Hot Dogs Anyone?

[View of a small town along the Rhine River on the train ride.]
On first glance Frankfurt is not much of a quaint city. As soon as you step out from the Hauptbanhof (train station), all you can see are skyscrapers in a multitude of shapes and twisting designs with their shiny glass windows. [Frankfurt, home where all Euros are produced] Some of the ground level buildings are closer to more traditional German styles, but even they are rather modern looking. It's not until you venture closer to the heart of the city that you discover a tiny piece of what Frankfurt used to look like from before the bombings of WWII. Romberg, a thin strip of Frankfurt along the Rhine River, is all that remains pre-bombing. Focusing around a central square are 4-5 story buildings which survived the war along with about 4 churches nestled amongst them in the close surrounding area. The square is lined with small tourist shops and a few bars serving up a variety of beers, but the local brew is apfelwein--an apple cider wine. Surprisingly Frankfurt is not known for its wieners, but for its drink.

Wandering around the area took me into a Protestant church along the square. I've been in so many Catholic churches I'd almost forgotten there was a difference, especially when the buildings often look the same. This one was quite new and made of pink stone. I didn't spend too much time inside as a group of youth were practicing some kind of presentation. The design was simple and appealing to my taste in architecture. I traveled a short distance down the street to the Dom which was more of a maroon red stone and in a Gothic style with lots of scallops and statues all about the outside. I was surprised the inside was so new and simple looking when this was one of the few buildings that remained after the war. I expected it to be preserved differently. Evidently this is a busy church as noted by the recording paraphernalia inside and the church radio broadcasting van outside.

Having wandered through the sights of Romberg, I headed toward the river to enjoy a stroll. There are some great views of the surrounding city and the many bridges over the river. The popular thing to do is to grab a patch of grass down by the river and sit for hours drinking and eating with friends. I found a few more streets that had a bit of a charming look to them with plenty of restaurants, taverns, hotels and bars lining them. Anxious to try the apfelwein, I stopped back at Romberg square where I procured 250mL for E1.60. It's similar to a slightly bitter pinot grigio, but the color of pale apple cider. I can see why people enjoy it.

Dinner was easy tonight. The hostel offered a free pasta meal. Ziti with red sauce, cheese and fresh cracked black pepper. I had two helpings while chatting with Jim from CA who was traveling with his wife after visiting his sister in England. They were delayed for a while from flying back because of the volcano in Iceland. Hopefully the air will clear out soon as I look toward flying to England. [Yet another protest in the city where I happen to be. This was something about Romania.]

An American In Paris

This morning I realized that I was missing a plastic bag of things. It finally dawned on me that I had left it on the upper rack in the train yesterday. My beloved blue scarf is gone along with a tin of cookies, some maps from the last few trips to Aix-en-Provence and Avignon, and another scarf I had just bought the day before. I am quite angry about this. [Still angry on the 21st as I write this.]

Today I met up with my friend Manuel who lives here in Paris. We met in Archaia Corinthos, Greece which seems like ages ago. I'm glad I have this blog or I wouldn't remember much of what I have seen and done. I wasn't sure how much time Manuel had to spend with me and thought we might just plan out an itinerary over coffee. He kindly served as my tour guide for the day as we walked around Central Paris. Our walk started on the E end crossing the River Seine and following it until we were at Notre Dame Cathedral. This globally recognized church was filled with people walking through the outer circuit of the interior (the area roped off for tourists to pass through). It was quite noisy despite the Silence signs as everyone talked in their own language to their people about what they were seeing. Amidst camera flashes and the clank of coins being dropped into the medallion machines (yes, you can purchase your own Notre Dame coin from vending machines throughout the church), the atmosphere--if there ever is one--was nonexistent. The Gothic style did nothing for me. The stained glass was not pretty. The walls/ceiling were composed of stone block which made the entire place look like the metro of Paris--i.e. tacky and dingy. Compared to Sacre Cour in Montmarte, Notre Dame is a hollow building for the commercialism of religious goods. I was not positively swayed or moved.

Further down the river we walked into the Louvre and grabbed some information on times and prices. There are three buildings of fun waiting for me to discover! We took a stroll through the Jardin des Tuileries next to the Louvre which is really more of a sandy, deserty like park with trees in it. Not overly pretty and very bright from the white dirt/rocks on the pathways. We walked past the Obelisque and crossed the river again and passed the Assemblee Nationale building (their legislative/political building). We wandered through the St. Germain area looking for a another church which we eventually found. It's very similar in architecture to Notre Dame with high arches and stained glass windows, but very quiet as no tourists really come here. We walked back W to the Hotel des Invalides which is now a military building. I wasn't too interested in seeing the military history museum through the revolution up to Napoleon so we took a bus to the Jardin du Luxumbourg where we strolled around though a park that at least had grass in it. Most of our walking had been relatively quiet for the international metropolis of Paris. Most Parisians seemed to be on vacation (similar to spring break) or in the parks as we noted in Jardin du Luxumbourg. The place was packed! we stopped for some coffee and then wandered through the Quartier Latin where there are some lovely traditional French shops and markets. A guy was playing a crankable music box cart with paper cut out music while singing. Cheese, fruit, fish and vegetable stores tempted us with their delicious looking foods. Manuel picked out a tub of strawberries that are presently in season and we feasted on them. My Mom would have been jealous for how fresh and sweet they were.
[Paris skyline at night from Sacre Cour--apparently I didn't understand the slow exposure time. Still a cool photo though.]
We hopped on the metro and went to meet up with one of Manuel's good friends as they were growing up and his wife. We had drinks and appetizers at Le Rhumerie. I had a tasty fruit juice drink of pineapple, orange, banana and coconut juices. We snacked on some fried fish balls, something similar to bruschetta and what I think was a blood sausage with spices. All quite yummy. From here we parted ways with Manuel's friends and found a traditional Bretangne restaurant (region of France) where we had egg, ham and tomato crepes with apple cider wine. I was incredibly stuffed by this point. No dessert for me or I would have exploded! We headed up to Montmarte by metro to see if we could find a jazz club, but everything seemed pretty quiet up there. I was wiped out from all the walking and eating, so we headed home for the night. We planned to meet up tomorrow to head to Versailles.

Beach Bum II

Originally I made no plans for today. It seemed like a good day to sleep in and read up on Germany and Britain. While I was planning how many days to spend in each place, one of my roommates (Fernando from Scotland) I had met yesterday stopped by and asked if I wanted to join him on his trip to the beach. I'm not one to really go to the beach on my own; it's just not that appealing to me usually. When invited, however, it always sounds like the right thing to do. Better to enjoy the sunshine while I can than sit inside.

We walked down to the port and along the S side until we ran into Fort St. Nicolas. It seems like every fort I've come across in France is still being used in some capacity as a military establishment and therefore not open to the public. Fernando seemed curious, so we hiked up the steep incline to find a monument with a large plaque honoring those who died at sea, on land or in the air in service to their countrymen, for the honor of their country and in pursuit of a goal which they didn't get to enjoy. I got about 90% of that from the French--go me! The views of the city were really nice. To the left you could see Chateau D'If and toward the right, the rest of Marseille sprawling out along the coast.

Still not to the beach yet, we pressed onward. After crossing 5 lanes of traffic going in all sorts of directions coming out of the tunnel under the port (at least they put up signs reminding drivers that people walk here even though there really isn't much sidewalk there), we started wondering how far the beach was. I consulted my map and we found it should be fairly close. One beach finally appeared ahead of us with a sandy beach that must have been artificial as most of the coastline is rocky. There was plenty of space so we staked out a patch and kicked back. We waded into the sea at one point, but it was way too cold to do any more despite Fernando's eagerness to swim.

Somehow four hours passed whilst we were enjoying the sun and I had been reading up on future countries. I had eaten a late breakfast, but we had both skipped lunch making us quite famished by 5pm. We walked back to the port seeking a place to eat dinner where we came across a tapas place that looked good. Dinner wouldn't be served until 7pm. What to do with one hour? We settled on drinks and then shifting back over to the restaurant. What great food we had! For E21 we had a pitcher of sangria, bread, and 4 plates 1. Grilled chicken with grill seasoning 2. Mussels with tomatoes and basil, 3. Grilled shrimp with cumin and pepper, 4. Fried calamari. I was certainly stuffed after all of that. The walk back to the hostel helped settle the meal. It made for such a great, well balanced day.

Film Festival Anyone?

Running out of things to see in the Nice area, I planned to visit Cannes today just to say I was there. Along the way you can stop in Antibes, an old fishing village. Michelle decided to join me in my adventure and we set out for the bus terminal and the direction of Cannes. Our stop in Antibes was....well....low key and blah. We never made it to the old part of town. We also didn't have a map and the ones posted around the port area were rather less than helpful in their faded colors and excessive marking of parking garages. We did see an old fort from a distance, having not been able to locate the entrance, and some enormous yachts in port from places like London and Oslo. After wandering around the marina, we were quite hungry. Our attempt to make it to the center of town yielded pricey pubs, cafes and many eateries closed for the day. Eventually Michelle spotted a grocery store and we decided to grab some small treats and snack on our way to Cannes. I selected 2 coconut yogurts and Michelle found some bite size salamis, herbed cream cheese ovals the size of your thumb and a baguette.

On our way back toward the bus stop we spotted a park and decided to sit for our snack. This was a fortuitous move as Michelle spotted a 200 bus to Cannes which we could then follow along the street to find out if there was a closer bus stop. The bus had passed before we were able to cross the street, but based on our finely tuned intuition and knowledge of street signs (like the one way/do not enter symbol) we found the bus back in the main square where we had previously been looking for inexpensive cafes. The bus happened to stop just down the street from us and a large group of people were entering. We had just enough time to walk around the construction and make it to the door before it left.

A half hour later in Cannes we stepped out into a busy plaza right next to the port filled with semi-permanent tent shop booths and petanque playing areas. Petanque appears to be a sport similar to bocce, but where everyone plays with the same silver colored balls and the strategy seemed similar to curling. The playing fields are typically gravelly which adds to the difficulty factor. The men we saw playing had impeccable aim to lob a ball 10ft. away and hit their opponent's ball dead on knocking it out of play or to gently roll it right next to the target marker. Since we were unable to locate a restaurant with toilet facilities in Antibes, we were in need. Spotting a Mc Donald's on the corner, we played the 2 in 1 card by getting a bit more food and bathroom privileges. Michelle chose a flurry with caramel bits and I tried a L'Petit Moutarde (little mustard--small square bun with a burger patty, tomato slice and grainy spicy mustard) which turned out to be quite tasty.

Strolling along the waterfront, we headed for the Palais Festival where the Cannes Film Festival is held. Unfortunately there was some media conference going on and the building was closed to anyone without a badge. There was a makeshift red carpet outside which we were able to walk along and we did get to see a few of the hand prints in the sidewalk. I even posed for a photo as the Hans Solo cut out with Chewbacca. Our walk led us to the beach where we rested our feet on the sandy beach. Nice only has pebbly/rocky beaches which really are rather comfortable and you avoid the sand sticking to you.

By now it was 5:30pm and we faced a 2 hour bus ride back to Nice. When we reached the bus stop back by the main plaza, a line of about 40 people were waiting outside the bus. Thinking we wouldn't get seats and would have to stand the whole way back, we decided to wait for the next one and be near the front of the line. The French, much like the Italians, are very pushy when it comes to public transit. Most people crowd to the door and push forward as if that will assist the entrance process. There are usually a small contingent who argue about who should go in first based on old age, disability or just plain think they deserve to go first. We were witness to an old lady who was determined to be first on the bus and had a short tiff with a lady next to her. If you're old and want to go first, fine--just don't be rude about it and expect it as your personal right. We were also flanked by 4-5 people who came from in front of the bus and bypassed the line as well as 4 Brits who walked up on my left side between the line and the bus. Wouldn't you know that we all made it on the bus and we all got a seat? Shocking. The ride, however, was painful to say the least. About 30 minutes into our trip we hit ridiculously slow traffic and the bus turned into a sauna. None of the windows on the bus open (safety feature??) and with it packed full, things heated up quickly. Michelle and I were about to pass out from heatstroke. Kids were sweaty and crying to their parents that it was too hot. None of it seemed healthy and all of it was pushing the limits of sanity. About 45 minutes later we cleared the traffic and, finally moving a bit, the roof vents provided a bit of relief. We eagerly got off a few stops before the bus terminal to pick up the tram back to the hostel. Phew!

We needed a few minutes to recover before heading down to dinner. Tonight's selection was calamari with pasta salad. Not being a calamari fan, I planned to get a pizza. As I surveyed the main dish throughout the common room, I noticed the calamari was fried. No problem! The pasta was fantastic too--green beans, red/orange/yellow peppers, black olives, dill and olive oil. Most delicious meal. Michelle, Louise and I shared a bottle of red wine and 2 cookies for dessert. After such a long day, it was definitely bed time.

Blue Trail #2

One of the most popular and well known trails in Cinque Terre Park is the Blue Trail which runs along the coastline and weaves through all 5 villages along the way. Total travel distance is 9km (not including exploration of the villages) and is supposed to take 5 hours. I planned to go to the 11am mass at the church just up the hill and around the corner from the hostel and then to start hiking. Mass was really nice for a small resort town. Their chapel is relatively simple though still in classic Italian style with white marble and paintings here and there. The altar was covered with calla lilly flowers among some pink and purple hyacinth looking ones. Everything was in Italian as expected, but I wasn't lucky enough to get one of the bulletins to be able to follow along. I did get half of Jesus in bread form though.

From here I made a quick internet stop, grabbed some lunch and then headed out to hike. I started in Riomaggiore around 1:30pm and on the smooth, paved path easily made it to Manarola in 15 minutes. So much for a half hour! Manarola looks much like Riomaggiore except it's smaller, so nothing really new to report. The next leg of the hike to Corniglia was listed at 30 mins. so I expected another 15 minute walk. This portion was much steeper with rougher rocky terrain and I ran into more slow people. With a few breaks in-between I think it took about 45 mins. When you reach Corniglia there is an unexpected 382 step climb up to the city where the blue trail continues. Oi. That took a while. I decided to wander the city since I didn't want to make the stairway climb again to come back. The town is a bit more stone than some of the others. It's quaint and cozy tucked up into the hillside. I was delighted to find a public bathroom and from there moved on to the third part toward Vernazza said to take 1.5 hours.

A sign at the beginning of the trail mentioned that this was the only path between these two cities up until 100 years ago. Mostly it existed for trade and care of crops in the area. Interesting how self-sufficient and independent towns can be for the most part. The path was mostly dirt and small rocks winding up and down through the ridges and valleys. By now my bag started to get rather heavy and needed shifting to opposite shoulders often. The views were excellent though. With a few breaks along the way and some snackage, I ended up in Vernazza in about an hour and 15 minutes. This part of the trail felt like the longest distance I had traveled. It could have just been how tired I felt at that point. Vernazza is located literally on the water. Half of the town is out on a small peninsula and the other half is back into the valley with the trail crossing in-between them. I pulled up a bench for a good 15 minutes and debated whether to grab a train and do the last portion tomorrow or to just finish it all today. After resting I felt better and decided it was still early enough that if I finished in the suggested 2 hours I would still be done by 6:30pm and have a chance to get back and rest before dinner.

The final part of the trip to Monterosso was actually quite pleasant. The initial part was lots of steps and steep inclines, but about halfway through this leveled out and became mostly downhill. The sun really started to shine brightly and I had to shed a layer and roll up my pant legs. By the time I was within easy view of the city it had cooled off considerably and gotten windy. The weather in Italy has been really manic--up and sunny one hour and down and rainy the next. Bizarre. By the time I reached Monterosso I had no energy to explore the town and so headed right for the train station. I even passed up a gelato shop!

Back at the hostel I ran into one of my roommates named Erik from WA. We chatted for a bit over dinner (more leftovers for me) and I got some good tips on Nice, France where I'm headed next. I headed back to the train station to pick up some internet for an evening chat with my parents which meant I had to sit outside since the tourist office was closed. I was glad for an awning to keep out the rain and a planter to sit on. A busy day, but well worth the hike.

Repent--Doing a 180

After doing some research into the next hostel I planned to book, I discovered I had to make a reservation 1 week in advance. Oops. I could still travel there and if they had rooms the day I showed up, I could stay. To travel 2.5 hours to Genova and another 2.5 hours to Cinque Terre and discover I had no where to stay did not sound very appealing. In true Lenten fashion I "repented" and did a 180 heading east instead of west. My new destination would be Bologna; a city known for great food having created lasagna, bolognese sauce/ragu, mortadella (i.e. bologna luncheon meat) and tortelloni.

I still had a ticket to the Giardino di Boboli including the Medici Silver and Porcelain Museums. After an early start (about 7:00am) with packing, breakfast and putting my luggage in storage at the hostel, I meandered to the park. That morning I noticed on the ticket that I had bought it on Tuesday and it was supposed to be good for 3 days. Fortunately the workers at the entrance didn't bother reading the ticket. The gardens were quite large and well groomed. No flowers or colors around, but the texture in the various greens, bushes, trees and paths provided nice scenery. One of the more strange features were very large, oval marble rocks. Two were laying flat on the ground like large, round seats and one was standing oblong titled "Secret of the Sky." I'm not sure what the artist meant to convey, but the stone was smooth, soft to the touch and nearly pure white. It looked like a large mint with a dimple/round indent on the one side. On the way out I breezed through the Silver Museum which had very little silver in it. It was more a collection of the Medici treasures and jewels.

I'm glad I walked through as this gave me a brief look at how sumptuous the Medici life was without paying another E10 to see the lavish apartments upstairs in the Palzzo Pitti. Necklaces, pins, crowns, bibles, paintings, fountains in each room and large highbacked, leather covered wooden chairs gave the impressions you were in the presence of a very rich family.

After picking up my luggage and waiting a good 20 mins. for the bus to arrive, I made it to the train station. I didn't see Bologna listed on the departures and I'm glad I checked with the information desk. I would never have figured out which lines to take to get to Bologna with my regional (slow/local line and cheap) ticket. With a quick 5 minute change of trains in Prato (just NW of Firenze I think), I was headed direct to Bologna in 1.5 hours. So began the trial of arriving at the hostel.

From the train station there are two options of getting to the hostel: bus 68 goes direct to the hostel, but only runs every 2 hours, or bus 25 runs every 10-15 minutes, but stops 1km from the hostel. Since I arrived at 3pm and wouldn't make bus 68 until 5pm, I planned on waiting near/at the bus stop until 5pm. I should have stuck to my plan. Instead I opted for bus 25 to get there closer to my suggested arrival time of 4pm at the hostel. The guy at the bus info station told me to turn right and walk about 500m. The bus stop is in near a crossing of an interstate and some random business which on a Saturday were all closed. Down the road is a bit of small town civilization and a hotel. I didn't see how I could "turn right and go 500m" so I asked a few people on the street if they knew of the street the hostel was on and they all looked incredibly confused. It's common for hostels to be on tiny side streets no one has ever heard of. I stopped at the hotel and the lady directed me to the road I needed. The only problem was that it was about 30-40ft long and had no numbers near 12 which is what the hostel is at. The next closest thing along the road (about 100m) is a huge sports complex. I asked a few people and an older man on a bike said the name of the hostel like he knew it well, whistled and pointed off to the left behind me. I headed that way and ended up at the interstate (probably another 500m). Suddenly the older man on the bike appeared from behind me and started asking me in Italian what seemed to be something like "What are you doing here? Didn't you see the road back there?" After a few minutes of telling him I didn't see a road and no sign only the sports complex--in my best broken Italian of which I maybe know about 30 words--he seemed to offer to ride along and show me the road that was plainly in view (to him). We ended up just down the sidewalk from the sports complex and he directed me onto a path with metal poles to prevent cars driving on it which became a road with cars. Suddenly there were brown signs for the hostel. Apparently if you come to the bus stop from the other direction there are signs all over the place. Mind you I'm still dragging all my luggage with me and now still have about 1km to walk.

I wandered down the road quite a ways following the signs when a car behind me slowed down. The man inside rolled down the window and asked where I was headed. After I indicated I spoke no Italian he said something about "you want to pass." I thought perhaps he said I had passed it. He had a clipboard so then I thought he worked at the hostel and knew where I was headed and was offering to drive me the rest of the way. Then he started to drive away. Huh?? I checked the buzzers at the house in case I had passed it. Definitely not it. By then he had driven back and in better English said the hostel was another 500m and would I like a ride (must have been broken English for "you want to passenger?"). I accepted and we drove to the sign for the hostel which he indicated was camping and not a hostel. We figured out his name was Tom and he was reading meters in the area and had just been at the hostel and campground.

He had traveled alone for 10 years when he was 25-35 so he understood the troubles of finding places on your own. After a few streets away we had cleared up that I was not heading to San Sistro hostel like he thought, but actually to the campground which online claimed they had bungalows and rooms to rent. We headed back with a few turn arounds, since one of the streets had become a one way, and stopped at the campground. He offered to wait in case it wasn't the right place. Turns out it was! I thanked Tom and he drove off back to work. That's what I call grace. Undeserved gift, but very much needed. I think this suffices for my Lenten Journey.

Turns out the place is quite nice. It's all very strange though. It is a campground. There are sites for RV's and tents as well as 4 rows of these pink/red brick buildings that look like military housing. They're pretty nice inside. It's like a tile floored cabin with two beds in the "living room/kitchen" and two behind a sliding wood door. Tonight I plan out my discovery of Bologna and hopefully find a way to locate a church with a Palm Sunday service.

All Roads Lead to Rome

Today was a travel day from Napoli to Roma. I wished Hannah safe travels when she left at 5am to head to the train station and then took the rest of the morning slowly. After packing and then polishing off left overs from last nights' dinner, I headed out to Stazione Centrale to buy my ticket to Roma. Apart from the long walk to the metro, things went smoothly. Before I knew it I was on the train and watching the countryside fly by.

Moving toward more central Italy brought a few shifts in scenery. Most of the land where the train runs is farmland. I saw open fields in varying shades of green, herds of sheep lolling and grazing about, brown/black cows sitting in mud, vacant barns/houses, red tiled roofs and mountains hazy with pollution. It was easy to tell when we were close to Roma as the density of housing dramatically increased.

Once at the train station, a quick trip on the metro dropped me off about 400m from the hostel. I was ever so close to the building, but couldn't read the building numbers that were above my head. I stopped in to ask at a building that I thought might be it. Turns out it was across the street in a pink building. Might you add to your directions--"We're on the 5th floor on the NORTH side of the street in a PINK building." to help people find it?? I would. At least this place has an elevator. For that, I cannot complain. It's a bit noisy here, but other than that it's not too bad. I think I was a bit spoiled by the family like atmosphere at 6 Small Rooms in Napoli.

For dinner I wandered E to locate Gusto which supposedly had E8 pizzas. I found it relatively easily after a pleasant walk along the Tiber River. Turns out they have happy hour from 6-9pm and with a E9-12 drink you can eat as much as you like from the buffet of goodies. With a lovely Syrah wine I enjoyed some cheese patties, beef rolled around salad greens with cheese/pine nuts/balsamic vinegar, pizza with basil/meat/cheese, barley salad with carrots/corn/celery/tomatoes/olives, chicken salad with dressing, pastry dough with marinara sauce (the best one I tried!), chunky tomato paste on bread, bread strips with chili oil, and rosemary potatoes. I think that was all of it. The food was delicious and I was stuffed.

My trip back led me through the Piazza del Popolo with its stunning obelisk and back along the Tiber River. After a hot shower, a good night's sleep is definitely in my future.

Mt. Vesuvio

My original thoughts for the day were to wander the city and see a few sights in more depth that I didn't get to on Friday--a few churches and some main piazzas. I skipped the morning shower knowing it would be ice cold like yesterday and planned to get one later in the morning. When I got out to the common room, Hannah mentioned she and Mu were going to hike Mount Vesuvio and probably be back by 5pm so Mu could work his shift at the hostel. If I wanted, I could join in the fun. After a very breif hesitation, because who really wants to pass up hiking their second volcano in life??, I decided to join them and knew I'd be seeing more churches throughout my trip.

We walked the 20 minutes to Stazione Centrale to pick up the same train heading to Pompei. The plan was, according to Mu's website, to get off at Ercolano Scavi (Ercolano excavations), walk to the base of the volcano and then hike up to the top. It seemed a bit lofty, but if we would be spending most of our time hiking up, then it should work out fine. After a few detours and turn arounds in the city trying to get to the volcano, we stopped at a gas station and asked for confirmation directions. Just as we were walking away, the next guy who pulled into the station asked the attendant what we were walking to see in town. Upon hearing that we were hiking to Mt. Vesuvius, he beckoned us back and offered to drive us nearer to the base as it was another good 10-15km away still and all uphill.

Grateful for the speedy assistance, Alessandro drove us to a fork in the road which gave us another 1700m to reach the top. He owns a restaurant in town called My House. From here we walked along the road until we found a path leading up the side. Most of the ground was covered in large, porous, volcanic rock with moss on them. Around them were small pine trees with needles easily a foot and a half long. We got up to the point where the rock became gravel and decided to head for a ridge where we saw some stairs/trail that looked safer. From here we made it up to the top and enjoyed the stunning views as we walked around the rim of the volcano.

On the way down we realized that the path ended at a parking lot with a ticket booth. When we checked into the busses that stopped there, we discovered that you had to buy a round trip ticket from wherever you originally got on the bus. Mu talked to the driver when the bus finally showed up (apparently it was 45 mins. late) and after a while he agreed to let the 3 of us on for a ride back to Pompei (no busses were returning to Ercolano). What should have cost each of us E17 ended up being free. Not too shabby. We also discovered the mysterious, disappearing station for Pompei Scavi--the one Rick Steves' was apparently trying to direct us to in the book. We had taken the green line yesterday and directed by the train station staff and Rick wanted us to take the blue line. Who knew?

After such a long walk, Hannah and I felt we deserved some gelato. We were hoping to hit one of the most famous shops in Napoli--Polar Nor. After a bit of searching, we found it all closed up for Sunday. Not to give up on our craving for gelato, we walked toward the hostel and happened across 3 stores still open. We ended up at the one we went to yesterday since it still had the largest selection of flavors. I chose banana (full flavor with a tinge of lemon), cookies (literally cookies with a vanilla flavor) and a very sweet white fluffy stuff with almonds. All 3 were extremely delicious. After this we crashed at the hostel. I got a much desired shower after 2 days and eventually started to prepare dinner.

We did a twist on last night's version by adding roasted red pepper (fresh from the hostel oven!) and eggplant. What a great day this turned out to be.

Frozen In Time

Today's excursion was south of Napoli to the infamous Pompei. Using our CampaniaArteCards, Hannah and I took the Metro to the main station and got on the Circumvesuviana train to Pompei. She has a Rick Steves' book that directed us to get off the train, take a right and then the first left. Seemed easy enough. We got off at Pompei, turned right, crossed the train tracks and saw more city--no ruins. Convinced that Rick Steves had led us astray, we returned to the train station where one of the staff told us to walk out straight, turn right and in about 5 mins. we would see the ruins. Sure enough, if you walk to the city center and turn right you come right to old Pompei.

Armed with our maps and information books which told us the historical significance of what we saw, we headed into Pompei and the adventure of the day. The ruins are absolutely fabulous. Every corner you turn leads to a new row of interesting rooms and buildings. The old streets are all still in tact. You can see ruts in the rock road where carts moved each day carrying goods. Stands where people stopped for snacks stood intact with the clay pots sitting in the stone counter top. Stairs to second floors led to nowhere. Imagine the technology they had to be able to build a second floor without it collapsing or to create a city where every inside wall is painted and floors are delicately built with square tiles the size of your pinky. For the people of Pompei life was an art form. Every part of their daily lives was carefully designed to be beautiful as well as functional. Even a storage room had a well tiled floor and painted walls. Why don't we do this more today? Why are we so quick to mass produce things that are the same for everyone? Where has the art of life gone?

One of the most interesting parts was seeing the plaster casts of the people caught in the volcano explosion. Some of them had looks of terror and others were seeking cover. There was even a dog plaster cast. We wandered around the city for 4 hours taking in the sights and photographing all we could. My battery died out about a half hour or so before we left, so I missed the gladiator arena. I'll have to get those shots from Hannah. After our return from Pompei we headed out to the market to grab some fresh veggies for dinner.

Hannah and I made the most delicious pasta tonight! Compliments of a Rachel Ray show Hannah saw a year ago, we combined fresh tomatoes with lots of garlic and fresh basil in a simmer on the stove. Mixing together the remains of the free pasta left from others, we had huge rings (the size of half dollars), rotini and penne. We also sliced up a green pepper (the sweetest one I've ever tasted) and some mozzarella cheese. Mu (one of the guys who works here at the hostel) cooked up some fraginelli (a local green to Napoli that's the leaves of a broccoli like plant) which looks like spinach, but has a peppery, spicy taste to it. As fortune would have it, the owner Jenny bought 8 pizzas in celebration of something good that happened in her day. I also had a quarter of a margarita pizza. As usual there was vino to go around for all, as much as you wished.

We took an evening walk to the corner near the hostel to grab some gelato which was well worth it. I tried the coconut (which had real flakes of it mixed in) and the hazelnut (it tasted just like the nutella I've been eating for breakfast).

No set plans for tomorrow, so we'll see what the day holds!

The Streets of Napoli

Last night I met Hannah from TN. She graduated from nursing school in December and is taking 6 months to travel and enjoy life before starting her 2 year fellowship at a hospital near DC. She has been working her way through northern Italy where it has been cold, rainy and snowy at times. Until she showed up at the hostel in Napoli, it had been 11 days since she was able to speak English to anyone who could understand her. Needless to say she was eager for some company. We decided to spend today walking around the city and seeing some of the major sights.

Our wanderings took us down south to the shore and the ports along the bay. We followed the harbor for a while until we turned north to head back into the city. When we found a main street we also found a rally of some kind. People were playing loud music from a van and walking behind it with tons of red flags. As we went further along the road we caught up with the gathering point where a man was shouting Italian at a podium. What is it with me and finding rallies and demonstrations wherever I go??

We worked our way west toward Vomero, a small town on top of a large hill in the NW corner of Napoli. There are two funiculars that take you up the slope where there is a castle and two museums amidst the town. We happened across some lovely views of the city and bay along with a park in the middle of town. Navigating up there was really challenging. Our handy map from the hostel didn't detail that there was even a city on top until we arrived. Fortunately there were street side area maps that gave us a clue about where we were. For the trip down we opted to take the Via Pedamentina, a walkway back down to the rest of Napoli. I'm glad we didn't walk up this way because all the steps are slanted downhill and the steps are about 2 feet long making for a very awkward time walking. Most of it was littered with broken glass thrown off from the top of Vomero. There were some really cool doorways, a bed and breakfast and some small shops amidst the local housing. We had excellent views down into Napoli.


For lunch, we stopped at Da Michele, one of the most famous pizza restaurants in Napoli. I ate the whole thing!!

Most of the day had been sunny until about halfway through our venture in Vomero when it started to get very cold and hail upon us. Back down in Napoli it was still sunny, but cool. As the sun dropped the rain started up again. To try and get out of the cold we headed for the National Archeological Museum in the north part of the city. Sadly the building is quite drafty and while we were out of the wind, there was no heat to speak of in the building. Strangely parts of the 2nd floor were much colder than the first. Inside we were treated to ancient pottery, bronze work, gladiator memorabilia, treasures and paintings from Pompeii and statues galore. Probably the coolest part we saw was the sundial room upstairs. In the far SW corner is a tiny hole in the ceiling that shines a beam of light at noon onto a marble zodiac calendar on the floor.

From the museum we made our way back to the hostel and chilled out after a long day of walking. Once again people were cooking in the kitchen for a group. They invited Hannah and I to chow down if we were interested. The evening's meal included salad, fried anchovies (fresh, whole and bones in), boiled artichokes with vinaigrette sauce and pasta with veal, tomatoes and garlic. All of it was most delicious and stuffed us silly. I'm grateful for some free, fresh cooked food. I slept great last night and look forward to another night of good sleep.