calling from some city...

Today we had a 10:49 train to Naples and then onto Sorrento. We woke up at the hotel at 9 and got our complimentary breakfast before heading to Termini train station. From there we got onto our train to Naples. We were taking a really cheap regional train so I was not expecting anything nice. Thus, I wasn’t surprised that the train was not air conditioned. It was absolutely sweltering during the ride and it wasn’t very pleasant at all- Scott and I had sweat dripping down our faces. Sara, of course, was perfectly comfortable. But halfway through the ride, I got up to use the bathroom and had to walk into the other compartments. I quickly discovered that the other compartments were air conditioned- it was just the AC in our compartment that was broken. So Scott and I immediately moved to new seats and it was a lot more comfortable. Sara stuck it out in the previous compartment until the creepy guy that was sitting across from me started to talk to her so she decided it was time to join us to escape her new “friend.”

We arrived in Naples at 1:45ish and then had to take the commuter rail-type train to Pompeii to see the ruins. Luckily, it was really easy to get on this train- but this for sure did not have air conditioning so it was back to sweating a ridiculous amount. Scott was going straight to Sorrento because he had already seen Pompeii before. Sara and I debated over whether it was worth going to; I think we all wanted a day to just relax. But we decided the ruins were something we wanted to see, even though we were exhausted and it was hot out. I didn’t see Pompeii last time and regretted that decision so we got off the train to see the site. I’m glad we made that decision- Pompeii was very cool and it’s amazing that so many parts of the site are so well preserved. I especially liked seeing the extremely well preserved theater. After a couple hours, however, everything started to look the same and we were tired so it was time to get back onto the train and head to Sorrento.

We arrived in Sorrento and after a little bit of confusion, we made it the hostel. It is AMAZING. It’s only 2 years old, and it’s very clean and nice. Our room is an 8 bed dorm but it’s HUGE and we have plenty of space and our own big lockers. They have free internet and breakfast, so we are getting a great deal. They also have a restaurant and bar that serves discounted food/drinks for people staying in the hostel, as well as a rooftop deck bar, that locals even go to, not just people staying in the hostel. We immediately met 2 guys, Chris (from Denver) and Nick (from Australia) that joined us for dinner in the hostel. The food was good and it was great getting to meet other people. Of course I love Sara and Scott, but it was nice talking to someone else for a change. We shared life stories and had an interesting discussion about American and Australian perceptions of each other- it was a pretty funny conversation. Both Chris and Nick have done quite a bit of traveling before so it was awesome hearing about their adventures. After dinner we wanted gelato, but couldn’t find a place open (it was after 10pm on a Sunday night), so instead we went to an outdoor market/festival that was going on. We got nutella crepes and listened to a singer perform for a bit before heading back to the hostel at midnight and calling it a night. It was a long, but really good day.