Monday 25th: Leaving Napoli, going to Berlin

I'm a bit behind on writing blogs, so I'm only writing this on 11th May. I probably can't remember as many specific things.

I probably woke up sometime on this day. I ate breakfast and then I think I had a comfortable amount of time before I had to get to the train station. I have learnt that sometimes I really appreciate not being in a big rush to catch a train in time. I find those things bother me a bit.

I walked to the train station. The streets were very deserted. My route to the train station is the same as the one I took after I arrived. On leaving the town, my thoughts on the place are different to when I came in. When I arrived I was feeling quite tired and not very enthusiastic after not enjoying Rome very much. Maybe because of this, I thought this place looked a bit similar and not so good. But in contrast, I've found Napoli to be quite a nice place. The people seem more friendly. The food is much better. The tourists are present, but less annoying. I think I would like to go back to Napoli sometime, and more of the south of Italy. The girls from Scotland visited an island called Capri for the day while they were here. I think that would have been great.

The streets were mostly deserted probably because it is easter monday and according to wikipedia, Napoli has one of the highest percentage of catholic people.

I got onto the train. I was in a compartment with only Italian speaking people. (I had a seat this time) They had already put their luggage in the racks above the seats and there wasn't really room for my bag. After a few awkward moments they discovered that I don't speak any Italian. None of them spoke English really. But it was okay. They shifted around some stuff and I was able to lift my heavy bag up over their nervous bodies and then that was done. During the train ride I experienced again the cultural phenomenom that seems to exist here sometimes where people stare straight at your face for an indefinite length of time, contemplating your general appearance, not bothered by your obvious uneasiness. But I think I was feeling in good spirits this journey, so I found the whole thing fairly amusing.

I listened to a good deal of Fredrik Thordendal again on this trip. I can't get enough of his funky layering of different time signatures. A guy came through all the cabins trying to sells random tourist junk. Key rings, and cigarette lighters. Amazingly, the people in the cabin with me bought some of his stuff. While that was happening, a guy behind him in the corridor played at peeking into his bag, rummaging around to see what's in there. The guy selling stuff eventually noticed and the guy behind made a friendly gesture to suggest that he was just mucking around.

I got to Rome and then walked to the place where you catch the train to the airport. (I decided to fly out of Rome airport instead of Napoli airport since going out from Napoli would have meant two flights with an 11 hour stopover) I had no specific train that I was supposed to catch, just a ticket valid for one journey to the airport any time within the space of a few weeks. (when buying this ticket, it was interesting that 20 euros was saved by buying these two tickets, Napoli-Rome, Rome-Airport, separately...)

I thought I might be able to catch the train that was leaving in a few minutes. But the platform dedicated to the airport train is a huge distance from the start of the main platforms. Oh well. I bought a 'focaccia' thing from a shop by the platform. It gets single quotes because it is more like toasted bread with tomato paste smothered inside. It only loosely fits the description of the food, I think. Typical of the low quality perpetually-kept-warm food that seem to be the only kind I can find in Rome. But from past experience, this one is edible.

Then I caught the train. A man walked by all the cabins asking for money. I told him no, and so did the lady next to me. I wonder how he managed to pay for a train ticket that is express to the airport, if not to catch a plane then I know not what, but still needs to beg for money.

I got to the airport and I decided it might be a good time to see if I could find out how I will get from Berlin airport to the hostel I was staying at, tonight. But the internet wasn't really working at the airport. After getting checked in I bought some chocolate, since it's easter.

I got on the plane and it took off. I finished reading All Quiet on the Western Front while on this plane. I got this book for free in a museum in Leeds. I really enjoyed it. It is about some German soldiers during world war two. Among other things it shows how the people fighting these wars are ordinary people pulled into the mess, the horrible experiences they have to go through for no advantage to themselves and how it destroys them from the inside. I found it to be very sad and well worth reading.

A littlewhile later we landed in Berlin.

We flew over the alps. They look quite amazing.

I got into Berlin. Everything seemed quite relaxed and under control. Nice calm vibe. They had a tourist information desk. I asked the lady if she could help my find out how I could get to my hostel. She was very helpful. She took the street address I gave her, looked it up using google.com/transit or something like that, then gave me a map of the train network showing me which train I need to get on and where to get off. So I walked to the train station which was about 10 minutes walk away, via a covered walkway, and then caught some trains to the hostel.

Uhoh. dll error.

It all looks fairly German: clean, efficient, and all that stuff. My first impressions of Germany are that it looks like a really nice place.

The train journey was great. The trains are very quiet and run smoothly. There seem to be lots of patches of forest along the way. I got to my hostel. It looks fairly nice as well. As I went in I met an Australian guy. He's from Perth.

When I got in it was about 7 or 8pm so I decided to take it a little easy and figure out where I was going next. I've only booked two or three nights in this hostel I think, so I have to work out the next bit fairly soon.