Spoils of Napoli

Originally Posted by Manton

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I will step out and get a coffee with the foo later and he can post his honest impression.

Peter Robb said that Napoli is one of the few places where the barman will put sugar in your coffee w/o asking. Whether this is true or not, I can't say....

Originally Posted by romafan

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Peter Robb said that Napoli is one of the few places where the barman will put sugar in your coffee w/o asking. Whether this is true or not, I can't say....

They did it to me. Thick, gloopy sugar that must be stirred into the coffee or else it will congeal at the bottom of the cup.

Originally Posted by Bull

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I've visited Rome, Florence, Rapallo and Venice and the best way I can describe Italy is that it's a developed country with third world leanings. Like, they don't have their **** together in key areas of infrastructure and it boggles the mind. Greece also has this problem. These countries are hopelessly backward and change will be slow and gradual and will never be complete, because it is the product of the nature of the people (no racism).
Hold on, there's some pretty shaky infrastructure in the States. There were power cuts not that long ago in California as I recall.

Originally Posted by George

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Hold on, there's some pretty shaky infrastructure in the States.

There were power cuts not that long ago in California as I recall.

That was not really infrastructire but the results of bad regulation.

However, we did have a bridge collapse into the Mississippi 3-4 years ago.

Originally Posted by George

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Hold on, there's some pretty shaky infrastructure in the States.

There were power cuts not that long ago in California as I recall.

StyleForvm's servers have been intermittantly hanging recently, which is another serious American infrastructure problem.


- B

Originally Posted by Manton

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That was not really infrastructire but the results of bad regulation. However, we did have a bridge collapse into the Mississippi 3-4 years ago.
Mmmmm, I thought that was Minneapolis?

Originally Posted by George

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Mmmmm, I thought that was Minneapolis?




- B

Originally Posted by voxsartoria

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- B
Ah, I misread Manton's post. He said 'into' the Missisippi not 'in' Missisippi.

Overall I would say that Bull is right, the basic visible infrastructure in Naples looked a lot worse than what I see in the US. The trains were better though. I didn't use the subway, which I gather is not great.

Originally Posted by George

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Ah, I misread Manton's post. He said 'into' the Missisippi not 'in' Missisippi.

That's a map of Minneapolis. The river runs through it.

It is a long river.


- B

Originally Posted by Manton

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Overall I would say that Bull is right, the basic visible infrastructure in Naples looked a lot worse than what I see in the US. The trains were better though. I didn't use the subway, which I gather is not great.
Oh, I know what Naples is like. I would say it's a long way from being backward though. 'Charmingly archaic' maybe, but not backward.

Originally Posted by voxsartoria

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That's a map of Minneapolis. The river runs through it. It is a long river. - B
I know, I noticed the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome on there. I was tempted to say the twin cities at first, but....

Originally Posted by Manton

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Overall I would say that Bull is right, the basic visible infrastructure in Naples looked a lot worse than what I see in the US. The trains were better though. I didn't use the subway, which I gather is not great.

Manton - good point, but Italy's trains are disgraceful compared to, say, Sweden's. I was recently in Sweden working for a deal and, while there, I took the train from Stockholm to Karlstad, and then took a quickie puddle-jumper flight from Karlstad back to Stockholm. Can I tell you the truth? I preferred the train. Ran on time, very clean, and I was able to work for a couple hours while quietly whizzing past really beautiful scenery. Overall, the trains in countries like Sweden can't be beat - it's just amazing.

That being said, I flew biz class on Scandinavian from Stockholm back to Chicago and that airlines is ...Swedish stewardesses FTW.

Btw, give me a break with this "sugar in my coffee without asking" stuff - only in America do we obsess over every calorie that goes into our coffee/tea! You guys need to visit Iran - there, you stick a sugar cube in your cheek and drink unsweetened tea over it, so that every sip tastes like candy. By the end of the cup, you've ingested 20 sugar cubes and feel like you can run across the ceiling. Mmmmm...delish.

Originally Posted by Manton

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Overall I would say that Bull is right, the basic visible infrastructure in Naples looked a lot worse than what I see in the US. The trains were better though. I didn't use the subway, which I gather is not great.

the metro is pretty good if they actually finish the rest of the system instead of stopping at each new archeological site they find.

nice stuff mike.

Having lived in Italy, I never got the chance to visit Naples, though I heard if you knew where you go, you'd get some serious shopping in. Looks like you pulled in a great catch.