Rain, rain, go away

Had a change of plans. We woke up to rain, so no shepard and no pizza lunch. We decided to drive to Naples and spend the day in a museum instead.

We drove toward the autostrade and needed gas. It's Sunday in a country where everything closes on Sunday...including 24 hour gas stations. We found one with two guys pumping gas out front. Stopped, and then realized we weren't sure which type of gas to put in the tank. We knew we wanted unleaded, but "unleaded" wasn't a choice. We knew we didn't want Deisel, so that only left "gasolio" and "sans polumbe". I was sure that Iremembered that I put the sans palumbo in unleaded cars during other trips. But sure enough to risk it? I was sure "sans" meant without or something similar, which would equal "un"leaded, right? Sure enouogh to risk a costly repair to a rental car? No one in the station spoke English. One4 guy helpfully offered that he spoke German. Great! Oh wait, I don't speak "gas station type of German. No help. We drove on until we found an open "Total" station. They pump the gas for you, and you watch so you know which type fuel to put in yourelf next time. (Sans polumbo, by the way)

On the autostrade, with a full tank and a new umbrella (remember the cute poink one?). Oh. and a map of Naples.

We cruised into Naples without a problem, thanks to the map (and some skills on the part of thee navigator). We drove right to a parking lot and we were lucky enough that the rain hd stopped.

The walk to the museum was.... interesting. Lets just say, Tom and I have a different take on Naples and what our impressions were. If I had to give up one day of our holiday, our day in Naples would have been it. Hands down. I loved the museum, and the city itself has many beautiful bulidings. However, the trash (literally rotting, dirty trash), and the graffitti were overwhelming. Not generally a fan of big cities anyway, this one was very undesirable to me because it was so much beauty wasted.

The National Archaeological Museum was interesting and had so many treasures (although the museum itself was sorely in need of a paint job and some maintenance). We saw the Sergretto Gabbinetti, a room filled with a collection on ancient erotica. (some very interesting, some very sstrange) We also enjoyed the Farnese colletion which is a collection of (mostly marble and other stone)sculptures. The entire top floor is devoted to art saved from Pompeii. That collection is amazing. What a beautiful, art filled city it must have been. There were the most amazing and unbelievable mosaics, and hundreds of beautiful frescoes.

We left Sora (the town we are staying in) when it was poring down rain. When we returned in the evening, the rain had been replaced by....SNOW. We are at the base of the Abruzzi National Park and the mountains were suddenly snowcapped. They looked absolutely beautiful, but we were reeally glad that we are at a lower elevation! We planned our trip to move from North to South so we would have warm weather in Southern Italy in October. Instead, I am really grateful that I bought long underwear to wear at the ebginning of my trip. I just didn't plan to need it at the end.