Naples!

So, this past weekend I was in Naples with Astrid, Jamie, Hamed, and Tn. It was my first trip away from Rome, which was both refreshing and thrilling. We took a 2 hour train ride from Roma Termini to Napoli Centrale, arriving in one of the seedier parts of the city (why are train stations always in bad places? Shouldn't the first look you get of a place be good?) Now, before we left for Naples, we were warned by not one, not two, but three different sources to "keep your wits about you", "Naples is a violent place full of criminals and organized crime", "don't trust anyone", etc. etc. And when we got off the train, not only was it raining quite heavily, but it honestly looked like we got off a train from Rome and arrived in the Bronx. We were lost, confused, wet, and cold, and couldn't help but think..."This is Nick and Ezio's favorite city??!"

Our spirits rose, however, upon finding a place to eat lunch. A place to eat...pizza. With Naples being the birth place of pizza, we were sure any restaurant would rise to our expectations. And as is customary in Italy, we each had a pizza to ourselves (well, except Tn, he's a bit scarred from a tragic overabundance of pizza in high school).

And we each ate the whole thing. As we were eating, the rain slowed and the sun came out, shining light and warmth into the restaurant, and suddenly - we were no longer in the Bronx. We were in Napoli.

After eating, we headed to the Archaeological Museum, which houses halls and halls of statues, busts, mosaics, and more, plus a huge collection of artifacts from Pompeii. It was an impressive museum, and actually the only set place we decided to visit. The rest of our trip consisted of walking around until we found something interesting, then finding out later from our Guide Book that those were the Places To Be. (Pshh...who needs guidebooks.) This method led us down Via Toledo, the main shopping street, where we began to discover how awesome Naples is. It is so much cheaper than Rome, the sales were better, the food was better, and did I mention it's cheap? A whole, good-sized pizza was only 4 euro, I got two really jackets for 10 euro each, other clothes, a cameo, and barely spent anything.

It had started to rain again by this point, and as we were walking down Via Toledo, we spotted a nearly vertical hill that of course had to be climbed. In a thunderstorm, of course. And when we reached the top of the hill, it started hailing. RISD determination right there! There were beautiful views of the city, even if it was cloudy, raining, and freezing. Although I must say, there was even more dog shit on the sidewalks than in Rome, no one picks up trash so it just sort of piles on the street, and so there is a vague odor of trash everywhere, but if you can get past that, you start noticing how beautiful everything is. The houses are so unique - each house is completely different, from the doors to the windows to the shutters to the tiles on the roof, and that's something you would never find in cookie cutter America.

We headed back down the mountain to find our hostel, which was surprisingly clean and comfortable, with a friendly English-speaking receptionist, and teenage girl-like decorations.

After relaxing for a bit, we went to dinner at a place that the receptionist recommended to us, called Nennella or something like that. It was a very...shall I say...Neapolitan place. We were placed in a tent attached to the main building that barely had space for six tables and chairs, and a small gap in between each group for the waiter to squeeze through. We were the only Americans, and it was obviously a local hangout. Loud, boisterous, and cigarette smoke-filled, with delicious, just came from your mama's kitchen, food. And it was CHEAP. 12 euro for three courses, bread, wine, water, and fruit. Though...we never got our third course, because our waiter was drunk and sort of forgot about us. Guess that's how they do it in Naples. Every time one of his tables finished, he would take a shot of some nasty, thick, brown liquor and throw it on the table to signify they were done. (Guess he had a lot of customers that night, by the time we got there!)

Second impressions of Naples: beautiful colors, lots of adorable dogs, grungy but in a good way - lived in, nice, genuine people. I honestly don't know why everyone was warning us. Never at any point did I feel unsafe or in danger - where were all the hoodlums? Where were the thieves and scammers we were promised? All I found was a city that had experienced a lot of history and lives, and had great pizza.

On the second day, we actually woke up to sun! We walked along the coast, stopping at a castle that jetted out into the middle of the bay, that had the most beautiful views of Vesuvius and the water. From that castle, if you looked up the mountain you could see Castel San Elmo, the highest point in the city. We decided to take the tram up the mountain to the second castle, but couldn't find the stop and so then...walked up the mountain. It was an endless amount of nearly vertical stairs, and an awesome way to see parts of the city that we wouldn't have seen otherwise. I felt so accomplished when we reached the top! And the views from the Castle were unreal, other-wordly, stunning, even in the rain which was now pouring and freezing.

After leaving the castle, we stopped in a little cameo store where we met this man who was a third-generation cameo maker (cameos were invented in Naples! Who knew!) He showed us photos of his grandfather and father working in the same store, told us that his nephew who also worked for him was in Japan right now teaching people how to make cameos, and then showed us his work station and the shells he uses to hand-make his cameos. He had a few in progress, and it was incredible to see! Also, we were conversing almost completely in Italian, which made me feel quite proficient! I bought a pendant, and Jamie bought something for her mom. Then we headed back down the mountain on the tram, ate four more incredible pizzas, and that was that! It was such an enjoyable trip, and great to see that other places exist outside of Rome, which was a strange feeling at first. And the small bits of sun made up for the fact that it was raining the rest of the time, though I would like to go back when it's warmer and completely sunny.

This week is visiting scholar week, and we are all lucky enough to have Mairead Byrne for poetry workshops everyday until Thursday, when we will have a performance! But more on that to come.