Sorrento to Naples June 14

                                                          June 14                                Trip to Date

Miles Walked                                      10.1                                              378.0

Feet Climbed                                       380                                             40,570

Song of the Day:  Street Life by Randy Crawford and the Crusaders

I play the streetlife because there's no place I can go
Streetlife, it's the only life I know
Streetlife and there's a thousand parts to play
Streetlife until you play your life away
You let the people see, just who you wanna be
And every night you shine just like a superstar

That's how the life is played a ten cent masquerade
You dress, you walk, you talk, you're who you think you are
Streetlife, you can run away from time

This morning, we took a 1 hour train ride on the "Circumvesuviana" from Sorrento to Naples.  This is the train that runs around the bay of Naples, with Mt Vesuvious/Pompei about halfway between Naples and Sorrento.  The train is often called the pickpocket express because of all the petty crime that goes on.  The train was jam packed and hot.  Fortunately, we didn't get robbed, although we heard stories of people who did.  

After arriving in Naples, we walked about a mile and a half to our hotel.  We are staying in a nice hotel, but Naples is a pretty rough, industrial town.  Almost all the buildings are covered in graffiti and there is trash everywhere.  Naples is Europe's most densely populated city, with a population of about 1 million in the city itself, and 3.2 million in the metro area.  It also has the highest crime rate in Italy and an unemployment rate of about 35%.  Apparently the mafia is very active in Naples.  Sounds inviting!  

The streets in Naples are packed, with lots of teenagers and younger people.  I couldn't help but think of the excellent Crusaders song Streetlife when out walking today.  This song was from the late 70's, but was also featured in the outstanding 1997 Quntin Tarentino movie "Jackie Brown" (adapted from the Elmore Leonard novel).  We were warned in several articles and by other people to be careful when walking in Naples.  At one point today, Linda thought she had a short cut figured out, and all of a sudden we found ourselves in a sketchy neighborhood.  A very kind Italian woman helped to guide us us out and told Linda to keep her purse close to her and for me to keep my iPhone in my pocket.  Here is a photo I took of some kids playing soccer in this neighborhood:

When we arrived at the train station in Naples this morning, we were surprised to find a big group of people Tango dancing in the train station.   Last month, we went to Golden Gate Park in San Francisco on a Sunday afternoon, and there was a big group of Tango dancers there as well.  It was fun to watch for a few minutes:

Naples is well known for its pizza.  We were directed to a famous street not far from our hotel often called "pizza street" because all the best Naples pizza restaurants are there.  One of the restaurants had a big photo of President Clinton out front as he ate pizza there several years ago. Several years ago, Linda and I were in Viet Nam and saw a restaurant there with Clinton's photo.  I guess this guy has eaten his way around the world.  I always think about the old Saturday Night Live skit with Phil Hartman playing Clinton visiting a McDonalds.  Hilarious!  In any case, our pizza was outstanding, and cheap.  We each had a pretty big pizza, at about $6 each.  There was a huge line to get into the restaurant and we had to wait about 30 minutes.

This afternoon, we visited the excellent Archaeological Museum in Naples.  This is more or less a companion piece to visiting Pompei, as most of the art and other pieces in the museum are from the Pompei ruins.  The museum is surprisingly well laid out, with descriptions in Italian and English.  Here is Linda on the stairway of one of the galleries:

Here is a statue that was subtitled "Excederin Headache #9":

Here is a painting that was titled "Second Base".  I had not realized that the Italians played baseball:

You might recall yesterday, when I posted a photo of lemons in the market that had a sign "do not touch" on it.  Only I did touch the Lemons.  A similar situation at the museum, only I refrained from touching today....

Naples is packed with many huge churches.  Here is a shot from inside one of them.  I am not kidding when I say that there was a church even bigger than this one less than 50 yards away.

Tomorrow, we have a 8:40 am train to Lake Como.  If all goes well, we will arrive there around 3:30 or so.  I checked the weather forecast, and unfortunately, rain is predicted for the next three days.  I have hopes for some excellent hikes around Como, but that may have to be put on hold depending on the weather.