As I have mentioned to some of you already, today I figured out why southern Italian men wear that extra button open on top of their shirt--it's not to look cool or macho or anything--it's because it's f-ing HOT here, and that's the only way to get any air circulation going to keep you cool. In a related story, the sunburn on my chest extends further down now.
Went into downtown Napoli today to do some more exploring. My tourist Italian managed to get me pizza, beer, and water for lunch, find the bathroom, and keep me from dying of dehydration later on. Of course, I'm one of the few idiots hiking around the entire city in 93-degree weather. Got off in the heart of Naples, where of course since it was Sunday, just about everything was closed. Grabbed lunch (how come everytime I have pizza here, it's always once again the best pizza I've ever had? Gotta love living in the city that invented pizza), hiked down to and along the waterfront where there were hundreds of Neapolitans sunning themselves on the rocks, and quite a few swimming around in the harbor (eew...not sure I'd go in that water, myself). Then I figured I'd try to find the funicular train that goes up Vomero hill, the big hill in the middle of Naples, so I turned away from the waterfront and promptly got lost. Ended up hiking up said hill, winding through all these residential back alleyways and garnering suspicious looks from the little old Italian ladies hanging out their laundry. Eventually found the funicular, rode it to the top of the hill, walked around a little more, and decided to take the funicular back down to the bottom where there was a subway station conveniently situated, with a train to take me back to my car waiting at the NATO base. It's not a bad trip, actually--my apartment (once I move in) is about 10-15 minutes from the NATO base, then a 5 minute walk to the subway, then a 10-20 minute ride into downtown, depending which stop I want. They are serious about their Sundays here, though--the city was dead. When it's time to try driving around Naples, Sunday is the day to do it. I think part of it is that it's Sunday, and part of it is that everyone in the country was at the beach today.
And yes, the Naples funicular is the contraption for which "funiculi, funicula" was written.
Aren't you glad you learned something today?
Went into downtown Napoli today to do some more exploring. My tourist Italian managed to get me pizza, beer, and water for lunch, find the bathroom, and keep me from dying of dehydration later on. Of course, I'm one of the few idiots hiking around the entire city in 93-degree weather. Got off in the heart of Naples, where of course since it was Sunday, just about everything was closed. Grabbed lunch (how come everytime I have pizza here, it's always once again the best pizza I've ever had? Gotta love living in the city that invented pizza), hiked down to and along the waterfront where there were hundreds of Neapolitans sunning themselves on the rocks, and quite a few swimming around in the harbor (eew...not sure I'd go in that water, myself). Then I figured I'd try to find the funicular train that goes up Vomero hill, the big hill in the middle of Naples, so I turned away from the waterfront and promptly got lost. Ended up hiking up said hill, winding through all these residential back alleyways and garnering suspicious looks from the little old Italian ladies hanging out their laundry. Eventually found the funicular, rode it to the top of the hill, walked around a little more, and decided to take the funicular back down to the bottom where there was a subway station conveniently situated, with a train to take me back to my car waiting at the NATO base. It's not a bad trip, actually--my apartment (once I move in) is about 10-15 minutes from the NATO base, then a 5 minute walk to the subway, then a 10-20 minute ride into downtown, depending which stop I want. They are serious about their Sundays here, though--the city was dead. When it's time to try driving around Naples, Sunday is the day to do it. I think part of it is that it's Sunday, and part of it is that everyone in the country was at the beach today.
And yes, the Naples funicular is the contraption for which "funiculi, funicula" was written.
Aren't you glad you learned something today?
posted by Chris at 4:59 PM
0 Comments:
Posta un commento
<< Home