The Ghetto

7/4/2009

The morning routine was pretty much the same as the night before, but we also packed up everything in our rooms.  After breakfast, we did one last check for belongings, and then checked out of the hotel.  The lady working the reception desk, Valentina, was so friendly, and she let us leave our bags there while we went to the beach, so we didn’t have to worry about lugging them around.  Being a Saturday, and summer, the beach was pretty crowded.  As we got closer to the water, the sand also became covered in shells.  They were good shells too!  Not just broken little pieces, but full spirals and many different colors.  The water was a comfortable temperature, but I refrained from swimming, knowing that I would not have the option of a shower until after returning to the ship, and I did not want to have to fly back covered in salt water and sand.  We stopped for gelato on the way back to the hotel to pick up our things, and it was the best gelato I had in Italy!  I don’t know if it was just the atmosphere, or if it was actually the gelato, but it was so creamy and delicious.
We sat and savored every last bit of gelato, and then continued on to pick up our bags.  While we were gathering them, we asked Valentina if there was anywhere we could fill our water bottles, and she just gave us brand new, ice cold ones for free!  She said tat she liked us, and next time she wanted to go out with us instead of working.  We left to catch the water bus back to the airport, and checked in for our flight.  As we were checking in, we kept seeing more and more SAS kids in the airport waiting to check in for their flights.  In the end, I would say there were probably at least 20 SAS kids on the same flight we had back to Naples.  While we were waiting, the flight got delayed with no announcement at all, making me happy we were flying back with a day to spare rather than cutting it too close.
Once the line finally started moving, and turned quickly into a mob scene rather than a line, and we all crammed into the shuttle and made it to the airplane and got on we were so happy to be done waiting.  Sarah, Audrey and I sat in the very front row, which was nice because we had lots of leg room.  I spent most of the flight reading for class, and as we got closer to Naples, started looking out the window.  We could clearly see Mt. Vesuvius, which was really pretty.  As we were gathering our bags from the overhead bin, the guy sitting behind us started talking to us.  He was from New York and traveling on business, and told us he goes to Naples a lot, and we should make sure to “watch ourselves”.  Not the most comforting, but good advice nonetheless.  As he continued talking to us, he also recommended that we avoid the train station, and maybe if we smiled a lot and didn’t talk much we could pass as Germans, and we wouldn’t be bothered as much.  We thanked him, and then headed through the airport with the intention of taking a taxi to the port.  As we got outside, one of the other SASers said that there was a bus that would take us there for much cheaper, so we all ran over and hopped on the bus.  We exchanged stories from Venice with the other groups, and got to see a little bit of Naples while we were at it.  That is when I decided I was glad I didn’t have more time in Naples.  It was kind of a ghetto.  There was lots of garbage, some frightening looking people, and all in all next to Venice it was like I was on a completely different planet!  We realized that the guy on the plane had not been joking around, and we should probably take his advice.
We got dropped off right in front of a castle, which was next to the port.  Walking down to the port entrance, we saw what couldn’t have been anything else but the remnants of a cannon impact on the wall of the castle,  and were bombarded with people selling goods on the street.  Knock off pursed galore!  We made it to the port entrance, and found out there was a shuttle running back and forth to our ship, since the port area was so large.  We jumped onto the shuttle, waited a little while before it took off, and then made it back to the MV Explorer.  The Explorer is no longer foreign and new, but rather it is a comfortable home to return to after traveling for a few nights in each country.  It looked especially inviting after four days of travel, and knowing that dinner was being served upstairs.  We rushed on to the bus, and ran up the four flights of stares to the dining hall still donning our backpacks and other luggage.  When we got up there, we had barely 5 minutes before they stopped serving food, so it was perfect timing to load up a tray, catch our breaths, and then relax before eating.
Venice was such an adorable city, and next to it Naples, with its garbage, run down buildings, homeless people, and all around uninviting feel made it seem like we were not only in a different country, but a whole different world from where we had been the past few days.