it's hard to mess up a pizza, right? All it really is is crust, tomato sauce, and cheese afterall. But if Naples has taught me anything, it's that us north Americans have been messing up pizza for years.
This morning we checked out of our hotel in sorrento, and hopped on the 8:45am train to Pompeii. At our stop, my mom got off the train before me, but my bag got stuck on a seat. She exited the train, and the doors were closing with I was still on the train (it was one of those intense, slow mo moments), but then a man saw me struggling and he stuck his foot in the door. Disaster averted. After giving our luggage to some man who locked it in his back storeroom (this arrangement was questionable), we headed to the ancient city of Pompeii.
Pompeii is a city that is thousands of years old, and it met it's end when mt. Vesuvius erupted. The city became burried under 6m of ash, crushing buildings and people. Anyone left alive was soon killed by the toxic gas that followed. Then there were the earth quakes, but everyone was dead by then. Consequently, the ash preserved everything, and the preserved town was what we walked through.
It was quite remarkable how sophisticated the concepts were in Pompeii. There was a market street with pizza shops, bakeries, and little shops. There were many many houses and you could just imagine how grand they were. We saw theatres, forums, and parks. We even hopped a stone wall to see the preserved body casts of pompeiians in the last moments of their lives. It was a huge sight, and it took us several hours to walk through it. And I'm not even convinced we saw everything. Once we were done there, we hopped on our second short train of the day, this one to Naples.
Upon arrival in Naples, our first goal was to find a place to lock our luggage. Finding said place wasn't a problem. What happened after was.
There was a German couple in front of us, and the Italian luggage man. Neither spoke English. From what we gathered, we were waiting for the police to come to approve the Germans because they didn't have passports on them. After some waiting the police arrived, and that was only the beginning. The couple took a good 15 minutes to have their luggage approved, and in the meantime mom and I met two Aussie backpackers and they were super cool. They talked all about their month in Africa and some crazy experiences. Dad, don't bother to pick us up from the airport on Saturday. Mom and I are going to Botswana.
Finally we were let into the luggage room, and it turns out we are criminals in disguise or something. The police made us take everything out of our bags we wanted to store so they could see it. Once we had the understanding that our possessions consisted of clothes, shoes, and underwear, the next part of our search commenced: the criminal record check. They took mom's passport and called the embassy to make sure she wasn't a criminal in disguise. I don't know what the deal was, its not like we are your typical 'live on the wrong side of the law' type. And keep in mind, all we were trying to do was store our luggage for 3 hours.
But inconveniences aside, we were ready to use the few hours before our train to Rome to explore the city of Naples.
3 words to describe Naples: dirty, smelly, and insane.
Let's start with dirty.
There was garbage everywhere. Through the whole trip, we have been observing how much cleaner Greece is then Italy. But Naples put this into extremes. I can't even describe the mess.
As for the smell, I would say it was a nice combination of pee and fish. Not pleasant at all, believe me.
And lastly, the insanity. Everything was crazy. The styles, the shops, and the people. There was something really off about alot of the people there. And also, the traffic. Cars everywhere, driving fast and never stopping. You see a crosswalk? Well I can promise you that the driver doesn't see it.
Our exploration of Naples brought us down what looked like a street full of shopping stalls. There were some very interesting things being sold there. When I say interesting, I mean saddles, dead fish, and your usual assortment of household junk. We decided to stick to the main street after that.
I have to admit, Naples has some great shopping when you know where to look. Clothes, shoes, anything you could want, Naples has it. I bought boots, which was stupid because I already don't have room in my luggage. But I have planned it out: on the airplane I can wear 3 shirts, my 3 sweaters, and I may even be able to squeeze into 2 pairs of pants. This is how I justified my purchase today.
Anywho, after this we decided that it was time to eat. And seeing as Naples is the birthplace of pizza, we knew exactly what we would be having for dinner.
At out hotel, I had googled the best pizza in Italy, coming up with the name of a pizzeria in Naples. We decided we would settle for nothing but the best. Therefor, we headed to Da Michele.
Apparently during dinnertime, it's impossible to get a table. I've heard there get to be lineups up to 50 people waiting for their pizza. So we went for an early dinner to avoid this.
Da Michele only has 2 types of pizza: margarita and marinara. We decided to stay with the most classic of the classic: margarita. We also opted for the regular amount of cheese option and not for extra to keep it as original as possible.
Im not much of a pizza person, and I can't even describe this pizza. American pizza is a very poor substitute. We make terrible pizzas and load lots of cheese on to make it edible; Italians have done it right. They make incredible crusts, spread it with tomato sauce and olive oil, and put on a light sprinkle of cheese. Let's just say the pizzas at Da Michele live up to their reputations. So. Good.
So after we had this once-in-a-lifetime indulgence, we headed back to the train station to retrieve our bags and catch our 7:17 train to Rome. It was a much more uneventful ride then last time, and within 3 hours we were back and checked in to our hotel in Rome. Pretty full day, and another one tomorrow.