Getting to Gragnano

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A few days since an update, so here is what has been happening...

Thursday I did some more general wandering around Rome, a few more churches that I hadnt been to and found myself checking out the Pantheon again. Just so damn impressive 😊 I went to the Vittoria building again for a look around but couldnt bring myself to pay the 7 euro to go up to the very top. Looked like a pensioner fest anyway. Wandered around the Capitoline Hill, amazing how so much stuff is jam packed in there. The museum in the Campildoglia was pretty good, lots of old Roman stuff and rooms done up my Michelangelo and others. It even has a tunnel under the square in the middle which links to the tabularium, which was where they stored the tablets that laws were written on in the old days.

Was in agony from my back by the time I got back to the hostel, pigged out on the pasta and chatted all night with a girl from Sydney. Sleep in Friday morning, then on a train south. A few Italians on the train were warning me to keep a close check on my belongings when I got to Napoli, and I got the tip to take the funiclar up to the castel to get a good view over the city and bay, which turns out I was lucky to get a clear day and could see all the way to Sorrento. By the afternoon couldnt see anywhere near that far.

After Rome, Naples is even more chaotic and very messy. Piles of rubbish in the street and I dont just mean a pile next to a garbage bin, I mean about 10 skip bins worth, stinking away. Turns out that they have a garbage collection problem lol. They have been sending their rubbish to Germany where it processed to produce energy somehow, then that energy is sold back to Italy... they want to stop that but the people that live near the place where they want to make a dump (or processing plant) keep protesting about the dump so it doesnt start. And thirdly, the Napoli mafia controls the company that has the garbage collection contract, and every year they apparently go on strike when it warms up *shrug*. This has resulting in people setting fire to the piles of rubbish to clear it away and I dont know if it is just from that but there is lots of smoke hanging over the Bay, like when we have bushfires back home. At the moment you have no chance of seeing the close island in the Bay, let along Capri.

The driver of the bus to Gragnano was a bit dubious when I got on the bus, he made sure I knew it was going to Gragnano. The rest of the people on the bus looked a little surprised as well. The first part of the bus ride was alright on the autostrada, just a few people breaking down causing traffic problems like on the F3 to Sydney. The fun started when we were off the autostrada and getting into the suburbs like Castelladamare... the streets very narrowing, scooters and pedestrians getting more numerous and random driving increasing.

Rule #1 for Italian bus driving: have a fucking loud horn to not only blast at other people parked on the side of the road or pedestrians, but give a warning to people coming the other way when approaching a blind corner at full speed, because they tend to take the racing line... thats everyone, including the bus.

That bus driver deserves a medal for getting a full size coach through those streets without hitting anything. I wouldve been very dubious just taking my car through slowly yet he flew through. Balls of steel is what you need here. Every scooter tries to overtake then chop back in when they have passed, if people want to turn through the oncoming traffic they just go, no waiting for a gap. And if you want to walk across the road you just go, assume people will slow down for you. Want something from the shop? Remember it is all OK if you put on your hazard lights when you double park to go into the shop. It really is anything goes. Helmets? Seatbelts? Road rules? Optional. Now Im not surprised when I see a mum driving the scooter and a 3 year old sitting behind her holding onto her jacket, not wearing a helmet. On the back because there already is another kid standing between mum's legs.

Anyway got off the bus at Piazza Marconi and found Luca's family's house. He and his sister, who is also on couchsurfing made me feel welcome right away 😊 From the balcony they have nice view over the bay of naples and it wasnt long before some friends came around, which seems to be the pattern, always someone visiting, would drive Dad nuts lmao

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