And Then Some...

My trip to Italy provided a comparison and contrast between central and southern Italy. Of course 4 days is never enough to absorb the culture and history, it gives you a small taste, urning for the the next trip back. We docked in Naples and similar to Bergen, the city is built on hills, you see layers of homes stacked on top of each other. In Naples you find many things, in this case the most evident is a city trying to put itself back together. A trash strike left the city with trash piled up on streets for over a year. While we were lucky to not have to deal with that. All it took was a street similar to Manhattan to change the feel of the place. You find that people hang their clothes on their balconies. You see the luxurious hotels, apartments, and homes by the water and up on the hills, while the city areas have apartments that in my lens would be unbearable to live in. Again that's where I see my privilege. I led a city orientation where the guide gave us some history behind Naples, once being the capital when Italy was two kingdoms. She left us in the Palace Square to situate ourselves in hopes that we would come back to the palace, basilica, opera house, etc...I went to the place that everyone congrugated: Gambrinus. I enjoyed a cup of Caffe Fresso Con Panna (Iced Coffee with Cream). I entered a happy zone, it was no more than about 4 oz and dark, but somehow I found myself getting 3 cups of it daily for those 4 days. None compared to Gambrinus but they were all good in their own way. We would stand by the counter, have my drink, and be off. This is what people did and I got to do what people who do it on a regular basis do it. After the city orientation, my attempt to visit Capri for the rest of the afternoon failed so I walked around and got lunch at a pizzeria, not knowing that you get a cover charge of 1.50 euros to sit down, I ate the pizza only to pay a bill that I wish I didn't have to pay, but it was pizza and I was in Naples.

John and I headed to Rome the next day, the train ride was 38 Euro's each way so I had to make the most of the $100.00 USD ticket. We walked and walked and saw all the things people tell you to see. We sat at Cafe's, had Gelato, and relived history. Being in the present and now helps you feel so more complete. No longer was I reading books and taught this material, I was seeing it first hand. While traveling in Rome in the summer isn't the most pleasant thing to do, I was able to get us at a nice hotel that allowed for some R&R after a long afternoon. Zuri finally made it to the hotel after not being able to communicate with me (I had no more minutes, he lost his phone). It took us a while to pick a place for dinner but we did, it wasn't amazing but I have never been the biggest fan of Italian food. After dinner, I joined Zuri on a night walking tour of the city, seeing everything I saw in the morning and afternoon all over again. It was a beautiful evening and seeing the lights of the Colliseum was just sooooo cool. We ended up walking into a free play at the Rome Forum which was also really cool. We walked and walked and walked and saw the city and it was great.

The next day we woke up as early as we could to see the Vatican City and stopped first at the Sistene Chapel which we dogdged groups and made our way there in a pretty good amount of time. All I can say is that I was taken to another place seeing that piece of art. I felt as if the images were reaching out and taking me into the painting back to where the scenes dipicted were. Now that sounds like an exageration, so I will say that it was really awesome. We walked around more, ate lunch at in Farmosa which I had a nice big plate of lasagna and loved it every bit. We eventually made it back to Naples. So to see the city of Rome and Naples, it was just so different. It's amazing how tourism does impact a place. Naples is trying to up its ante by attracting more people but it was definately a very unique 2 places to be.

I'll keep Capri short because I need to come back and fully experience it. I was trying to meet up with people but that didn't work out so I justed hiked and walked around myself. In the area where we ported, I took the funicular up to the city center and what I got off on was the Rodeo Drive/5th Avenue of Capri. It was all designer stores, expensive 5 star hotels and resorts and you could just smell money throughout the streets. I enjoyed my David time a lot walking down the hills and seeing the blue water so I need to come back and formulate my conclusion about it. For now the blue waters and hot sun cannot be beat.