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Published: January 24th 2013
One more sweet Maxim story- as he was putting my bags into the car he spoke quietly to the driver. I had no idea what it was about since it was all in Italian. I discovered that he had mentioned to the driver my wish to see the Bay of Naples before I left the city. The area I had stayed was far away from the Bay. How, tragic, I thought to be so close and not to see that fabled vista. So off we went. Me in the back seat in awe of the interplay of traffic where motor scooters weave in and out like a swarm of deranged bumble bees. I would love to see a "run off" between scooter drivers in Italy and and those in Hanoi. Anyway, back to Angelo, my driver. He was doing a lot of bobbing and weaving himself as we headed away from the hills and soon we were on a narrow ribbon of road parallel to the harbor. Oh, and here is the best part THE SUN WAS SHINING !!!! Across the bay loomed a cone shaped mountain - the fabled Vesuvius!. I got chills just thinking that it was right there in front of me.
Angelo was clearly enjoying his new role as 'private tour guide' instead of being just a driver. He found narrower and curvier roads to go on guaranteed to produce sharp intakes of breath from passengers used to living in flatter places. He pulled off whereever he pleased and signaled for me to get out an take a picture. At one spot he motioned for me to give him the camera and he took several "ready for my closeup shots"
WITH Mt. Vesuvius hovering in the background. Sweet! But he wasn't done yet. He wound us around some James Bond thriller curves and pulled into an overlook that was being used for a movie location. No, they did not ask me to pose for them but it was fun just being in such close proximity.
The rest of the ride to Pompei was pretty bland and boring. We found
Albergo Pace (my 3rd B &B) after a bit of difficulty. That should have been clue number one. The 'staff' consisted of a young blond girl (Lublana) from the Ukraine wrapped in her jacket and scarf and clearly freezing (while sitting in the office). That should have been clue number two when a gril from the Ukraine is freezing in Italy. My room seemed fine but a bit chilly. I asked about some heat and she assured me it would be coming. Really, how many hints does one person need? The room was bare, the mattress was like a rock, the towels were so thin I can only compare it to those old linen dish towels that great Aunt Katy had that you could see through. The floors were like ice and. of course. there were no rugs or even a bath mat.
I happen to have a clock that tell you the time and temp. During the night I woke and it was 58° in my room. I had put on all the blankets I could find along with all the silk long underwear I had also 3 pairs of socks and my slippers and I still couldn't get warm. It brought back memories of my time in Seville, Spain when Val and I were studying Spanish. We were in different homes. My was in the oldest part of the town called Santa Cruz. The little old lady who owned it always kept her coat on. She lived upstairs and kept a little space heater on. Well, it took me a week of trying to convince her that I was freezing before I asked the school to move me to another house. This time I wasn't waiting another day. So yesterday on my way to the ruins in Pompei I found another hotel and moved in last night.
Well, you didn' texpect that such move would be without some drama did you? I told Lublana, who spoke a little Italian, a lot of Russian and no English why I was moving (I had written it out in very simple Italian - no heat, bed too hard, no towels, no wi fi, no internet, etc.). I told her I would pay for 2 nights even though I only stayed one. My original reservation was for 5 nights and I knew they would try to hold me to that. I asked for a receipt. She called the owner as it was clear she was panicing. After 15 minutes or so a big mean looking guy came in. He was clearly not happy - telling me I had to pay for 5 nights because that was what the reservation was for. I told him that was not going to happen. He tried to be even more intimidating and I intimidated right back. He threw his hands up and then started the "looking for a receipt book game". Another 15 minutes went by. Oh, and by this time a raging thunder and lightening storm had started -just to make things even more uncomfortable. He went upstairs, down stairs, took some phone calls... all the while I'm waiting. I finally threated to walk out and give him nothing if he didn't write something fast. And, voila! miraculously he found the book he was looking for. I asked him if he treated all his customers so rudely and he just sort of growled. I hope he reads the review I left on Trip Advisor. He deserves to go out of business as nothing written about the place was true. I did tell him that Lublana tried very hard and that none of this was her fault.
I took my bags and went out to the street and looked in vain for a taxi. What is it about rain and taxis disappearing? I waited in some covered eaves for about 15 minutes and finally figured out the only way I was getting to my new hotel, the lovely AND WARM Santa Caterina, was by walking, in heavy rain, thunder, lightening through now 4 inch deep puddles. Picture an much older Gene Kelley slogging through the rain hauling a couple of suitcases - not so pretty or perky. But I made it! My new room was blessedly warm. I hung everything up to dry and congratulated my self on being smart enough to get the hell out of that other place.
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Erica
non-member comment
WOW!
So glad that you got to have your picture taken with Vesuvius (I want to see that one) and that you got out of that crappy hotel.