A Hostel Environment

Three new posts: Naples, Florence, Venice Part Two. Pictures Tomorrow (left the camera downstairs).

Crossing the street in Naples is something I hope to never do again. But I suppose I have to leave. The cars do not stop. That’s not an exaggeration, or a joke, it’s just how it is. I think you need to do it, here or in some overcrowded third-world city. Is there a difference? We imagine it’s like this in India, but with rickshaws instead of motorcycles and cars. The occasional stop sign or street light is decorative, and it’s not like there are breaks in traffic. What pedestrians actually must do is hold their breath and just walk into traffic, trusting that the cars and motorcycles will brake or swerve.

In other cities with crazy drivers we think: “Wow, could you imagine learning how to drive here.” In Naples, forget learning how to drive, how do kids learn how to cross the street! I imagine that parents have to do more than just say “look both ways.” It’s gotta be like “OK, so, if you see only four motorcycles, and they appear to be more than three meters out from the crosswalk, you can wait or run. Decide quick and if you resolve to cross, don’t stop, or you will die. Now, if you see two motorcyclists and three cars coming from opposite directions, with one delivery truck crossing the median…”

Or, the opposite is more likely true. They just walk, and without fear, and that’s normal.

I think I just heard gunfire outside.

Chaos!

What an odd Thanksgiving.

We keep forgetting it is Thanksgiving. A friend wrote me an email on Tuesday wishing me to eat a leg of tofurkey for him and I had no idea why he said that until someone else at the end of a work call said “Have a nice Thanksgiving.”

For Thanksgiving, then, we had pizza, from the most well-reputed pizza place in Naples, the most well-reputed pizza city. If you’ve read Eat, Love, Pray, the author goes on about it there.

Naples is a much, much less touristy and more poor city than Florence, Venice or Rome. There’s two million people here. It sits on the invisible latitude separating the northern first world from the southern second and third. It really feels situated in both. Did you know that there were over 100 mob-related murders here in the last year alone?

Our only concern is pickpockets. We’ve even seen an attempt on the street. There are so many aimless people with angry faces that you don’t want to bump into.

We’re staying at our first hostel tonight, as Carleton alumni have made our budgets big enough, at least until Italy collapsed it a bit again. Anyway, this hostel is rated one of the ten best in the world by Hostel World, and it’s easily one of the best places we’ve stayed at. We have a private double for fifty euro that comes with a TV and DVD player, and there’s a whole library of awesome DVD’s. They have wine nights here, and pizza nights, and all sorts of things we’re going to miss since we’re only staying one night. Everything is spotlessly clean, unlike Florence, and the power works, unlike Venice. We get a free map and the woman at the front desk told us what we should visit, when and how to get there. This hostel is anti-Napoli, as far as my impression of the city goes.

Tomorrow, Amalfi. Today, no pictures of Naples, as we arrived after dark, and would probably have the camera snatched the second we took it out anyway. Check here and here for some idea of what it is like.