Naples, Italy; Parli piano, per favore.

Day 1: We got in after an awful flight via Vueling air (it was our first time flying with them). There were a ton of idiotic Spanish kids probably on a field trip
occupying the entire tail section of the plane (otherwise referred to as our section). Since the flight wasn’t full, I ended up switching seats to sit by an Italian that spoke little English and was super nice. He even offered me chocolate, but Lee Anne (mother) always told me as a child to not take candy from strangers (I regretted the decision shortly after he consumed it). Anyway, after being woken up by the Spanish jumping bean in front of me multiple times, we hit crazy bad turbulence. All I could think about was slowly hunting down and hurting each obnoxious kid if we crashed on an island (LOST, for the win). Landing was rough but once we stepped inside the airport everything was awesome. Amazing food at every corner and very, very attractive men. Such a nice change from those in Spain. Clearly we pulled money out of a machine that only supplied us with 50s and we caught our first Italian cab. I thought I was going to die. Italians don’t have working traffic lights, lanes, cars without dents, or use blinkers. Our driver didn’t even turn on the meter as we left the airport. As we pulled into a sketchy alleyway full of trash and cars parked in every direction, the driver said it was 10€ per person and proceeded to hit a side view mirror without remorse. What?! We walked into hotel tiempo and were pleasantly surprised at how welcoming the people were- despite their lack of English skills (again another nice change). The room was nice and had four single beds. After dropping our things off, we began our venture into the city! We were very nervous walking through the nearby streets; Hookers, trash, homeless people & rundown buildings. It seems like apartments and hotels located in the ghetto is a reoccurring pattern when I travel. But I suppose you get what you pay for (and anything is better than a hostel). Anyway, after a good 30 minutes of walking, we finally came across a nicer area and made our way to the water and two castles; Nuevo & Dell ovo and St. Elmo Fort and also the Royal Palace. It was gorgeous to walk down the vias (streets) with Vesuvius and islands in the background. We did our best to find an authentic pizzeria and came across a cut cafe with food for 1€. First Italian snack was a success! Then we went to the downtown area to scope out the atmosphere (and I finally purchased some tacky white fake converse for 10€). Let me tell you, only bringing one pair of flats and a pair of flip flops isn’t suitable for traveling (no worries, I still haven’t given into the jeans with tennis shoes look). Brandi’s was the cute pizzeria we went to for dinner. We each got our own pizza and enjoyed being serenaded and people watching. However, when a person or group serenades you, they expect a tip. After dinner, we dodged the crazy drivers and mopeds to walk back through the shadiest area I’ve ever seen. This place was worse than any back home in Nashville or Memphis. We all passed out immediately when we got back safely.

Day 2:
Woke up and got free breakfast! Not impressive, but we took some for snack food later in the day. We found the terribly useless metro that is harder to navigate than a corn maze while blind. With the ticket office ripping us off with prices, we bought our tickets to see Vesuvius. We got there after about 40 minutes and took a bus up part of the volcano that’s closed off. We almost hit three huge tour buses and the warning to other vehicles that we were coming around a sharp turn was a single honk. The nerve racking drive up was well worth it and upon arrival, we paid 10€ to climb to the top. The steep climb was very slick with the ash and lack of traction on my shoes. At about 3,000ft we were able to see all of Naples and surrounding islands (Is it sad I could tell how high we were by comparing the view to the view I get of Skydive Alabama right before I deploy my parachute at 2500ft?!). Eric and Elliot hiked a bit ahead of us to avoid the many field trips. Paul & I did some off roading and slipped our way to the tip of a rock that overlooked th crater of the still active volcano (the last eruption was in 1944). Once we were at the very top overlooking the city we were exhausted but felt so accomplished. We probably looked a lot like this: http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=B0balFv3o4E
On our way down I got a nice battle scar from falling down avalanche style as a tour guide blew her whistle at us (I left apart of myself on Vesuvius. Pretty sick, right?!). But hey, I stole rocks and got higher than most people. We spent about three hours there and on our way down we made our way to Herculaneum- ruins (yea, there were more than just Pompeii) from the eruption. It was pretty cool and we took a walk through the park and took a nice nap in the sun. We left shortly after to get back for Eric’s Skype interview. We were surprised to find that the train on the way back was direct- thank goodness (the first train stopped at about nine different places). Eric’s interview was a bust due to the awfully spotty wifi so after an hour of failed attempts, we made dinner plans. The concierge didn’t understand when we asked about spaghetti joints because of our pronunciation and didn’t know anything about meatballs (that are only served on Sunday, apparently). My one Italian class didn’t do much for me with accents and vocabulary. The correct pronunciation is: spa-GEH!-ti. We ended up going to one of the most recommended pizzarrias in Naples: el presidente. We walked around for a long time on the bumping back
streets that was apparently the cool place to hangout- People were everywhere!… And by people I mean mopeds driving on sidewalks/streets/alleyways at fast speeds. We had to jump out of the way multiple times. I’m convinced my death will be by moped before I leave this country. The drivers in Green Hills, Nashville and LA have NOTHING on Italians. After walking past churches and numerous pizza joints we asked for directions with some impressive charade-esq movements. Finally made it to the restaurant and were greeted by friendly men and promptly seated. Again, we each got pizzas and I must say, it’s the best I’ve ever had. My only complaints are: You get charged an ‘eat-in’ fee per person as well as for water. Post-dinner one of the cooks pointed us in the direction of his favorite gelato place- and we weren’t disappointed. Caffe gelato is fantastic. The night ended with an email from a company I’d like to intern with and creating itineraries for Rome on Saturday.

Out last full day in Naples was a bit of a mess. We had planned on going to the island of Capri (we wanted that Capri sun.. Get it?) and enjoying a beach day. However we were informed that public transportation workers were on strike from 9-5. We ended up walking the hour to the ferry port only to find out that the round trip ticket was not the 13€ we had anticipated, but instead, 30€- money that we don’t have to spend. Might I add that every single time the guys want to find something for cheap or want a deal on something, they send me to go ‘flirt’ with the Italians. Sometimes it’s weird traveling without the other girls! (I’ve also never heard so much about using the restroom/ women / food. Boys can be pigs- but I only say that out of love, boys. The boys are actually called the ‘three blind mice’ now. Too many funny drunken nights- don’t ask). The next option was Pompeii, but the metro was the only way to get there and wasn’t possible to reach. To make the best of the weather, we came back to the hotel and tanned (more accurately, we turned into tomatoes) on the roof like some true American rednecks (the boys are quite burnt an do have red necks so this is accurate). Looking for dinner places was a struggle as well since the boys wanted pasta. I’ve come to find out that pasta isn’t a hot commodity in southern Italy like pizza is. It looks like we’ll have to search for some authentic pasta when we head to Rome via train tomorrow morning!

Ciao!