The Adventures of Kim & Kelly begin

Kim and I did not schedule a 7am flight to Naples, but Vueling Airlines decided to change our flight. The buses don’t run that early so we took a 35euro cab to the airport. As I mentioned, both of us were running on about 2 hours of sleep, so we were pretty delirious for our travels. We made it through the airport with no problems and found our bus in Naples to take us to the train station. The train station was a little more difficult than the airport. We were looking for the luggage check, which we found after going up/ down/ in/ out for a bit. Then trying to find our train to get to a main street in Naples. Note: If you are stuck in the train station do not ask the information lady behind the desk. She is behind a glass, and does not talk to you through the microphone…so that was useless. After more and more and more roaming (I think we spent an hour trying to find the right train), we jumped on the subway for one stop (FREE RIDE!) to the main street where the adventures of two delirious people continued.

Thanks to Rick Steves we had a nice self-guided tour down Via Pessina where we did a bit of shopping, found the cutest little coffee shop, Caffe Mexico. This place is so cute and local. These towns (Naples, Sorrento, Positano) are filled with more natives than tourists! There were old men sitting outside playing cards around a table, Italian fights (aka LOUD TALKING) happening on the streets, food stands (Arrincini!! Which I haven’t had yet, but will!! And super disgusting-looking split hot dog sandwiches?), and market stands up and down the streets. So fun and different. We even found a bottle of delicious table wine for 1 euro.

We tried to take the brief, brisk walking hour tour (According to Rick Steves), but ended up at the Castle in Naples/ Port anyway (again the no street signs make walking very confusing). We eventually made our way back towards the train station, and stopped in the cutest little restaurant that served vegetables like a little salad bar (except the veggies were coated in olive oil and salt and deliciousness). Everybody is very friendly and all the Italianos love Kim and I regardless of how gross we look. But being hollered at on the street when they say “Bella” is just so much nicer than back in the states.

We finished exploring Naples, and were ready for round two of the train station. After making it through the gates for our train, we found out that the train ride was an hour long and there were no bathrooms on board. One train worker told me I could re-enter with my train ticket so I could exit the boarding zone to pee. Trains ETA: 5 minutes. Location of the bathroom: Opposite side of the station. I sprinted to the other side of the train station. Right in front of the bathroom were about 7 policias and a crowd of people. A man thrown to the ground in handcuffs and a girl crying… I wasn’t exactly sure what was going on, but I assume it was a pickpocket attempt of some variation. It seemed like the situation was under control so I zipped through, paid my 1 Euro to pee (ridiculous!!!) And sprinted back in time to catch the next train out.

A one hour train ride, you are thinking Chicago Metra….. no. I mean we have been on some really nice trains in France and Spain. Nicer than Chicago trains and Els. But this was just … ugh. Very hot and very gross. There were windows for a breeze, but no A/C,

and

When we made it to Sorrento we hiked down a lot of stairs and more stairs and down rocky/ stone roads. (Therefore, we struggled immensely with our luggage =) ) Found Hotel Meridiana and SHOWERED!! Then we checked out our surroundings and found the local super market to stock up on water, snacks, and of course CANDY! We discovered these green seeds that we loved because they were extra salty.

(our own in room mini bar)

After a long journey we searched the nameless streets for David’s Gelateria because everyone eat gelato everyday (or just us).

Still on Barcelona schedule, we ventured out to find food at 10pm. Of course we were side tracked by all the shops and searching for limoncello shops on Corsco Italia (the main street). Then Kim and I strolled along to where was supposedly Marina Grande. The directions were not very clear from anyone (very typical Italian directions) and we ended up wandering down a random windy road with some people from New York (who were.. interesting to say the least. The guy was drunk and super chatty, and his girlfriend didn’t speak. We think their story was that they broke up somewhere along the trip or realized they don’t really like each other but they are stuck on this trip together so he get super drunk, and she hated him.)

Anyway, we finally arrived at Marina Grande which was beautiful (obviously) and a handful of cute restaurants lined the shore. We looked at a few menus and choose one of our hotel concierge favorites’, Tazzera Arruzza. Our waiter loved us and brought us some free bread and brushetta. We had tasty bottle of white wine that we LOVED!!! Filighina! And great food. (Grilled Vegetables, Grilled Squid, and an Omlette). It was a very romantic date.

We then took a bus back up to the main street (thank god!) The bus driver was so nice, he waited just for us since it was the last bus and didn’t charge us for the ride. Our waiter, Genoa, recommended a piano bar near Piazzo Tasso, near our hotel. We stopped in to the cute club, with it’s super cute Italian waiter (with a nose ring) and had some over sized glasses of limoncello.

We called it a night, headed home to our room (where are room light was flashing blue and our hotel concierge, “Francesco”—real name, still can’t remember but its not even close to Francesco).

Observations:

• Clubs are not clubs like Chicago, they are very nice and calm, Bars are more like Cafes, and Discotecas are actuallyclubs.
• You can look really gross and Italians still love you.
• Kim and I are double lucky people on this trip. Knock on wood. Things just continue to work out very perfectly.
• Shirts translated from Italian to English are very funny. (They have typos and say ridiculous things i.e “Let’s make out.”.)