Thursday 21st: going to Napoli

I woke up and had a fairly casual amount of time to get ready for the train to Napoli. It's fairly easy to pack up my stuff because I just squash it into my bag.

This is the second hostel in Rome that I'm checking out of on this day. Quite clean and not too bad. Just doesn't really have internet, and has no kitchen.

I'd bought a train ticket probably the previous day. When I bought the ticket, I used the touch screen computers. They have lots of these in the Roma Termini train station which is the main station in Roma. While making my way through the screens, making sure I had it all correct, a lady came up to my and started pushing random buttons on the screen. I was very confused. At first I thought that she was attempting to help me, as though I didn't understand which button to push since I am a tourist. Then I realised that it would be more accurate to say that she was just deranged. I quickly snapped out of initial confusion and then got annoyed because she'd possibly messed up my careful checking to make sure I'd got it all right. I pushed her away. Then she looked at me with hopeful eyes and asked for money. I said no. Then I started buying my ticket again, from the beginning, feeling a little annoyed although the screens were more familiar to me now so I could do it faster. After I'd finished, the lady came up to me again and asked for money. I was really annoyed at the ridiculous attitude of this person so I ignored her.

I'm fairly happy to be moving on from Rome. I've spent too long in the city.

I got my stuff packed up and then walked to the train station. The train station is only about two blocks from this hostel so it's an easy walk. I think I picked up some food from somewhere and then found my train. I had a comfortable amount of time. It was good.

I didn't have an assigned seat for this train. I couldn't see the option when I was buying the ticket. I think that sometimes you just have to pay extra if you want to be guaranteed a seat. So when I found the train, I waited outside for a while so that I wouldn't be getting in the way of the people who actually had a seat. My bag is bulky, so it's difficult to let people past if I'm standing in the narrow train corridor.

I got on the train with about 5 minutes before it was supposed to leave. There were lots of people standing in the corridors so it looked like a seat probably wouldn't be free for me. Oh well. I thought it would be fun to have this different experience. I stood in the area at the end of the train by the door to the train.

There I met a guy from Australia. He is from Melbourne. He is a chef. He did some time working in England in a town near oxford. Now he is doing a little bit of travelling and will be getting back to Australia in a few days time.

I got off the train. In Rome people try and sell you things on the street. In Napoli, lots more people try and sell you things on the street. But during my time in Napoli, I found that these people were less annoying than the people in Roma. People in Napoli seem more friendly. I enjoyed it there...

The walk to the hostel was a little long and annoying though. It was sometimes frustrating because people were stopping often to look at the stuff that people were selling, while I wanted to walk to my hostel as fast as I could. According to google earth it was only about 2km. But it felt a little longer.

I finally got to the general area and my dodgy hand drawn map worked again. For a while I thought it wouldn't. I was standing in the area where I thought it should exist, but it didn't seem to. But it was there. I just had to concentrate a little bit to find the sign to indicate it.

The people at the hostel seem really nice. This hostel has an approval rating of something like 94% I think. on www.hostelworld.com. It has been voted as one of the best hostels in the world, so I was excited to stay here, after having been at two not so great ones in Rome. The person checking me in went through a bunch of stuff and asked me what I was hoping to do in Naples and then offered me suggestions and advice on how I can do those things. It was really nice. I really enjoyed my stay in the hostel. It is called 'hostel of the sun'. In Naples.

I spent a little bit of time relaxing. I was feeling very tired. Then I had to go out and get food because I was very hungry. Also, Naples is the place where pizza was invented. So that's another reason that I should start eating it as soon as possible.

Really cool narrow streets in this area where the best pizza is supposed to exist. Down these streets you will see cars, scooters, trucks, and people. The vehicles beep their horn before driving through. The scooters don't bother too much to slow down. The cars probably wouldn't either, but they're forced to. Someone would die if they didn't slow down.

First pizza I got in Naples. After the terrible food in Rome, this is a delightful vision. This might even be better than the pizza I cook. But mine is better in different ways.

This car is parked grinded against this other car as though that is perfectly okay. Note that this car seems to be owned by the people running my hostel...

I went back into the hostel and resumed relaxing. I met two girls from Ireland. They are really nice. They've just finished school so they're doing some travelling.