1st day in Napoli

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Hey all

Just arrived in Naples today, and to say it is different to tuscany would be a major understatement! it is wicked tho, the kind of place we like, full of life and never stops. that applies to the mentality of the drivers on the roads sadly too, and therefore brings a new meaning to the phrase "see naples and die", as this is a very real reality every time u try and cross the road!
its a buzzing city though, and having dumped our stuff at the hostel (which is on the 5th (!) floor of building, we wandered round our area, which is bang smack in the middle of the old town district, and hit a bar which sells beers for 1 euro! as a result, spelling mistakes may appear throughtout this entry!
Our last 2 days in tuscany were ace. on the sunday, we did the van tour organised by the hostel, and it was ace. the driver was a guy our age, and we had a right hoot with him for the day! we did san gim, then lunch at a great place he knew off the beaten track, where we had the best pasta i have ever had, home made and amazing. we were the only foriegners in there, which is always a good indication that ur guna get good local grub in my opinion. it was at the front of a farm, and all the food they served, even the wine, was made from the stuff grown on the farm. the type of place rick stien would love! then we hit a couple of other medieval towns, by which time after lunch we were best of friends with gaicamo, our driver, who was a big fan of football and 60s rock n roll, so of course we had plenty to chat about. he was ace, coz he was a student as well, doing a course in florence to become a tour guide in tuscany, so he knew loads of stuff which we would never would no otherwise. inbetween journeys we had the best of the rolling stones blasting out out the minivan, and i explained to him the meaning behind "lola", which amused him greatly. we ended up spending the evening with him and his pals in certaldo, and had a truely italian evening, having great food then watching the fiorentina vs inter match on the tele with the village elders. it was a great night.
monday we did florence, and the weather couldnt have been better. great sun and great views after climbing the amazing duomo. arth got a bit scared as he doesnt like heights, but he managed ok. when we got back on the ground, we had a local florentine lunch of tripe sandwiches, which was better than expected. ever kerry eat it all, which i wasnt expecting! a good day all round tho.
and that brings us up to today, so until next time, ciao! love to all, alex

ps tried to put pics on , but this comp isnt having it! sorry!

Hi

Its me. Alex pretty much covered major events but thought I'd say hi as he has done all the writing so far. It's going really well, I wouldn't say I'm a natural backpacker but i'm doing OK. Helped a lot by the fact that its pretty quiet being out of season so we pretty much have most places to ourselves. this was especially good in Tuscany as we had free run of t whole villa with nassive fireplace and everything. Sometimes works against us though, like when alex invited the owner of the villa and his assistant round for dinner and I had to make risotto for Italians!!!! it seemed to be Ok though, they ate it anyway. have met some characters, Alessandro, the owner, is the disenchanted son of a v.rich family who seems a bit upset that his brothers have gome of to live glamourous lives while he's left behinìd to run the villa. Sajeve, his Sri Lankan assistant was great. Famously had to leave the Socialist disco for an hour due to his "gassy stomach".
Anyway, we're getting hungry for pizza now so best be off. xx Kerry

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