Day 5--Rainy Day in Amalfi

I've noticed something about my attempt to communicate in Italian that is potentially embarrassing: when I switch back and forth between English and Italian, I sometimes retain an Italian accent when I switch back to English. Fortunately so far no one has looked offended when I've done it.

One thing I forgot to mention in yesterday's post: when the British family and I were waiting for the bus to take us back to Amalfi, a van or small bus came down the street with speakers on top blaring what sounded like Italian church music--LOUD Italian church music (the speakers on top reminded me of the Blues Brothers car). Inside the windows we could see about half a dozen priests and nuns. It reminded me of some homeboys cruising with their rap music blasting out of their car speakers.

Well, as you can see from the previous post, I managed to rescue the Pompeii pictures. I had forgotten that I took about 37 before the camera died, so it was still a pretty good score. I do regret not getting some shots of the frescoes in the Villa of the Mysteries and a pair of statues in the Forum, but all in all, I'm happy. Ferdinanda has graciously loaned me her camera for Paestum tomorrow and Capri on Sunday.
OK, so I overreacted. So what's new . . . .

Today I took a brief nap after breakfast and then went into town for lunch, get the Pompeii shots put on disc, and do some shopping. The weather was practically Icelandic--not as cold, but it changed throughout the day. It stayed mainly in the low-to-mid 50s, but rained off and on. I went further up the main street of town than I had before, up into the residential district. There were of course modern apartment buildings that weren't picturesque, but mixed with the medieval buildings, made the town seem very surreal. In fact, this has to be the most surreal town I've ever been in, and not in a frustrating way like Annapolis, Maryland. It has the quality of antiquity and modernity at the same time. It's very eccentric.
OK, for lunch I broke a promise made in an earlier post and had a pizza with mozzarella cheese. I had no choice--all the pizza choices on the menu had mozzarella cheese. I think I'll be alright. Incidentally, while the pizza was good (if a little on the greasy side), it was nowhere near as good as the pizza I had on the Jersey boardwalk. No pizza I've ever had equals the pizza on the Jersey boardwalk. They also charged me 17 euro for the pizza, water, and a large coke, which I thought was a bit much. Afterward had some kick-ass gelato.
I enjoyed the rainy gray atmosphere. It added something to the medieval qualities of the town.
As I passed one shop, I could here on their stereo a very loud version of "Funiculì funiculà." And now I can't get it out of my brain. And now, neither can you.

Not much else to report today. I had spaghetti in a bag for dinner at Ciccio's. It was spaghetti cooked in a paper bag with clams, mussels, capers and oreganos. It was a little salty but still very good. Unfortunately they were out of cannoli. So they kindly offered me a small complimentary piece of fruit pie that was perfect.
Ferdinanda showed me how to get to Paestum and we discussed learning different languages. She thinks English is easy, especially when compared to Italian, because in English the verb and adjectives come before the nouns, whereas in Italian it's the other way around. For example, in Italian, 'music store' is 'il negozio della musica.' But she says they appreciate it when we at least try to speak their language. I've noticed a few American and British tourists not even bother. By the way, when all you're hearing is Italian, suddenly hearing someone speaking English can be very jarring, and for me, annoying. One of the reasons I came here was to lose myself for a week.

Ciao,
John