Andiamo Napoli

We actually got to sleep in for a change this morning.  It’s amazing what an extra 45 minutes will do for you!  Today is a travel day.  We checked out of the hotel and are heading to the train station.  We’re catching the 10:50 train to Naples (about a three hour ride with a single stop in Rome) then taking a cab to our friends Doug and Silvana’s house.  An uneventful train ride (I got caught up on my blogging and Joe plugged into his iPod) gave way to the MADNESS!! that is the Naples train station.  Crazy, right?, but  crazy in an orchestrated sort of way.  I’ve never seen anything like it...and I’ve been in the women’s bathroom on quarter-beer night at a minor-league hockey game. 

We finally find the cab stand...someone had turned the sign around so it no longer faced the station; it now faced the McDonalds.  During our search, several lovely-looking gentlemen approached us (on foot) asking if we needed a cab, I managed just enough Italian to let them know that we were looking for a licensed, city-sanctioned cab.  We got one and were on our way.  As we left the zoo behind us, the crescent of the Bay of Naples invited us to look seaward and dream of sailboats and rich friends (too bad it’s only a dream).  I was suddenly awakened from my dream when I realized I was looking across the bay at the only mountain in the area.  Vesuvius.  Sleeping in the haze, showing no hint of the violence it wreaked August 25^th, 79 AD.  And here we are...almost to the day 1,930 years later.  Yikes!  I hope it sleeps for a little longer. 

Okay, two worst jobs on the planet: gift shop worker on the rim of Vesuvius or chair lift operator stationed at the peak. 

Seriously, though, it’s a pretty volcano...as volcanoes go.  I’m sure it used to be really symmetrical.

But enough.  Down from the peak(s) is water just as blue as...you know that blue and white china from Amsterdam?  The water is that color blue.  It’s almost the color of my car-blue.  It’s sapphire blue (with diamond waves).  It’s blue.  And it’s got little dots of white sailboats as far as you can see. 

Doug and Silvana live in a fairly posh neighborhood that used to be the Naples countryside.  The house they live in has been chopped into three levels of very nice living space...they live on the second level...looking out across the bay.

Silvana’s in Milan today, so Doug is playing host (he’s really good at it, too).  It’s hamburgers on the patio and a relaxing afternoon.  We’ll tour Naples tomorrow, courtesy of a friend of Doug’s, but for today...maybe the beach...it’s just down the stairs.  Although Doug did ask if we wanted to watch a little TV.  I simply pointed out the window towards the bay and the view and said, “What?  Are you kidding?”