Rome and Other Places That Are Cool Too: Naples: Day 1

We had a bit of a crazy time getting to Naples. I thought it would be a great idea to book our train tickets for an hour after class thinking that if we had all of our stuff packed up, it would be a piece of cake getting to Termini in an hour. I was wrong. We finished class and went back to Monica's apartment and picked up our packs. Our train was leaving at 4:50 and we started our trek to the station at 3:50. To make a long story short we didn't arrive at the station until 5 minutes before the train took off. This is what happens when you rely on public transportation. We first waited for a train that never ended up coming, so we hopped on the tram up to Area Sacra and luckily caught a different bus not too much longer after we got off.

As the bus pulled into Termini, Monica and I discussed our game plan because we had 5 minutes to go to a self-service kiosk to print out our tickets, find what bin our train was leaving from, and get on the train. We agreed that the best option would be for me to just take off running, find the closest kiosk and get the tickets while she would go check the board to figure out what bin our train was in. As soon as the bus stopped I pushed my way through the crowd and went into a dead sprint (with my huge pack on) towards the station. I got inside and started working on the kiosk. About 10 seconds later Monica bolts by and tells me what departure board she is going to check out so I could come and meet her when I finished. I got the tickets and then run to the departure boards and don't see her right at first so she yells at me to get my attention and we start taking off towards the bin.

It is usually a good idea to get to the station a little early so you can be sure to get a seat. We weren't there early. We didn't get a seat. When we got to the bin we slowed down to a jog and realized that the train was already beyond packed. We eventually got on but the train was way over-sold. We ended up standing up in one of the compartments between a couple of the cars...with 10 other people. It felt like one of the public transportation buses in Rome. We didn't get to sit down for almost an hour.

As soon as we got to Naples, we checked in our hostel and then set out to get some dinner. We ended up going to this place called Pizzaria Trianon. When we got there we were the only ones in the place but after about 45 minutes the place was absolutely packed.

Pizzaria Trianon was where we were first introduced to Napolionic pizza and it was like nothing I'd ever seen before. It was almost twice the size of the plate (and it was a big plate) and glorious in every possible way.