Italia

OK, so Italy is a blast. My friend and I landed at the airport in Naples on Monday afternoon. We're staying at a friend's place neat Pouzulli, but she's out of town. Instead, we met Jay, the proverbial friend-of-a-friend. I thought he was going to drive us there, but instead he said, "You'll drive Jen's car, just follow me".

Now the first rule of travelling in far-off countries is NEVER DRIVE YOURSELF. It probably illegal, there are local customs and habits that are unfamiliar, and if you get in an accident, you might be arrested "until the dust settles".

Anyway, about twenty miles later, I lost Jay going through a toll booth, missed the exit, and ended up going around a traffic circle many, many times. Eventually we stopped at a gas station, where no one spoke English. My friend Anne was able to get some directions with the aid of a dictionary. I'm sure some day this story will morph into a version where I trade my friend for directions, but in this version she saved the day. We never regained our bearings, but we ended up at another traffic circle where Jay found us. Now the trip got interesting....

We followed Jay up a path into the hills. This road was paved, but the kind of crumbling pavement that's worse then a dirt road. In most places the route was only wide enough for one car, so there's a lot of honking, backing up, and folding of mirrors are vehicles scrape past each other. In short, driving in this country has probably taken a few years off my life, just from the stress and frission.

Today we went to the Museo Archeologico Nazionale. It is billed as one of the greatest museums in the world, and its collection is unique, but the building and presentation is unsatisfactory. Hopefully, visiting Pompeii directly will be better. Oh, the trains DO NOT run on time in Naples.

Basically, I'm beginning to wonder if Italy is part of the First World, especially when they start to burn the trash. On the other hand, adapting the local attitude seems ideal for a vaction. No worries, no hurries!