I last left off in Pompeii.  I wanted to go to Mount Vesuvius.  I know it is cold there, always.  This should have been a draw since I was slowly dying in the heat in Pompeii.  But I could not get my mind to believe that a volcano would be cooler.  So I decided to go to Sorrento, which was burning hot of course.  Meh, whatever. At least I had the joy of being able to switch my plans last minute and not have to deal with anyone else because I am solo lalalalalaaaaaaaaaaa.

Leaving Pompeii and buying a train ticket for Sorrento was a bit difficult.  The ticket booth guy was not at the window, but instead could be seen from the window gabbing it up with his coworker.  The maniac behind me in line starts smashing at the window. Of course, the guy thinks its me since I am the one standing there when he comes over.  Great.  I ask for a ticket. He gives it to me and tells me “You need to run to catch the train”.  Yeah well I wouldn’t have if you had been here instead of over there….whatever.

Since it is later in the day now, the Circumvesuviana train smells even worse than it did earlier in the day.  I am from New York, I can handle this.

Sorrento is a sleepy, fancy place.  There was a point in my planning where I considered staying here.  I am glad I did not.  It seems like a great place to be if you are looking for a place to relax for a few days, or have a romantic getaway.  My trip was the opposite of both of these things.  Sorrento would not be for me.

I wanted to find the lemon grove.  I thought I did find it but it turns out that instead, I found what looks like a lemon grove if the lemon grove had a man standing at the entrance yelling at me that this is private property and I can only enter if I am staying at the hotel.  OKAY then.

I kept walking around.

I came across an alleyway full of shops, pretty much all of them lemon themed.  Sorrento takes its lemons VERY seriously.

How adorable is this?  Table and chairs outside an ice cream shop.

Then I found the water.  This was so nice.  You can take an elevator down to the beach and back up.  I did not want to.

I stood at this spot and day dreamed for a while with “Gold Coast” by a band called Capital playing through my head “and you sit in your house on a hill, with a view of the worrrrrrrrrrllllllllllld……….”

Napping Sorrento dog:

After a bit, I got really bored.  As I said, this seems like a nice place to be to relax and that is just not me.

I walked back to the train and went to buy my ticket. No one is at the booth.  The line behind me grows and grows.  People seem to think it is my responsibility to make the ticket seller come to the window since I am first.  No, no it isn’t.

I finally get my ticket and it would not work.  I bring it back to the booth.  The guy took it and wrote on it and told me to go through the side gate.  Okay but it is locked.  I went back to tell him it was locked and he was not there. Again.  So I ended up just sneaking in I guess.   It is possible to maneuver the turnstile so you can get in by moving it out.  This is illegal and I do not recommend it, but I did have a ticket so I am okay with it.

I get back to Naples.  Whiny, crabby and hot.  Burning  hot, BURNING  hot.  I get to my hotel with plans to lay down and nap in air conditioning before going back out.  Oh hey.  There is a team of repair men in my room fixing my air conditioner.  It was not broken when I left.  This almost set me off.  I was trying to not meltdown mentally since it was not like I could blame any hotel owner for being proactive and making sure the air worked when I am sitting here dying of heat.  So I just sat there burning up, sweat pouring all over me, while they fixed the not-broken air conditioner.   This took about an hour.  By the time they were done, I was done.  My plans to nap and go back out were now replaced with “shower and bed”.  I don’t even think the sun was down by the time I fell asleep for the night.