{"id":1697,"date":"2019-06-13T11:44:00","date_gmt":"2019-06-13T09:44:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.culturediscovery.com\/blog\/?p=1697"},"modified":"2025-03-26T23:11:46","modified_gmt":"2025-03-26T21:11:46","slug":"my-life-in-italy-part-2-where-are-the-walls-and-how-do-i-flush","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.culturediscovery.com\/blog\/personal\/my-life-in-italy-part-2-where-are-the-walls-and-how-do-i-flush\/","title":{"rendered":"My Life in Italy, Part 2: Where are the Walls? and How do I Flush?"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading Time: <\/span> 12<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>\n
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So<\/strong>… I left off in Part 1 on my first full day in Italy in 1983<\/a>. I am at the tip of the boot in Reggio Calabria, suffering severe jet lag, having walked miles and miles for an awful cafeteria meal, and now I am boarding a train that looks like it was just brought out of a 1920’s junkyard. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<< Back to Part 1, The Warm Table<\/a> if you missed it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But now we are on our way to Rocco’s hometown of Gioiosa Ionica… a place of beach, sun & fun. Stop! I know you are still trying to pronounce the name of the town. Repeat after me: Joy-Oh-Sa Yo-Knee-Kha. Gioiosa means Joyous, and Ionica means “of the Ionian Sea.” So we are heading off to the Joyous place on the Ionian sea. Awesome, right? OK, Language lesson over. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Beach in Gioiosa Ionica<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I will be staying at Rocco’s place. I am dreaming of the eventual bed I will soon come in contact with and chilling out at the beach tomorrow. That is, if this train can make it there, wherever there<\/em> is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rocco, Dom, Enzo and I hop on the train, and sit as I wait to see if this thing can even move. We are on old wooden benches that face each other, and you can see that back in the 1920’s there was some concept of style in the faded curtains I am looking at, maybe?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Luxury & Comfort Defined<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

So we start moving. The train, in fact, moves. Check! But I quickly learn that suspension is another one of history’s greatest inventions, and this train was built before<\/em> that invention. I also noted that the saying “So smooth, it is like riding on rails<\/em>” was not<\/strong> coined by someone that had been riding this<\/em> train, on these<\/em> wooden seats… Whatever, there is a bed in my future. Maybe I can find a way to get comfortable enough for a little rest on the train.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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