Grand Eden Hotel, Naples, 1909

I am getting lazy, and it is only by a special effort that I can bring myself to write. Then again, so many things crowd themselves into a day that one forgets where he left off.

We had quite a time getting our luggage and ourselves into the train at Pompei as there was a quite a crowd there. But we managed to get there. After an hour’s ride, we reached Naples and were met by the porter of the Grand Eden Hotel. He engaged a carriage for us, which took all five and the nine pieces of baggage to the hotel for three Lire and a tip, just think of it, only 75¢. That beats Union Station carriages, anyhow.

We are all sunburnt and have red noses. As Miss W. and Grace decided to leave for Rome in the morning, we rushed to Cooks to make arrangements. We retired early, and this morning they left us at 10 o’clock.

We then went down town to do some shopping, bought gloves and cameos, and I went to the P.O., where I found no letter, but the Apologete and the Star. To-morrow I will read them, and that will be the first newspaper I have looked at since we left the States.

While I am writing this in the Salon of the Hotel, which is fixed up in great style, there are some musicians out in the garden singing and playing. The street car conductors here have large pouches, like our letter carriers, in which they carry their numerous tickets and the money.

Napoli – Panorama and Gulf seen from the Belvedere of San Martino.

We took another ride down town after lunch and saw many of the Public Buildings, the Palace, also the Gallery Humberto, which has beautiful shops under glass-covered arches. We also saw the Public writers, who write letters for those who cannot write themselves.

I wrote to-day to a lady in Rome whom Amalie Achard recommended to me to stop with, and we will try a pension for a change, as we intend to stop a week in Rome. We also made the acquaintance of the boys who sell postal cards, and we bought 48 for 20¢ and will try to write to as many friends as possible to-morrow. They sell the raisins here wrapped up in dried grape leaves, and they look just like a large plug of tobacco.

We have a good table in this hotel, but I am getting tired of drinking wine at the table, and we will go back to Mineral water. Their vegetables are fine; crisp lettuce is a daily dish at luncheon, and we certainly enjoy it. We are all learning to walk in the street, and they are certainly preferable to the narrow sidewalks, on which a person can hardly pass another. They sprinkle their streets by attaching a short hose (which they carry along on little wheels) to the plug, so we cannot get on the water wagon in this city.

In the evening, a party of 25 h’Engl. [sic] men with a guide arrived, also some from the states, and it is somewhat livelier, but this is a nice quiet hotel. To bed at 10 o’clock.