Europe Trip: Day 31, June 20th

When my watch alarm went off at 8am, I really did not want to get up, but I dragged myself out of bed and got ready, packed my stuff, and ate breakfast. Then I said good-bye to Lubna and Francesca. I bought my train ticket at Termini station and was able to immediately board the train -- but due to the stories I had heard about last minute changes of which track the train actually came on, I was slightly worried the entire 2.5 hour train ride.

But I had chosen the right train, and it arrived only about 5 minutes late. At the end of the track, Agnese and her boyfriend Raphael (or however it is spelled) were waiting, and holding a sign with my name on it, which made me smile. They had driven to the station, and despite the warnings of Francesca that they spoke no English at all, their English was actually quite passable. Not nearly as good as Lubna or Francesca, but enough to get by. Raphael did most of the speaking all day.

They took me to the hostel, and dropped me off saying he would come back at about 4:30pm on a motorbike to pick me up. I checked in, dropped off my stuff, and headed out to the streets to find something to eat. I found a pizza and got quite a deal, only 4.50 euros for a pizza (4 pieces), some fries, and a drink. I ate it on the steps of the church not far away. As I was sitting there a guy came over and started bothering me about donating 2 euros for some cause, I eventually gave in just to get him to leave me alone so I could eat in peace. Then he started bothering me about letting him have a piece of pizza, and it went on for like 10 minutes. Finally he left, and I rejoiced.

Then I took a bit of a nap for 45 minutes, and met up with Raphael. We drove on the motorbike to Agnese place, and the three of us walked to the metro and went into town. They showed me around a bit, including two castles/fortresses, the sea, and some of the main streets and churches in that section of the city.

Then around 8pm we headed back on the metro since Raphael wanted to take a nap before we headed back in at midnight to Naples by car, planning to come back around 3-4am. Right now it is 10pm and I am going to take a nap for an hour and a half and then meet them at the church.

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Raphael picked me up in front of the church and we went to pick up a friend of his, Fernando, and also Agnese. The four of us drove into Naples where we met some more of his friends: Marco, Diego, Luccio, and Teresa. They were all very nice, and surprisingly all spoke English to one degree or another. Apparently this is rare in Naples.

We stayed in this big Piazza/Square for about an hour, and then they wanted to show me the Jesus Square (has a statue of Jesus on top of a big obelisk). After that we walked around and talked until something like 3-4am. At that time they told me it was time to show me the famous Gigi's, a sort of stand where they sell sandwiches (panini). Raphael has known the owner, Gigi, for a long time. The cooks are two of Gigi's brothers. I will admit that the sandwich was quite good: beef, eggplant, provologne, and french fries (chips).

After that he dropped me off at the hostel and we decided to meet at 1:30pm the next day. I went into the 5-person dorm quietly, so I wouldn't wake up the other 3 people (2 American girls and a Mexican guy).