Copulation in Capri?...not if the Romans can help it...

Well, I’ve survived my first “road trip” in Europe. Pretty cool that it was to the Isle of Capri (cApri, not caprI…the A is stressed instead of the I the way most people pronounce it). To change it up a little bit, I have decided to describe the major portions of the trip in a Does/Don’ts type outline in chronological order.
DO have a party the night before you go to Capri. Have people over, have a good time, go out to the bar afterwards and just make a night of it. DO NOT let sketchy Italians sneak into your party who lie and say they’re from New Jersey (when they’re clearly not). Also, DO NOT stay out until 5am at some underground club in Campo De Fiori, drinking your friends drinks which sketchy Italian men buy her for free and be completely hung over for the entire train and boat ride. I didn’t go to this club, but was still hung-over….wouldn’t recommend being hung-over on ferry boats.
When you get to Napoli (or Naples, as it shows on English maps), if you’re feeling adventurous, DO walk from the train station to the port where you can catch the ferry to Capri. It’s only about a mile long walk total and it isn’t too hard to find…just go to the water. However, DO NOT pick up the bloody syringes you find on the way to the port. Most likely they’re no longer sanitary and, well, you could very well die if you decide to shoot up someone else’s cocaine/blood cocktail. After seeing a few of these, I decided that Napoli isn’t the safest city ever and I have no desire to go down there ever again…unless it’s to purchase some hot phones or electronic equipment from the maphia for super cheap. I would have already done so but I figured the phone guy would be there on the way back…too bad he wasn’t, the new Motorola Razor camera phone for 50 Euros sounded like a deal to me.
Once you get to the Island, DO take a taxi to your hostel in Anacapri, DO NOT wait the hour plus it takes for the bus to arrive at the port to pick you up…unless you have time to spare, in which case it’s way cheaper (1.30/person compared to about 6/person).
Now, you’ve gotten to the hostel, checked out the quaint town of Anacapri a bit and am beat from the trip, so you sleep. When you wake, DO go to the best “beach” on the island at Marina Picola. I quote beach because, personally, I didn’t find it to be very beach-ey other than the fact that water washed ashore. A beach to me has sand…this was all small rocks/stones/pebbles. However, it was still amazingly beautiful, so go, and just ignore the rocky bottom. When you go, I suggest jumping off the rocks they have in the harbor, there are ropes attached to them so you can climb them and what not. But when you swim back to the shore or the launch dock, DO NOT get stung by the jelly fish in the small bay. Lars’ chest was red for a few hours after that one.
Once you eat afterwards and you skin starts to look more like a hide than a tomato, DO take the private boat trip around the island. You guide will speak enough English to tell you all about what is going on with all the history and who owns all the super large mansions. He’ll be able to get you real close and drop you off at all four of the major Grottos (white, coral, green, and finally blue). The Blue Grotto is absolutely amazing. Apparently it used to be a huge place on the island at which giant orgies would take place, but the Roman government wasn’t too fond of this (though they don’t care of you wear clothes and encourage public co-ed bathing…go figured) so they banned it and claimed the grotto to be cursed. Now, however, we don’t care that it’s cursed and we go anyways, and hey, why not ‘cause if that’s what cursed looks and feels like, then find me the nearest which doctor and let him do his worst.
When you do take this boat ride, if you happen to stumble upon another boat (of which your driver knows the other driver) comprised of 6 drunk American gurls from The American University who just happen to not be wearing their tops (apparently if you drink 4 bottles of wine between 6 gurls on a boat off the coast of Capri, this is what happens), befriend them. My only word of advice is when they request that you get naked like they are, that you don’t listen. DO NOT go skinny dipping in attempts to please naked women…because they’re bluffing and will simply stop yelling and hooting, get a drunk and stupid look on their face, and command that their boat operator take them to the Blue Grotto. This will probably leave you somewhat confused, possibly a little upset and maybe slightly bitter. You may soon forget about it, but when you get back home and find out that the two gurls on your boat who didn’t partake in the suit-less swimming (one did, she’s way cooler than the other two…unless mom is reading this, in which case this never happened…I swear…) took pictures of the whole fiasco, you’ll remember that those gurls in the boat sucked and thought that they definitely had had enough booze to get into the water with you. Oh well, at least the driver of the American University student’s boat had a good time.
After you finish your boat ride and Grotto swimming, you’ll get hungry, go eat, stumble across an art gallery and buy an un-finished painting that you pick up the next day. Don’t worry, this is perfectly normal, especially considering it’s a cool painting. When you make it back to the hostel, DO become addicted to a crazy Japanese form of crossword puzzle called Su Doku (http://www.sudoku.com). It uses numbers instead of words (hurray!) and is very fun and a good mental workout. But don’t bust out your jogging clothes just yet, because you DO NOT want to give your newly purchased Su Doku book to one of the gurls on the trip who doesn not yet know what it is. It may be difficult to get it back for the train ride, and when you have to sit by yourself, you’ll really want that Su Doku book. You’ll get it back, but with pages missing where said gurl took a few puzzles to work on herself.
Also, that night while you’re eating, DO continue to take pictures and keep track of the memories (‘cause we all know it’s all about the memories). However, I would not recommend that you DO NOT fiddle with your camera trying to remember where the option for Black & White pictures is, have a complete brain fart/mental breakdown, and accidentally format your camera which has every picture you’ve taken since you left for Rome on the memory card. You’ll almost start crying and will hardly believe you did such a thing. The next day, though, you’ll look on the bright side and say that at least your camera isn’t full any more and you are now free to again snap away at all the beautiful scenery.
That night, it may or may not storm incredibly hard with crazy lighting and flood like rains. If it does do this, DO go exploring in the rain and have a jolly good time. Let me make a recommendation here, though; DO NOT take a metal umbrella with you. It generally isn’t a very good idea to go out in crazy lightning with metal rods jettisoning into the sky…you may get electrocuted…or so I’m told. Once Lars and I realized the whole metal rod thing, we promptly went back to our room and simply watched the rain.
Finally, DO your homework before you go on your trip to the Isle of Capri (or any trip, for that matter). DO NOT wait until Monday morning to get up early before class and do it. You’ll get it done and get a 100 on your homework, but then you’re tired while you so dutifully write your blog.
It was a fantastic first trip which will hopefully lead to many many more. I finally got my camera cord, so I’m currently uploading pictures from mine and the other 6’s cameras. Those should be up by Wednesday. I’ll inform all of you when they do make their way onto the double-u double-u double-u so you can get the website and check them out.
SO, I’m going to go get something to eat now ‘cause I’m supa dupa hungry. Keep it going strong back in the States or wherever you may be at the moment. I’ll talk to you guys later,
Ciao,
Jon Boy