Rrrrrnnnnnhhhh! Rrrrrnnnnnhhhh!… Rrrrrnnnnnhhhh! Rrrrrnnnnnhhhh! … Rrrrrnnnnnhhhh! Rrrrrnnnnnhhhh!
What the hell was that?
Oh god. The doorbell. The guy from the bar downstairs with our double espresso, cappuccino, and a couple cornetti.
via Porta di Mare, Salerno from SS18
What time was it? Must be eight o’clock, that’s what I told Francesca when she said first breakfast was a freebie. I felt around for my glasses. It was dark, they were somewhere, somewhere on the floor. Grabbed My Dear One’s dirty teeshirt and buzzed the guy through the gate. He looked annoyed even with all my many thanks. Probably should have had a couple of euros to give him but he’s lucky he didn’t have to look on my unclothed form.
So, we were up.
And it was rainy and dark. And there were things to sort out. Like the fact that Verizon is blocking access to my account. Because it amuses them to. Just as they did in Brussels in 2015 and Germany in 2016. England, they don’t mind. No problems in Lithuania or Budapest. So I am forced to use the cellphone to retrieve and write email. Which kicks a $10-a-day fee into Verizon’s pocket. Plus whatever roaming charges apply.
We needed food, cash and to pay the parking garage. (See The Naples Jaunt 1). And it was pouring. My Dear One was drenched. I had an umbrella (didn’t bring a robe but did bring an umbrella) but that was modest protection. We walked up via Porta di Mare all the way to Torquato Tasso, expecting to pass a Tam Tam grocery. We didn’t and I later determined it was yet one more thing Google Maps got wrong about this part of Salerno.
A row of shops behind a vaulted portico included a greengrocer. We bought eggs, an orange, a lemon, a head of garlic, a zucchini, some salad greens and a small package of pasta. We turned the corner, cut through the cloister of San Matteo and headed down via del Duomo. Found a wonderful food shop and loaded up on cheese, butter, bread, black pepper, bottled water for drinking.
no rides in the rain
I still hadn’t hit the bank or paid for the car parking though. So, I abandoned my soggy Dear One at the apartment and headed south along what is named on the map as “Strada Statale 18 Tirrenia Inferiore” which becomes Corso Giuseppe Garbaldi in the banking neighborhood. More or less. Had to find the BNL Gruppo BNP Paribas, Italian partner-bank to Bank of America. No reason to pay one cent more in fees than is absolutely necessary.
Italian banks are often entered through metal-detection units, sort of like the screening devices at TSA checkpoints in airports. If you are carrying much metal—guns for instance—you can’t get in. And I couldn’t get in. The camera, maybe? Anyway, a nice fellow having a smoke went back in and had a guard allow me through. Got out on my own.
toys for a Titan’s toddler
Paid off the garage and walked along the Lungomare Trieste, about the most beautiful promenade I’ve ever seen. Even in the rain and fog. An enormous breakwater of concrete blocks looking something like the collapse construction of some Titan’s toddler provide resting spots for gulls and cormorants. Off to the north I could a big old storm, with occasional flashes of lightning, in what must be the Bay of Naples.
storms over Amalfi
So now the challenge is figuring out the appliances. I thought the washer had a dry cycle. Turns out that it has a steam cycle. Need to dry all jackets, pants and socks. The kitchen works adequately once I fix the burner that wasn’t lighting so that I could boil up a pot of espresso.
Rain is back. Might has well give up on the idea of a stroll.