worry.

Back at the hostel I had my laundry done by a service and then spent a few hours drinking with the people in my room and the room next to ours. A few of us decided to go out as a group, which is always a mess. We walked to the train station, over paid a ridiculous amount for taxis to take us approximately a five block walk away and then stopped for drinks at (If I remember correctly, a Mexican cantina?). From there we took yet another taxi to a really fun outdoors but covered dance club where we stayed and danced until the lights came up and we took our third and cheapest (because I finally remembered that you should ALWAYS demand a meter) taxi of the night.

Obviously the next morning I did not exactly wake up at the early hour I had planned on. Instead and I lazed in bed and then spent the next hour with a girl from my room as she switched to a nearby hostel and we made our way very, very, slowly to the Vatican. Here we parted ways as I decided to invest in a tour. I figured that the museum was going to be so overwhelming I would rather someone just point out the interesting stuff to me. I think overall it was worth it. It is definitely not the guide's fault that I was severely under-dressed and freezing to death while she talked to us in the courtyard for 20 minutes. We started in the museum and saw lots of sculpture. Apparently all of it is "copies" of old Greek sculpture. But since they are Roman copies of the Greek sculpture I find them old enough to be respectable in their own right, just for surviving. We did see one old Greek sculpture of a torso that is apparently quite famous and possibly a model for further works.

I also learned the story behind the ubiquitous fig leaf of modesty in much Vatican artwork. Apparently when Michaelangelo was painting the Sistine Chapel the Pope's Master of Ceremonies declared that depictions of genitals were inappropriate and had to be covered. So Adam was covered (and later during recent restorations uncovered) and so were many many many statues.

My favorite part of the story is that when he was later commissioned to paint the Last Judgement Michaelangelo took the time to immortalize his feelings for the Master of Ceremonies. In the bottom right corner he painted the man in hell, as a devil, with a serpent coiled around him, and wearing the ears of an ass. Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant.

From the hall of statues and carving we passed next through a hall of tapestries, and then the hall of maps, which has an ceiling that outshines anything actually on display in the room

We saved the Sistine Chapel for last in the museum. I was really excited to see it in real life. Like the Colosseum I had never imagined actually finding myself in a position where that would happen, but to find myself there was definitely thrilling. You aren't allowed to take pictures and I didn't feel like getting yelled at so I just spent my time there soaking in the art. I really liked it because half the murals are Old Testament stories so I finally had some idea what was going on. While we were there the guide explaining that one of the scenes on the ceiling is Jonah and a fish and that they weren't sure why it was a "fish" but maybe because a whale didn't fit. And to myself I thought that actually maybe it is because Michaelangelo knew that the story was about a Big Fish not about a whale? If so, my respect for him grew even more. The famous scene of God and Adam I have to say didn't really do it for me, possibly because it is SO well known it is hard to reconcile expectations with a fairly plain painting. I think that a lot of its power may have come from when people hadn't spent their whole lives knowing what it looked like saw it for the first time in person.

From the Sistine Chapel we passed directly to St. Peter's Basilica. I didn't spend much time here, just checked out Michaelangelo's Pieta sculpture and did a quick lap before heading out.

I stopped on the way out to take some pictures as well.

I was planning to meet the girl from the hostel after the tour but she ran late and I was freezing cold so I left after waiting for what I felt was long enough to be polite. I walked from Vatican City through a residential neighborhood to Castel Sant'Angelo.

"It was initially commissioned by the Roman Emperor Hadrian as a mausoleum for himself and his family. The building was later used by the popes as a fortress and castle, and is now a museum." (Wikipedia) The interior is a helical ramp that you use to walk up through the middle of the oldest part of the fortress. From the top there are great views of the city and it was from there that I watched the sun set.

My favorite part of the museum was probably the papal apartments they had set up inside. Imagine seeing what the Pope's bedroom looks like! I thought it was really neat. When I left the Castel it looked like this

I continued on my "checking places off my list" tour by walking through the Piazza Nuvona's market place (the man in the background was on stilts)

I kept going without stopping, aiming to see the Pantheon. I got minorly lost and by the time I got there it had just closed for Mass. Like just about every surviving ruin in Rome, the Pantheon, formerly a temple to all the gods of Rome, was converted to a church. Since I am interested in ancient Roman history, but not really that interested in ancient Christian history, I found Rome to be a bit of a disappointment in this regard. Every ancient building that survived only did so because it was converted into a church. So you go to visit the temple of Romulus and it is a church. It's pretty frustrating.

I left the Pantheon and got thoroughly, accidentally lost. The Pantheon on my map is shown facing backwards which led to my confusion. I walked across the river and through the Travestere neighborhood before finding my way back for a pint a pub where I did some research using their WiFi and decided that I was not going to be able to fit in the Park of Monsters outside of Rome the next day (it would have meant spending 9 hours on a train in one day, which seemed like too much). Instead I went back to the hostel, visited for a while with the girl who had switched hostels and then slept early.

My final day in Rome I woke up, packed and planned out my post-Rome schedule and booked hostels for the rest of my stay in Italy. With that out of the way I left Bessie the backpack in the care of the hostel and started my last bit of tourism at the Roman Synagogue. On the way I passed an excavation of a site of four temples. Which is also some sort of cat refuge. There were signs up that explained the cats are fed and vaccinated and cared for and not to feed them. But no explanation as to why, exactly, they inhabit that archeological site.

I took the tour of the Synagogue and once again there were no pictures allowed for safety reasons. It was a truly awe inspiring synagogue. It was protected from WWII because it is a national heritage site (or the equivalent). It has been visited by Pope John Paul II. The wall paper is dark blue covered in stars to reflect the Torah passage that we shall be as numerous as the stars. It was a really interesting tour also because it covered the Jewish history of Rome, which was predictably depressing. But I loved hearing how now they have one Jewish community in Rome, you join the Community, pay dues to the Community and then you can go to any of the 14 or so synagogues whenever you choose and can take advantage of all of the services provided by the Community.

It was raining and gross but I was determined to press on. I walked from the synagogue to Bocca Della Verite "the Mouth of Truth" "an image, carved from Pavonazzetto marble, of a man-like face, located in the portico of the church of Santa Maria in Cosmedin. The sculpture is thought to be part of a 1st century ancient Roman fountain, or perhaps a manhole cover, portraying one of several possible pagan gods,probably Oceanus. Most Romans believe that the 'Bocca' represents the ancient god of the river Tiber.
The most famous characteristic of the Mouth, however, is its role as a lie detector. Starting from the Middle Ages, it was believed that if one told a lie with one's hand in the mouth of the sculpture, it would be bitten off."

When I got there the rain was coming down in earnest and there was a line of people waiting to take a picture with their hands in the mouth of the sculpture. I was not so desperate so I took my picture from outside and left.

I decided I would like to be inside for a bit so I walked back to the Pantheon for attempt #2. On the way I passed the Victor Emmanuel II monument which is the largest block of marble I think I have ever seen.

My second attempt at visiting the Pantheon was a rousing success. My pictures of it weren't because it is so big and circular there is just no way that you could possibly capture it all. Rather randomly the church is also home to the grave of the (Ninja Turtle) Raphael.

I had kind of run out of things to do and still had a couple of hours to kill so I settled on a visit to the
 Ara Pacis Augustae "an altar to Peace, envisioned as a Roman goddess. It was commissioned by the Roman Senate on 4 July 13 BC to honor the triumphal return from Hispania and Gaul of the Roman emperor Augustus." (Wikipedia again!)

The ticket to the Ara Pacis also included entrance to an exhibition of war photography. It was graphic, bloody, moving and informative. I wish I could have spent more time there, but I was running late as usual for my train. I ran back to the hostel (literally) and grabbed my bag to catch my train south to Naples.

I had no reason to go to Naples other than as a stopping point on the way further south. The only thing I knew about Naples before getting there was that they have a trash problem, like trash everywhere and no one will collect it. My first impression confirmed this is true. I was staying at a hostel two blocks from the train station and it was raining enthusiastically when I got into town. The streets were literally covered in litter. It was disgusting. I checked into my hostel and the man running the place was gruff, had very little English, and a heart of gold. He called a restaurant for me to make sure it was open, gave me free use of the internet, shared a bottle of wine with me and was careful to make sure I had places to stay in Sorrento as I continued my journey the next day. Oddly enough, while I was using the Internet, I discovered that I had a cold. Not, I was getting sick. Just one minute I was fine, and the next minute I had a cold. This was inconvenient but as my trip was coming near it's end it could have been worse. To stave it off best as I could, and because it was still raining and trashy outside I stayed in and went to sleep.

There you have it, a full week of traveling. I'm far behind, but catching up. Obviously my New Year's resolution doesn't involve blogging on time. Hope you are all well.

Love,