Hurry up and Wait

Sunday, May 30, 2010

As for the Romans, when we were leaving the “Yes Hotel” and walkingtowards the train station we met a group of four Romans, about our age,still out from the night before drinking on the street at 5am. As wepassed by, one of the guys said to us, “I would move out of your way, butmy legs won’t move!” Once again in our “mom” jeans and cardigans, we justlaughed and kept walking towards the train station.

The Rome train station is a bit scary at 5:30 in the morning, whilepurchasing our tickets two guys approached and tried to exchange suitcaseswith Allayna. He said that he wanted to have the pink one; to say theleast this was not the most comforting start to our morning! Using ourtickets we took the train from Rome to Naples. It took us about two hoursfor the trip. While riding it was nice to see the Italian countryside.

When we got to Naples we had to switch trains in order to get to Sorrento. The train station in Naples was very busy and somewhat scary. Whilewaiting we think some young kids (probably pick-pocketers) may have beenplotting against us, but we outsmarted them and had no problems! With ourcombined 320 pounds of luggage we ended up having to stand for the hourride to Sorrento. We weren’t only ones standing at the back of the traincar, there was a group of young Italian boys trying their hardest toimpress us American girls. We couldn’t understand anything that they weresaying, but they were pointing, laughing, singing, doing pull-ups, andflexing their muscles. Needless to say this gave us nothing but a goodlaugh, and a little boost to the self esteem.

Arriving in Sorrento we were so impressed with how well we thought we weredoing on time, but this slowly changed. We walked right up to the busticket window and bought ourselves a ticket, walked out to the bus stopsand got in a long line. A friendly local Italian lady that worked withthe bus company walked over to help us and told us we were in the wrongline. Not only were we in the wrong line, but it was Sunday and it seemsthat Italy closes on Sunday as buses do not run as frequently. We realizedthis after waiting for about an hour for the bus to come. We thoughteverything would be fine because she called the hotel and had them sendout the shuttle to pick us up, but the shuttle took an hour to arrive. This means that we were sitting on the curb with our 320 pounds of luggagefor over 2 hours; talk about a long day!

Now that we have been up and traveling for 8 hours to make a 2 hour trip,we finally arrived at our hotel. Upon arrival at La Vue D’Or Hotel theviews are breathtaking. Our room is also very nice, although not asconvenient as our hotel in Rome, as our hotel was up a mountain on theoutskirts of Sorrento. Here we only have one of everything, but it ismore than sufficient. After dropping off our bags and a quick freshen upwe headed back to the train station and hopped on a train to Naples. Wewere really excited about eating pizza in its birthplace, but we had arude awakening upon arrival!

Naples is supposedly the second best city in Italy after Rome, but when wegot off the train at the Naples station we were warned by a local to holdour bags VERY tight. This made us just a little paranoid, but we weredetermined and ventured out into the city. The city is dirty, there istrash everywhere; there are markets on the street, but no tables, they laytheir goods on the sidewalk. We were adamantly in search of Da Michelles,because word has it that they have the best pizza in town. We walked(almost ran) around the city for 10 or 15 minutes looking for thepizzeria, asked several hotel workers, and then found out that it wasSunday and Da Michelles was closed. So…we quickly headed back to thetrain station and decided Sorrento would be a safer place to eat.

Once we got back to Sorrento, we decided to wander the streets to see whatwas in store. We immediately fell in love with this city. It’sbeautiful, everyone is so friendly and most importantly we feel safe. Wefound a local pizzeria and stopped for an early dinner. Unlike inAmerica, you have to pay a lot for drinks here, and get no refills. However we got a great deal for dinner…although it was still consideredlunch time in Italy (it was 5:30)! We thought we were ordering pizza bythe slice but got a WHOLE pizza for each of us. We all really enjoyed thepizza although it’s a little different than what you would get at home. They aren’t really big on toppings, traditionally only offering a cheesepizza. The service here is also very different, you seat yourselves andthe waiters don’t do much more than take your order and bring your food. You have to get their attention if you need something and wait forever forit to come, especially the check. It’s very obvious that time is not atop priority to Italians.

After dinner we headed out to explore some more of Sorrento; we went inseveral local shops along the streets. Leather is almost like a commodityhere, it’s everywhere. Southern Italy is also known for its citrusfruits, especially lemons. There are citrus groves all along the streetsand lemon gifts in every shop. I think we all love this town so muchbecause it reminds us of a quaint little southern town like home.

Unlike home however, there are absolutely NO traffic laws…except for maybethat you have to have a license plate. People generally drive in theright direction but they are all over the road, pass at any time and usetheir horns like we use our seat belt…constantly. However, their hornsdon’t mean the same thing as ours. They use theirs as caution, to letothers know they are coming, while we use ours as a sign of road rage. Europeans also drive little scooters around or use public transportation,we think it’s rare that people have their own cars; if they do have theirown car more than likely it will be a smart car.

After exploring Sorrento we took the shuttle back to the hotel. Let mebring to your attention once more that grandparents were getting off thebus in town as we were getting on. Ha! When we got back, we found out theinternet that was supposed to be available in our hotel was currently outof service…that’s why you haven’t heard from us for a few days. Meredithpassed out immediately since she hadn’t had any sleep for the month ofMay, while the other girls attempted to use the makeshift computer in thelobby.

After a long day of travel, we definitely learned patience is a virtue.