Weekend Wanderings

Ciao mi amici!
My first full conversation with a non-shady person living in Italy took place yesterday in Naples with the waitress at a Chinese pizzeria, in Chinese and Italian. It was quite an experience. Sundays, as we know, are holy days, and especially so in Italy because EVERYTHING was closed, including food places, except McDonalds and the Museo Archeologico Nazionale food cart (Yes, I went to that museum again). The only thing I could afford at McDonalds was the 1 euro McToast, which is just 2 pieces of very flat toast with a slice of ham and cheese in the middle. At this point, we were all starving, but because I had been without food so long, this flat McToast was able to fill my SHRUNKEN stomach organ. We then ventured up large hill to the Capodimonte Museum, old palace of the Bourbons, where we wandered for a few hours. After much art musing, we were, again, very hungry. We had all been craving non-Italian food all day (not to say Italian food isn't good, but bread and pasta everyday gets old, really fast) and were overly ecstatic to see that a Chinese Pizzeria Ristorante was open. We hesitantly entered the establishment and were immediately confused. Loud Hindi(?) music was blasting from the speakers and brown people were dancing around, apparently a first communion celebration or something was going on.. at a Chinese restaurant. Geo was trying to speak to the waitress in Spanish, because that's what he uses instead of Italian, and the lady did not understand, at all. Then I spoke up with a, "Do you speak Chinese?", in Chinese of course. The waitress, very surprised, replied, "Yes! You speak Chinese? Are you Chinese because I only thought she (pointing to Aimee) was Chinese." Now, Aimee is Japanese, and no one ever thinks I'm Chinese, except Italians, because they think the only Asians in existence are Giapponese and Cinese. So we were able to get through dinner with my less than fluent Chinese, and it was a rather satisfying meal, albeit, expensive for sweet and sour pork with rice. I'm going to have to suck up my economical instincts and just be willing to spend money for food, the prices (and exchange rate) aren't going to change for the better. In all, yesterday was a unique experience and a perfect example of globalization (and switching, for all you linguistists).

The rest of the weekend (Thursday to Saturday) consisted of a good deal of walking, a lot, really.
Thursday:
We went to Positano, an hour bus ride from Sorrento along the coastal cliffs of the Amalfi coast, stunning views, just amazing. We hiked down the windy roads to the "beach" and swam in the ocean. The water was amazing and the sun beat down, but the rocks were painful and burning hot. I had a sandwich at this little deli called Vini e Panini (Wine and Sandwich) and attempted to eat it on the steps of a church, but was promptly shooed away by the five oh. We got back and felt we didn't get enough use out of our 24 hour bus ticket, so hopped on the next bus to Marina Grande. Marina Grande is a very, very, small fishing village next to Sorrento, accessed by some steep roads through a cliff. Smelt of fish.
Friday:
Happy American Independence Day! We walked (or, rather, wandered) to a neighboring town by the name of Sant'Agnello. Also beautiful beach views, but also many lemon growing houses or complexes or areas. I was very tempted to knock lemons off the trees, but was convinced half of them were run by the mafioso.. iono.. or not. The walk was long, but enjoyable, to me anyway and we got back in time to take a nap before gathering for a 4th of July potluck. I brought some not-very-well-seasoned pasta that I managed to cook up our electric burner and a limone torte. We drank some white wine before heading out to check out the Sorrento nightlife. First place we went to was called Danielle's Bar, which boasted "karaoke and dancing". The place was half dead and those there were either around 15 years old or 45 years old. I stupidly decided to get a drink, which ended up being 7 euros (wtf), and had a grand old time singing a Backstreet Boys song to the entire club, with help, of course. The club was lame and I very much regret dropping 14 bucks on one drink. We decided to hop on over to a place called English Inn. There was a huge crowd waiting to get into the place, so we thought we wouldn't get in, but then I noticed it was only guys waiting around and realized that girls got in easily. We walked straight through the crowd and through the doors without even trying. This was where we got to experience where Italian men get the stereotype of being.. very forward. At least we got to practice our Italian.
Saturday:
Started late as we were all recovering from the night before. We took a bus to Meta, another neighboring town, and quickly got right back on the return bus. There wasn't very much in Meta and we wanted to save a bus ticket by riding it within the 45 minute time limit our tickets gave us. We got off at Piano di Sorrento (if I remember correctly), which is past Sant'Agnello and walked around, we walked so much we ended up back in Sorrento. We didn't get to shop or anything because we were there right during siesta, which is the time between 1pm and 4:30pm where people eat and nap. We ended the night with gelato and window shopping before sleeping early to get up for an early start in Naples.

What: 45 minute bus ticket/24 ore bus ticket
Where: purchased at any Tabacchi shop
How much: 2/6 euro

What: McDonald's McToast
Where: any Italian McDonald's
How much: 1 Euro
Experience: McDonald's is overpriced here, it's better to just save yourself the frusturation and disappointment, and not go. It doesn't have anything that's really unique (like taro pies or rice patty chicken sandwiches) as in other country's McDonald's.

What: Museo Capodimonte
Where: Via Capodimonte in Napoli
How Much : 7,50 Euro (I think, at this point we have a Campania ArteCard that allows us access to most sites in the Campania area)
Experience: Huge museum, worth it, be prepared for lots of walking.

What: Gelato
Where: Most gelateria's in Sorrento
How Much: 2 Euro for a piccolo (small)
Experience: Delicious, over all, at least all the flavors I've tried.

What: Clubs in Sorrento
Where: Sorrento, there aren't that many
How much: free entrance, ridiculous drink prices.
Experience: Danielle's club was extremely disappointing, small venue, lame crowd, lame music that is interrupted if someone wants to karaoke. LAME. English Inn is better, larger, outside venue, more of an Italian feel (aka skeezy and/or suave Italian men), better music when they actually play hip hop (though they usually play techno or house or whatever crap). You can also just chill off the dance floor.

What: Circumvesuviana train ride from Sorrento to Naples and back.
Where: train station
How much: 5,20 euro
Experience: 1 and a half hour ride on a bus covered in more, colorful graffiti than any place in L.A.

Thanks for surviving through the long post, or not. Bye!

Next: Weekend up North.