and this was WITH the lucky rock!
Jun. 10th, 2002 05:17 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
fictionalwe left saturday afternoon because Mike and Adam insisted on staying in Rome long enough to watch the world cup game, Italy vs. Croatia. I may have to mutilate them for that later, especially since the game itself was unimpressive. but i digress. we got packed and I and my harem made it to Stazione Termini, after only having to go back to the apartment five times. at that point, we decided to entitle our adventure: The Pinheads Go to Pompeii, (which later became The Dumbasses Go to Naples at various points during the trip).
The ride to Termini was relatively uneventful, and once there, we managed to operate the ticket giving machines, with confidence borne of having to do it over and over and over again, because none of them seemed to work. finally, we got one that looked like it might have a chance of gving us our tickets. at that point, Zak decided that he wanted to pay for our tickets with all the loose change he had in his pockets. it took a long time to get our tickets, but eventually the machine spit them forth.
we had decided to spend saturday night in Napoli (Naples) and then spend all day Sunday in Ercolano (hercalaneum) and Pompeii, and climb Mt. Vesuvius.
after that, head back to Rome late sunday night.
we bought second class tickets, thinking that we wouldn't have any trouble getting a seat, but the train was late getting into the station, and by the time we deciphered what platform it was coming in on, there was already a huge mass of people clustered there waiting, including a group of army guys with enormous rucksacks all done up in camoflage. i shoved my way past them getting on the train, (italian army ain't got nothing on nyc subway skills!) but once we got on the train, we couldn't find the second class section for the life of us. the compartments were all filled, and we wended our way down the train, resigning ourselves to standing up all the way to Napoli, and not even really sure of where in the train car we were supposed to do that. Then, we happened across the snack car, and decided that we were just going to sit there the whole way, which turned out to be an excellent idea. we had lots of legroom, no one bothered us, there were huge windows, and we didn't even have to buy anything. We got off the train in Napoli Centrale without a hitch, thinking that we were going to have a delightful and relaxed weekend. the gods must have been laughing.
Naples. Naples is probably not the sketchiest hole in the universe, but it certainly seemed like it. it was filthy dirty, and populated by some of the skeeviest people I've ever seen. we hadn't booked any rooms, and we didn't have a guidebook, so we simply walked the streets hoping that a hotel would have room for us.
we ended up at the heinously misnamed Hotel Eden, (22 euro per head), and climbed into the creakiest elevator ever to meet our fate. the guy opened the door to our room, and at first it looked promising, huge space, two beds, a little shabby but nothing serious. he strode into the room ahead of us, and perhaps we should have guessed something was wrong by the way he immediately opened the french shuttered windows wide, and said, "look, balcony!" seduced by the thought of a balcony in Naples, we entered the room, only to be greeted by this terrible odor of must, sulphuric acid, old chinese from the restaurant conveniently located next door, and mildew. but we didn't have a lot of money, and all the other hotels we had checked were full, so we resigned ourselves. unfortunately the smell just got worse, the longer we were in there...it turned out to be the fact that the toilet wouldn't flush, and someone has used it a while before we had arrived, judging from the looks of things.
we ran out into the Neopoltian night, anxious to eat and purchase some alcoholic beverages that would help us get through the night. we walked forever but couldn't seem to get out of the ghetto, leading us to believe that Naples is simply one giant hole. we fled from one restaurant because of the plague of flies that was inhabiting the food, and finally ended up at another place featuring "fried squids" and "beefsteak to the ember". we ate sparingly.
we bought two bottles of some cheap red wine called San Tomasino (never purchase this, EVER) and the shopkeeper laughed at us as we handed him the money. getting back to our room, we found out why. the first bottle had actually turned to vinegar, and smelled terrible (we ended up having to pour it down the toilet, thinking it might possibly act as a disinfectant) and the second bottle while fantastic compared to the first, was obviously meant to be consumed by the kind of person who drinks rubbing alcohol for kicks. we drank it down anyway, hoping to medicate ourselves into passing out. Adam and I ventured out to purchase some air freshener, matches, cigarettes, cigars, anything which we thought might make the place smell better, but we found all the shops closed and the streets poulated by men who seemed to be following us around creepily. I, feeling that I would at least like to speak the same language as the men who were going to be raping me, decided that we should return to the hotel room. I was so scared of the bathroom there, that I didn't use it all night, informing the boys that if necessary I would simply have to piss off the balcony. a silly thing to say to 3 twenty something guys it turned out, as they all ended up actually doing so before the night was over.
we woke up the next morning, having slept on top of the covers in fear of bedbugs, and without even brushing our teeth set off for mt. vesuvius. when we got off the train at ercolano, we climbed on to a bus that was supposed to take us most of the wa up the mountain. then we were supposed to climb the rest of the way up to the crater itself. the road up the mountain was crooked and windy, and made me terribly sick to my stomach. as i hung on for dear life, i consoled myself with thoughts of lava, and the view from the top. suddenly, it seemed we were engulfed in a cloudbank that only inhabited the top of the mountain. we had planned to eat breakfast where the bus stopped, thinking it would be set up to welcome tourists, but instead we were surprised to see that there was only a shack situated by the bus stop, with no one in it. the path up to the crater was invisible due to fog, and we stood there a moment, debating whether to climb it anyway, although we couldn't even see the road. suddenly, out of the mist, a man appeared, gesticulating and speaking in rapid Italian, switching to english at the sight of us.
"Crater, CLOSED!" he yelled. we stood there, nonplussed, and then shrugged and got back on the nauseating bus. as we bumped down the precipitious path, Zak and Mike started saying we should give up and head back to Rome, but I insisted on heading to Pompeii.
Pompeii was actually truly awesome, the city was incredibly preserved, beautiful mosiacs everywhere. We walked to the amphitheater, and the old brothels, and saw people encased in lava with these terrible expressions of shock on their faces. But just as we had gotten into the city, it began to POUR. we were drenched in seconds, and after a few minutes of attempting to navigate soaking wet, we gave up and began heading back to the exit. on the way there, two american girls stopped us, and pointing to rectangular walled field, said breathlessly, "excuse me, do you know if that's the colosseum?" we didn't know whether to laugh or not, so we simply shook our heads no, and decided that we should just leave.
at the train station, armed with glasses of blood orange juice, we tackled the trains getting back from naples. after another contretemps with the machine, we wrestled forth our tickets, only to be greeted with the same seatless problem. this time, we plopped ourselves down in first class, and sat there comfortably for an hour before the conductor came by for tickets. Zak whispered, "play the dumb american, so we don't have to move!" the conductor says, "this is first class, you have second class tickets! you must pay the difference!" (in perfect english) and Zak says, "parla inglese?? what?" we looked at him with disgust, (as did the conductor) and we picked up our stuff and headed for the dining car (which was a real sit down restaurant on this train) and ordered pizza and coke (for which the vested waiter removed the silverware and china, bringing us plastic cups and plates) and which we consumed as slowly as possible, finishing just as we came into the station in Rome.
we got home, and i thought seriously about never traveling, ever again. i shudder to think what would have happened if i hadn't brought the luck rock along.
The ride to Termini was relatively uneventful, and once there, we managed to operate the ticket giving machines, with confidence borne of having to do it over and over and over again, because none of them seemed to work. finally, we got one that looked like it might have a chance of gving us our tickets. at that point, Zak decided that he wanted to pay for our tickets with all the loose change he had in his pockets. it took a long time to get our tickets, but eventually the machine spit them forth.
we had decided to spend saturday night in Napoli (Naples) and then spend all day Sunday in Ercolano (hercalaneum) and Pompeii, and climb Mt. Vesuvius.
after that, head back to Rome late sunday night.
we bought second class tickets, thinking that we wouldn't have any trouble getting a seat, but the train was late getting into the station, and by the time we deciphered what platform it was coming in on, there was already a huge mass of people clustered there waiting, including a group of army guys with enormous rucksacks all done up in camoflage. i shoved my way past them getting on the train, (italian army ain't got nothing on nyc subway skills!) but once we got on the train, we couldn't find the second class section for the life of us. the compartments were all filled, and we wended our way down the train, resigning ourselves to standing up all the way to Napoli, and not even really sure of where in the train car we were supposed to do that. Then, we happened across the snack car, and decided that we were just going to sit there the whole way, which turned out to be an excellent idea. we had lots of legroom, no one bothered us, there were huge windows, and we didn't even have to buy anything. We got off the train in Napoli Centrale without a hitch, thinking that we were going to have a delightful and relaxed weekend. the gods must have been laughing.
Naples. Naples is probably not the sketchiest hole in the universe, but it certainly seemed like it. it was filthy dirty, and populated by some of the skeeviest people I've ever seen. we hadn't booked any rooms, and we didn't have a guidebook, so we simply walked the streets hoping that a hotel would have room for us.
we ended up at the heinously misnamed Hotel Eden, (22 euro per head), and climbed into the creakiest elevator ever to meet our fate. the guy opened the door to our room, and at first it looked promising, huge space, two beds, a little shabby but nothing serious. he strode into the room ahead of us, and perhaps we should have guessed something was wrong by the way he immediately opened the french shuttered windows wide, and said, "look, balcony!" seduced by the thought of a balcony in Naples, we entered the room, only to be greeted by this terrible odor of must, sulphuric acid, old chinese from the restaurant conveniently located next door, and mildew. but we didn't have a lot of money, and all the other hotels we had checked were full, so we resigned ourselves. unfortunately the smell just got worse, the longer we were in there...it turned out to be the fact that the toilet wouldn't flush, and someone has used it a while before we had arrived, judging from the looks of things.
we ran out into the Neopoltian night, anxious to eat and purchase some alcoholic beverages that would help us get through the night. we walked forever but couldn't seem to get out of the ghetto, leading us to believe that Naples is simply one giant hole. we fled from one restaurant because of the plague of flies that was inhabiting the food, and finally ended up at another place featuring "fried squids" and "beefsteak to the ember". we ate sparingly.
we bought two bottles of some cheap red wine called San Tomasino (never purchase this, EVER) and the shopkeeper laughed at us as we handed him the money. getting back to our room, we found out why. the first bottle had actually turned to vinegar, and smelled terrible (we ended up having to pour it down the toilet, thinking it might possibly act as a disinfectant) and the second bottle while fantastic compared to the first, was obviously meant to be consumed by the kind of person who drinks rubbing alcohol for kicks. we drank it down anyway, hoping to medicate ourselves into passing out. Adam and I ventured out to purchase some air freshener, matches, cigarettes, cigars, anything which we thought might make the place smell better, but we found all the shops closed and the streets poulated by men who seemed to be following us around creepily. I, feeling that I would at least like to speak the same language as the men who were going to be raping me, decided that we should return to the hotel room. I was so scared of the bathroom there, that I didn't use it all night, informing the boys that if necessary I would simply have to piss off the balcony. a silly thing to say to 3 twenty something guys it turned out, as they all ended up actually doing so before the night was over.
we woke up the next morning, having slept on top of the covers in fear of bedbugs, and without even brushing our teeth set off for mt. vesuvius. when we got off the train at ercolano, we climbed on to a bus that was supposed to take us most of the wa up the mountain. then we were supposed to climb the rest of the way up to the crater itself. the road up the mountain was crooked and windy, and made me terribly sick to my stomach. as i hung on for dear life, i consoled myself with thoughts of lava, and the view from the top. suddenly, it seemed we were engulfed in a cloudbank that only inhabited the top of the mountain. we had planned to eat breakfast where the bus stopped, thinking it would be set up to welcome tourists, but instead we were surprised to see that there was only a shack situated by the bus stop, with no one in it. the path up to the crater was invisible due to fog, and we stood there a moment, debating whether to climb it anyway, although we couldn't even see the road. suddenly, out of the mist, a man appeared, gesticulating and speaking in rapid Italian, switching to english at the sight of us.
"Crater, CLOSED!" he yelled. we stood there, nonplussed, and then shrugged and got back on the nauseating bus. as we bumped down the precipitious path, Zak and Mike started saying we should give up and head back to Rome, but I insisted on heading to Pompeii.
Pompeii was actually truly awesome, the city was incredibly preserved, beautiful mosiacs everywhere. We walked to the amphitheater, and the old brothels, and saw people encased in lava with these terrible expressions of shock on their faces. But just as we had gotten into the city, it began to POUR. we were drenched in seconds, and after a few minutes of attempting to navigate soaking wet, we gave up and began heading back to the exit. on the way there, two american girls stopped us, and pointing to rectangular walled field, said breathlessly, "excuse me, do you know if that's the colosseum?" we didn't know whether to laugh or not, so we simply shook our heads no, and decided that we should just leave.
at the train station, armed with glasses of blood orange juice, we tackled the trains getting back from naples. after another contretemps with the machine, we wrestled forth our tickets, only to be greeted with the same seatless problem. this time, we plopped ourselves down in first class, and sat there comfortably for an hour before the conductor came by for tickets. Zak whispered, "play the dumb american, so we don't have to move!" the conductor says, "this is first class, you have second class tickets! you must pay the difference!" (in perfect english) and Zak says, "parla inglese?? what?" we looked at him with disgust, (as did the conductor) and we picked up our stuff and headed for the dining car (which was a real sit down restaurant on this train) and ordered pizza and coke (for which the vested waiter removed the silverware and china, bringing us plastic cups and plates) and which we consumed as slowly as possible, finishing just as we came into the station in Rome.
we got home, and i thought seriously about never traveling, ever again. i shudder to think what would have happened if i hadn't brought the luck rock along.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2002-06-10 11:50 am (UTC)adventure on the high seas, and all that.
fwiw, i'm still jealous.
*pets the kali*
glad you're back in civilization, though.
(no subject)
Date: 2002-06-11 07:18 am (UTC)Cept about not being able to climb mt. vesuvius. :-(
While it seems horrendous at the time, you know that these are the best experiences and stories to come back with...you've had somebeautiful ones from what you've told me as well, and that's how I like my vacations at least-a mix of bliss and annoyance/bad luck. Then it's a real adventure, you know?
miss you!!!!
-MG