Naples is cool

Well, i'd been told by so many travelers that Naples is a dirty, ughly, crime-ridden city, with nothing to do. I'm of quite an opposite mind. The city has some beautiful ocean-front property, a gorgeous bay, cool hills with castles and the like, and I haven't heared many sirens. So the town is cool.

The near by sights are not bad either. Several ruin towns from the Versuvious erruption (including Pompei, of course), and Capri, a stunning beach island. In Pompei I got a free guided tour! I helped an American couple find the entrance and they invited me to the tour. It's pretty sweet when you have a guy with you to tell you what you're looking at. The ruins are quite interesting.

After the tour, I took the bus up Versuvious, and walked to the crater. All day long it had been overcast, and just when we got to the top it started raining...hard. I though myself quite clever when I pulled out my travel umbrella and continued on my way dry and happy. A couple of minutes later, I remember thinking "What is that sound?" Every few seconds I would hear a little snap, kind of like a guywire snapping. Then my finger started to feel wierd. When I looked at it, I saw sparks jumping between the metal shaft of the umbrella, and my thumb! The metal mesh that holds open the umbrella was collecting so much static in the air and guiding it down to me, the ground, that it was able to jump air, and still penetrate human skin. We are talking in the tens of thousands of volts. And the crazy thing is, that when I lowered the umbrella one meter, it stopped. That means the electrical potential delta of the air up their was several thousand volts for a singels meter. I felt like a lightnig rod. I put the umbrella down and headed rather quickly down the mountain.

Today I went to Capri. It is a beautiful mountain/island in the middle of the ocean. Just post card perfect. We walked all over the place, and found some nice rock beaches. By rock beaches, I don't mean pebbles, I mean cliffs and boulders. We went cliff diving today, and had a blast. One of those truly memorable days. Soory I can't elaborate, dinner is ready!

later.