cold & lonely in southern Italy, and why it was worth it

When I was advised to visit Salerno, it was with a caveat, which I cleverly ignored: "If the weather is good". I'm just not good at paying attention to weather...

Which resulted in a lonely stay at a hostel with some very unique features:

- empty 20-bed rooms
- exclusively long-term southern-European guests, except me
- gang showers
- open windows in the bathroom, letting in nice, cool 30-something degree air
- BYO toilet-seat policy (darnitall, I had to leave mine with customs back in France)
- no smoking signs so ubiquitous as to be mistaken for wallpaper, which were not only ignored by the tenants, but also by the staff

My freezing cold days there were spent wandering around trying to find food, mostly. I did wander down the coastline and up through the old town, and I suspect that at a different time of year, with a little good company, I might have really enjoyed Salerno:



It was a Sunday, and I wandered past a couple of churches in session. Just inside the door of one, I found this gruesome, half-of-lifesize crucifix, in which Christ's arms are being torn off near the shoulder. I snuck in close enough to get this photo without disturbing the churchgoers:



Eventually, I did make one friend in Salerno, and we sat and read together in what warmth the direct sun could provide, until some jerk came tromping down the steps in heavy boots and scared off my buddy:



That was enough of that, and loaded up my pack and got the hell out of Salerno, bound for Pompeii.

When I arrived in Pompeii and checked into the freezing cold, anti-social hostel there, I tried to go visit the famous ruins. They were already closed for the day, so I had to settle with this photo for the day, with a gate into the old city and the offending Vesuvias behind:



The only people I met in the town were 3 15-year-olds who had had a little too much caffeine when they saw my backpack and decided to practice their English on me. The experience was comical, and a nice relief from the feeling of invisibility that begins to overtake one who is wandering solo.

The next day I got up early, had a sad little breakfast, and beat the swarms into the ruins at 9 am. It's pretty easy to see why these ruins are as famous as they are- as much as they deserve the term "ruin", the city's structure is spectacularly preserved. Most roofs and many walls are collapsed, but the buildings are intact enough to be clearly distinguishable, and to walk through. And many of the most fascinating structures remain mostly complete, like the arena:



Sadly, despite the ubiquitous trash cans, as seen above, the place is littered with man-made waste. What possesses a visitor to pay 20 Euros to enter this spectacular piece of living history and then drop their McDonalds trash on the ground, I can't quite imagine.

But we move past these things and enjoy the experience anyway. Pompeii certainly captivated my attention- so many details of the city's life are preserved, like this kitchen counter with tiles and cooking surfaces intact:



You could see these all over the place. With a little bit of restoration and eerily well-maintained garden work, you can get a look at old palace courtyards, with original painting still on sections of the walls:



My favorite structure was the almost perfectly-preserved little theatre- I've performed in spaces much more rundown:



You can make out the still-preserved & colorful stage tiling if you look for it.

I'm perfectly willing to individually bore any of you with the immense volume of photos I took in the ruins, but I'll just share one more, because it's an important part of the feel of the city- these poor chaps:



Despite a bitter cold, windy day with occasional precipitation, a growling stomach and an increasing volume of noisy, view-obstructing tour groups, I wandered around Pompeii for over 6 hours. When I had finally stumbled out and had a bite to eat, I hopped a train to Naples, where I did little other than try a pizza in the home of pizza and sit around the hostel, where I finally found some company.

In the morning, I flew back to Berlin, intending to stay 2 nights, do some shopping, and then find my way to Prague.

Berlin greeted me with a beautiful snow, seen here blanketing the grounds in front of the Reichstag:



It was cozy and familiar in Berlin, I had a quiet Thanksgiving there, and I ended up staying an extra day before piling into a train bound for Prague.

This is the second-to-last entry in Europe. Only one new country remains, only one castle, one hostel, one spectacularly beautiful city, one police-story, one soccer match, one very friendly family, and one flight back to the states.