So we got to Naples after a long, long day of training.

The second part of the train, I mentioned the first part yesterday, or actually two days ago, when the train was really crowded and unfun and not fit for people with suitcases.

But the second train was a high-speed train where we actually had been in the first-class seats, which really meant nothing.

It meant you got like a drink and a snack.

It was fine.

We get to Naples.

We get to a hotel.

They let us in right away.

This time we were staying in a huge hotel that had the same vibe as a W hotel, most of which to me means they spray some weird scent in the lobby in the elevator, which Lauren hates.

But we get to the hotel and it’s fine.

And then we have a pasta-making class.

Lauren really wanted to take one, so we were taking one.

And it was far.

So we took a taxi to it.

We could have taken the metro, but we wanted to make sure we would get there on time, and it was going to be close.

So we took the cab.

We drove insanely.

Every driver we ever had in Naples honked their horn 900 times a second.

So yes, we get to the pasta class, which is from a woman’s home, her condo, actually.

She had this lovely, enormous condo with beautiful views of all around Naples.

Yeah.

Your Daily Lex When we get to the pasta class, we were the first ones there, and one other party arrives.

It’s two families but one party.

And I don’t fully understand the origin story, but basically the matriarch of one of the families that’s American had done time as an exchange student in some country that I don’t even remember where it was and has known that family now her whole life.

And her kids know those kids, whatever else.

So it was these two families.

Anyway, the pasta-making class was cool.

We made gnocchi and something that was spaghetti-esque and a couple different pasta shapes, and it was cool.

It does not seem to me that it makes sense to make pasta at home most of the time because the work-to-reward ratio was just not there.

But gnocchi, where you don’t need to have the pasta maker, that’s interesting.

So we might do that at home at some point.

We shall see.

Let’s see.

So then after that first night where we walked home, even though it was really far from our hotel, we hadn’t gotten enough steps that day because we’d been on the train so much.

So we’re like, you know what we’re going to do?

We’re going to walk back, and it was like three miles.

Not on the world’s safest, greatest ever streets, but still, we had a good time.

Next day, we did a guided tour where we went to the Amalfi Coast.

We went to Pompeii, and that was a bucket list thing for Lauren, especially to get to see Pompeii.

But we had a lot of fun.

I mean, Pompeii is crazy.

Some people escaped because when the warnings happened of the initial earthquakes and eruptions, some people got the hell out of there, but some of them made their servants stick around, and those are the ones whose bodies eventually kind of got preserved by ash and whatnot.

Crazy stuff.

Crazy stuff.

Very cool to see.

Fascinating.

On the Amalfi Coast, of course, was beautiful.

We tried various places.

Limoncello, that was fun.

The next day was Capri.

Capri and Anacapri, and we really liked both of those places.

It was so insanely hot.

At some point, as we were just walking by different stores, we went into them because they were air-conditioned.

They know that that’s happening, and we enjoyed it.

And we literally did end up buying some stuff from stores we went into that we kind of were going to on a whim.

One fun thing in, I think in Anacapri, was they had those little cable car things, single-person tram car things to take you up a mountain.

And I never have liked those cable cars and how thin the little hook is that goes on the wire and how thin the wire is, frankly.

But I did it, and then we’re at the top of the mountain.

Lauren’s very excited we’re at the top of the mountain because we were in a cloud, so that was cool.

We spent some time in Sorrento.

It was great.

Food was great.

The shopping was great.

We were going to go to the Blue Grotto, which, if you’re not familiar, is like a cave that you have to go on a special boat to get into, and you have to lie down because of how low the clearance is.

But the water was too choppy.

And if you’ve ever seen a video of people trying to go to the Blue Grotto when the water’s choppy, you can be very glad that you don’t go on the days that you can’t.

So even though we couldn’t do that, we still got to do a boat tour all around the island.

It was awesome.

The whole thing was awesome.

It was just a beautiful day.

And the next day, we got on the cruise.

So now you have finally gotten through my whole Italy trip, save the cruise itself and then our final day, and I’ll cover all of that tomorrow, and then we’ll be done with my summer vacation.

Anyway, that’s all I got.

Hope you’re having a wonderful Wednesday, August 6th.

Lex.