20 August 2008

Naples in August

Love it!


Via Dei Mille in August. A photo to compare would be useful, but for those who don't know Naples, this street is usually buzzing with cars and people.

As fellow blogger pointed out, notice that lack of rubbish too.

17 August 2008

Soaking wet hair

Any Italian readers might want to look away right now.

It seems that the latest fashion is wet hair, as sported here by Shakira and Jennifer Aniston. So I'm in fashion with no effort at all, at least for a few hours in the morning, every other day (hair washing days).

This can no way catch on in Italy where it is a complete no-no not to blow dry your hair. It's right up there with standing in a draft or drinking ice cold water.

Last night's partial eclipse




Perfect viewing conditions. Anyone else see it?

15 August 2008

Thursday

Yesterday my parents who are visiting and I went down to the port to go to Procida. We got there about 9.15 for the 9.55 fast boat (aliscafo), I asked for 3 tickets and the man behind the counter said it's sold out :| August strikes again! "What time's the next one?" Man points to the sign "13.10" okaaayy "2 tickets for the 13.10 boat then please" (only 2 as at this point there's no longer any point in me going as I needed to be back early. Man behind the counter "you can't book for that boat until 10.30" :| "Prego? Allora lei non mi può vendere i biglietti ora, devo aspettare qua fino alle 10.30?" We're not talking about tickets to an eagerly awaited Stones gig here, just a ride to one of the nearby islands. What a system. So we did hang around to buy them when I noticed there is another company (Snav) which goes to Procida and they had a boat leaving at 12.30 so I got ticket for that one. Whilst waiting we sat at the bar and I had my first cold cappucino of the year. It's really yummy - coffee with cold milk. Also passively smoked a pack of Marlboro. Blee.

I've since seen that with Snav you can book online - wow, v moderno - so there's no waiting until say 10:30 until bookings can be made. Imagine if the other company had online bookings too, you'd be able to book at anytime and the man behind the counter would have very little to do.

So after a full morning down at the port parents finally made it off to Procida. I couldn't help but notice that they are STILL trying to get a metro station opened down there. I think I blogged about this before (note to self: Have a tidy blog with tags so that you know what you blogged about. Self: But you're not tidy so why have a tidy blog?) I wonder if they'll get to a point where they just decide to give on opening the metro.

10 August 2008

Waiting for a star to fall

Love that 80's song! The tenth of August is San Lorenzo, the night when you watch for a falling star and make a wish. The sky is clear blue today so it should be a good night for star gazing.

Naples is bliss just now with everyone "a mare" and the others "in montagna". Why any person living in Naples would voluntarily go on holiday in August and leave the city will remain a mystery to me. It's so quiet, so nice, it feels almost like I live somewhere normal. If only every month were like this.

5 August 2008

Tuesday

Yet again I find myself trawling the internet for hotels. This time for a short trip to Prague. There's enough info out there to drive a person crazy! Venere...Expedia...Lastminute...Google Earth. My head's spinning.

Then there are the contrasting comments ie:

"The location of the hotel it is not the best because it's a little far from tourist attractions to go walking"

"Excellent position. could walk everywhere"


Centre = noise, pricey, near to everything.
Outskirts = further to get to tourist attractions, cheaper, quieter.

3 August 2008

It's too darn hot


(that's 9am)

Despite me enjoying Naples being empty, I have to say, roll on Winter.

1 August 2008

The times they are a changin'

Both Thursday and Friday driving home from work around 7pm I found myself stuck in traffic. Traffic!? Just a few years ago by the end of August the city would be practically empty by now, but it seems that habits have changed and not everyone is on holiday. Even though not empty, the traffic situation is still much improved compared to "normal" months which is fabulous and one of the reasons why I'd rather work during the summer and take my holidays out of peak season.