by Maureen | Aug 9, 2009 | Introspection, Journal, Quips
9 Agosto 2009 – Sunday. On the Northbound Train
“The Full Italian Experience”
Fellini would do a good job with this. Train ride home to Milano. (Yes, please!) Left Napoli just before 1:00. Arrived in Rome at about 2:00. Japanese passengers 1 seat away just got robbed, on board, of their wallets. (Gypsies got on the train and made a commotion about seat assignments, then took advantage of the disarray they had caused.) Afraid of further loss, the Japanese cable-locked their huge suitcase, IN the aisle-way, to their seat armrest. Spanish travelers just got on the train and couldn’t get past the big suitcase. The conductor came on board and told the theft-victims there was nothing the local authorities could do about the wallets. He asked the Japanese man to stow the suitcase at the end of the rail car. (Right! They just lost everything else. Now stow the bag out of sight and surveillance?) The baby next to me is screaming. Her Napolitana mother remembered her own Coca-cola and sandwich, but forgot the baby’s bottle.
Three hours to go.
(Written while on the train, but no internet connection available, so this is posted from the comfort of my wonderful apartment in Milano. Ahhh. Home!)
by Maureen | Aug 5, 2009 | Journal, L'Isola d'Ischia
The island of Ischia (“EES-kee-uh”) is a 45-minute boat ride off the coast from Napoli. A couple hundred passengers were seated auditorium-style in the boat as it bounced across the water westward. Clearly, several passengers had left their sea-legs behind and were having a hard time of the not-really-so-rough waters.
We arrived at 3:15 with a hot, bright afternoon sun overhead. This was clearly a resort, beach town with bathing suits and pareo-wraps standard costume for the women, and shorts and polos for the men. I’ve never seen so much skin so darkly tanned in one place, and it contrasts so nicely with white linen!
Our balcony view:
Colorful, charming and photogenic, Ischia grooms itself for the tourist. Thermal baths and spa treatments can be followed by a good meal and a stroll through town, perusing gift shops that stay open ‘til midnight. We ate the meal provided at the hotel (which was quite acceptable), then wandered along the waterfront on the large cobblestone walk between fish houses and luxury yachts. We found our way to the main street, where we sampled Limoncello in one shop then the next.
Strolling along the waterfront, restaurants lively with patrons:
As midnight rolled around and we ran out of steam for the day, we backtracked to our starting point, then hopped onto a bus packed tight with tourists. It was just a short ride up the cliffside road to our hotel. We picked up our heavy, brass-fobbed room key at the front desk, then fell into our beds for a good sleep.
A few links:
http://www.onischia.com/
http://www.ischiaonline.it/
http://www.hotellequerce.it/en/default.asp
