Day 18...If you get the opportunity to explore Naples, DON'T! (side story: Venice Day 2)

Day 18, July 2nd:

Italy Day 4 (aka Venice Day 2)!

After our fun incident the evening before with the bus, we were eager to wake up early and head back to Venice.  We never had any problem getting to Venice; it was always on the way home we had problems.  Once we made it to the island, we went to grab some breakfast/pastries at a local coffee shop near the canal.  I had an awesome almond croissant.  After breakfast, the girls wanted to go purse shopping…how fun!  After the most exciting excursion of the day, we walked back to the Piazza of San Marcos to go inside the Basilica, but it was closed.  We then decided to wander and find somewhere to eat off the beaten path.  Located in this little alley was a very small pizzeria.  How could you pass this up?  So we did.  I am joking!  I had a slice of salami pizza and ordered a second that was topped with cheese, radish, mushrooms and sausage.  Both were delicious! I wish we had salami like that in the US.  After the entire group finished stuffing our faces full of amazing pizza, we split up and began making moves. 

Danielle, Sarah and I went on a voyage towards the bus depot (train station for Sarah) stopping along the way looking at all the Venetian glass and other random items we could find in stores.  Sarah then went by train to Florence, while Danielle and I went to the hotel to get our luggage before meeting the others at the airport.  Of course, we had to get one last gelato in Venice before we boarded the bus.  I had watermelon and lime.  Both were so good! 

Once we got to the hotel, we asked for directions to the bus stop, which took us to the airport.  They gave them to us and we made our way to the bus, which we then found out it was going away from the airport not to the airport.  We then had to jump off the bus at the next stop, which was a large terminal, and catch the next bus going the opposite direction.  Thanks hotel staff!  The reason we had so much trouble with the bus system was because they don’t have any signs or information at the bus stops to let you know where the bus goes or where the next stop is located.  We finally arrived at the airport around 17:15 and met up with the others at the check-in counter; however, you can’t check in until 2 hours before your flight, so we grabbed a bite to eat at a pizza place in the lobby.  They had signs hanging all over the place saying that you could only sit there if you were eating and you must leave once you are finished.  We had to sit there for an hour, so we took turns eating.  What a blast! 

After we all finished eating, we finally went to check in.  Apparently, we could only take one small bag on the plane and I had two, but Daniel checked his and carried one of mine on the plane for me.  When going through security, they asked to check inside one of my bags.  I was like now what do they want to take from my bathroom bag (after everything they took on the way up there from Daniel and Danielle).  They opened it up and pulled out my alarm clock, which is very tall and skinny with a short and flat base.  The way it was sitting in the bag it looked gun shaped.  They took it out and showed it to all of the security guys.  They were laughing about it!  Apparently, they thought it was much worse than an alarm clock.  Once we got to the gate, we sat at the front of the boarding line because we all wanted to sit together and the plane had open seating.  In the beginning, only one person was in front of us.  As time ticked, they multiplied.  Some even took down the moveable rope barrier to get to the front of the line.  By the time we actually boarded, half of Italy was in front of us.  These people fight to be in the front of the line.  They have no respect for others waiting their turn.  We saw this everywhere in Italy.  It was pretty weird for us Americans. 

After they checked our boarding passes, we had to walk out to a bus, which took us to our plane.  Everyone was in such of a big hurry that they wouldn’t even get out of the way on the bus to let others on.  As soon as both feet hit the floor of the bus, they stopped and super glued them to the floor.  The bus basically looked like this:  people blocked all three of the doors and the rest of the bus was empty.  People just had to push their way onto the bus and then they stood there too.  It was so weird!  Once we actually get to the plane, everyone flees like they opened the doors to a maximum-security prison and gave out get out of jail free cards to the first 100 out of the doors.  It was a shocker!  They were pushing people up and down the stairs of the plane.  Once we got onboard the plane, they came on and told us that the plane was over an hour and a half late because the air-conditioning system onboard was unable to function until they started the engines.  Awesome!  We know are all packed on this plane like sardines and the air doesn’t work.  Great.  We finally took off around 21:55 for our 20:15 flight to Naples.  I always love leaving the first departing airport 30 minutes after we were supposed to be at the arrival airport.  With that said, we had another long night of transportation issues, but it was only the beginning. 

Once we finally made it to Naples, we got off the plane and went to the terminal to get Daniel’s bag.  We stopped along the way to get directions to our hostel from the airport at this little information booth and they had no idea what was happening.  They didn’t even know that they had a metro station at the airport (which I found out about via Google on my phone) or what time the metro stopped running for the night.  They finally googled it to find out and it was closed, so they suggested we take the metro bus.  Once we got to the bus, we asked the driver how to get to our hostel and he said he would take care of us.  We got on the bus and he took us for a ride.  He then told us that we needed to get off at the next stop.  Well after seeing everything we had just seen on our beautiful drive around Naples at midnight, we were scared shitless to have to get off the bus at the next stop, which was miles away from the hostel in this dark park.  The driver told us to wait for a specific bus that may or may not show up.  He told us that if it didn’t come within 20 minutes then we should walk to the other side of this dark park and wait for a different numbered bus. 

Now, let me tell you another reason we were scared shitless to be stuck in the middle of Naples after midnight.  Naples has the highest homicide rate in the world because of all of the mafia members (at least that is what the ship told us).  A second reason is because while we were on the first bus, these 5 or 6 guys came up to the bus at a bus stop and the driver wouldn’t even open to door for them.  He began hollering at them through the bus windows and as soon as they moved out from in front of the bus he floored it. 

Okay back to the story…once he told us this was where we needed to wait for the next bus, we asked him for a telephone number for a taxi company.  He gave is the following number: 8888.  Now doesn’t that look like a great telephone number to you?  It didn’t to us either.  Once we got off the bus saying “what else are we going to do,” the bus driver got off the bus right behind us and flagged down the next bus that came along.  He boarded that bus and was talking to the driver.  He then motioned for us to come over and he told us that this bus would take us to where we needed to go and it was a “safe” bus.  That made me feel much better now!?!?!? 

What in the world does that mean?  At least we weren’t sitting on the side of the road and the worst that could happen is that this guy dropped us off somewhere on the side of the road too.  We could only hope.  45 minutes to an hour later, I finally went up and asked the driver when we were supposed to get off.  He wanted to see the address again for the hostel.  He then told us that his bus didn’t go that way, but he would see what he could do.  In about 20 minutes, he motions for us to come up and tells us to get off at the next stop.  Well we have heard that before.  He actually dropped us off on the street we needed to be on.  How nice!  Now we just had to wonder the street looking for the hostel at 2am.  We finally went down this random alley that had a few lights and we found our hostel nestled in the corner.  We went inside and went to our room.  The room had 8 beds and 3 others were already asleep inside.  It made it very akward going into the room at 2:15 in the morning.  We all jumped in the shower and went to sleep.  We had a long day!

It was an amazing time on the bus that night!  Needless to say, we saw everything we needed to see that night in Naples and we made an executive decision to not explore any more of Naples during our stay.  I hate transportation in ITALY!!! I hate transportation in ITALY!!!  I hate transportation in ITALY!!!  (Don’t be worried…everyone made it back safe and sound and the ship has already left Naples…that’s another reason I didn’t post the blog right away because I knew you all would be worried)  Everything is fine Mom!  Don't worry!