07.08 I am back from the morning shower. It's an early day, and dark in our room here at Alessandro Downtown in Rome, Italy.

08.24 We´ve got most of the stuff done. I'll just have to put on my socks and shirt. Then it's off to the railway station. We are going to make a trip. Yesterday we changed country, but stayed in the city. Today we are still in the country, but changing city.

08.51 All the trains which are about to depart can be seen on the displays here at the station. There is also information about from which tracks that they depart. However this is not the case as it comes to our train. Wait, now, something happens!

08.54 Sure, both information and train showed up. Now we are sitting in seatss 53 and 54 in wagon 7. Soon it's off to the south.

10.11 We are travelling through a hilly and perhaps even mountainous landscape. The sun shines in through the windows of the train's right side.

11.22 We finally arrived in Naples. We are to be more precise at the city’s railway station Napoli Centrale. We are about to buy tickets which takes us back to Rome. Well, not now but later.

11.48 It was difficult to get a ticket. There was only tickets for first class on the train we had planned to catch. Instead we will go later and stay longer in the city which people saw and then died. Hence comes the phrase "See Naples and then die!". Many believe it is because you have seen everything worth seeing when you were here and then could die in peace. That is not true. It was instead referring to malaria. Many travellers caught malaria in these parts for several hundred years ago.

We wandered a bit lost and was among other things in this place.

12.23 To get to Naples by train and then head out on the streets from the railway station is a challenge. It is more than a lot of people on the sidewalks. This means that we must put all the focus on getting us through the crowds and find ways to cross streets operated by semi-mad motorists who never learned the right-hand rule. We have seen lots of vendors, most are from Africa. We have also seen remarkable achievements in parallel parking. How do some manage to get the cars in and out of the certain parking facilities?

12.28 Of course we went astray. Christer is checking out where we are in a bit more precise terms. We are at a house with two female sphinxes. No street names we've seen seems to be on the map we use.

12.50 We’ve finally located where we are. We are near the university and have located us in to a pizzeria, Zio Ciro ("Uncle Ciro"). Before we walked in here, we looked at a few fire-eaters at the cosy Piazza San Domenico. Here at Zio Ciro we will be having pizza and house wine. The pizza is "born" in this city so what else can one eat. House wine is cheaper, and tastier, than soft drinks. We have also noted that the general price level is significantly lower here compared to Rome.

Fire eaters entertained on the Piazza San Domenico.

Pizza at its best.

Napoli-shirts for sale along the street Spaccanapoli.

13.52 It was good and hearty pizzas. Now, our journey has continued. We’ve seen streets with clotheslines across and other cosy things. Here and there, there are young men who sell brand bags. They offer brands such as Prada and Calvin Klein. The question is whether Prada and Calvin Klein know about these young men. It may be that it is not the real thing. We walk along the long, straight but narrow street Spaccanapoli. The street has been here since the ancient days.

The main ingredients of the traditional Naples pizza Vesuvio

Spaccanapoli.

A side alley at Spaccanapoli.

14.01 A dove walks around behind of us and we´ve got two lions to the right of us. We are sitting on the steps of the city's cathedral, the Duomo di Napoli. The cathedral is properly wedged between the buildings. There is no big open place to talk about. It also means that the church is more or less impossible to photograph.

14.40 We’ve once again seen a bus from the company City Sightseeing. This is the fourth city in a short while where we´ve seen a bus from there. I wonder if we've seen a bus from there before, but simply not thought about it.

Christmas decorations at the Duomo di Napoli.

Small electric buses are included in the Naples public transport system.

14.45 We are slowly, but steadily walking towards the sea. We’ve just passed the Naples archaeological museum that is interesting and unique in many ways but we are not having it in today's program. Should you visit a one million people city in one day, you can not see everything there is to see. The biggest attraction of them all around here, Pompeii was unfortunately completely unrealistic to visit because the place is to the south outside of the city and it also gets dark early this time of year. It is to be seen in daylight.

15.04 We’ve just seen an example of small-scale public transport. On a scooter there was a man, his wife and their two sons sitting. We’ve walked down the long street, Via Toledo which took us to Piazza Trento e Trieste, which lies by the Naples old royal palace. Naples was the centre of a southern Italian kingdom in the past (1282-1816).

We looked briefly into a beautiful mall, Galleria Principe di Napoli.

Piazza Dante with ... yes just that, a Dante statue.

Typical street in Naples.

15.12 We now have a view over the Bay of Naples. Further away the Mount Vesuvius is towering itself. We can see, out in the bay, boats/ships of various sizes, ranging from yachts to freighters. It has started to be windy and it´s pretty cool. The disadvantage of fine winter days with blue skies is that they tend to be quite cold at night.

Piazza Trento e Trieste, Naples. In the center is the fountain Carciofo.

Instead of the family car.

Vesuvius watches over Naples and the surrounding areas.

Sunday Afternoon in Naples.

15.43 Now we’ve reached the sea and walked along the water to the fortress Castel dell’Ovo. Just before we came here we saw three sleeping dogs. They have now woken up and passed us here where we are standing. They have just laid down right next to us. Why do we always attract dogs? It seems to happen in every country we visit.

15.57 The dogs left us and we’re at Café Al Barcadero. The address is Banchina Santa Lucia 2, Borgo Marinaro. Nearby is a fish restaurant, Zi Teresa. Here we ordered a little afternoon coffee. The dogs are tanning up on the roof. It might be some kind of dog day care centre, a sign here might say something about it. Our knowledge of Italian is a bit rusty.

16.27 I ordered a Caffé Hag, it seemed just like a normal espresso. Christer ordered a cappuccino. A boat with the less romantic name Pisselino was bobbing in the water next to Christer. Speaking Pisselino, we also took the opportunity to borrow the toilet here. Now we are soon on our way back toward the centre ever so slowly. The sun is setting and it reflects itself in the Gulf of Naples. Behind me someone is playing on a violin.

Coffee at Café Al Barcadero. In the background is the Castel dell'Ovo.

Christer is having a cappuccino. Behind him is the boat Pisselino and further away you can
get a glimpse of Mount Vesuvius.

A dog enjoying life.

17.17 Languishing, Spanish? Music comes from speakers at Caffeteria Medina. On the street to the left of us, the traffic is intense. Hotel Ambassador shoots into the sky to the left of us. What are we doing? We are benchsitting. We are glad that we made it here. It seems that they are rebuilding about half the city centre and it is closed here and there. We first went to Castel Nuovo, but ended up wedged between intensive Italian car traffic and a fence on our way from there. Eventually we got out of it.

18.11 We carried on and slipped into the Flor do Café (http://flordocafe.it). Not much of a café, more combined micro-shop and toy store. They had their own music channel with children's music. Now we are back at the cathedral (duomo). There is a mass inside the church.

19.19 The final dinner will be eaten at O’Scugnizzo. Here it will be pasta for me and Al Prosciutto pizza for Christer. We walked the streets up and down, got lost, came right again and walked around in search of a good eatery. Finally, we had to take this rather sad and dull alternative to be able to have dinner. We are in Naples and should want a better dining experience than a place that resembles a Swedish pizza but but ...

Dinner at O´Scugnizzo.

20.20 The return trip could have started better. Our train is running 35 minutes late. We just have to wait. Mussolini apparently managed to get the Italian trains to arrive in time in the 1930´s. Why isn't there any continuation in the present days?

20.47 There are more delays. Our train is now 45 minutes late. Will we be home before we get up?

20.55 Here at the station there is a Christmas decoration which is doubtful to say the least. There are pigs and turkeys around the crib of Jesus. Jesus was a Jew and Jews do not eat pork and usually do not have pigs as pets. Turkeys come from North America and was hardly in Palestine 2000 years ago.

21.07 The train is leaving the station and we are on it. I hope that there will be no more delays

23.52 We are finally back in our Rome-room. It was hard to pack in the gloom. It wasn't possible to have the light on. There were those who wanted to sleep. Who does not want to sleep? The door was kept open with the help of a chair and I hope that my possessions, hopefully everyone, are packed. I am now in the men’s room, toilet and shower room and then writing this. Soon I will get some sleep and pretty soon up again for another journey.

Sunset in Naples.

Monday 4th of January

06.32 Am I awake or what? We’ve eaten a simple breakfast out in the living room. Christer is feeding coins into the machine. It is time to get rid of the coins. It is time to buy soft drinks. Today we´re going back home. I hope that nothing is forgotten in the room.

07.16 We’ve left our home, a home in a good location. It is perhaps not the most pleasant housing but perhaps the longest we have had. Never before have we stayed in the same place 5 days in a row. How was it about the stay in Istanbul in 2005? Now we are waiting for the airport bus. About the hostel, well it is as it is with a dormitory, you share everything with the others, space, air, odor, sound, darkness and so on.

07.23 We've entered the shuttle bus which leaves from Roma Termini railway station. Outside we can see a sign for Hotel Viennese. Is this a premonition of the trip that will take later this year?

08.41 It was easy to go out to Ciampino. It went OK to check-in. Behind us we had a few whining Swedes. Now we are sitting on a bench outside the airport. In a queue inside are the whining Swedes. Are they whining about the security checkpoint or are they just lost?

Two returnees are waiting outside the airport, Ciampino.

09.08 It was the queue for the security check. The line is long, really long. However, it keeps a good pace. We will make it but I wonder by what margin.

09.41 We got through the examination and have now changed to another queue. We are waiting at the gate and everything feels good. However, I am a bit tired.

10.06 Suddenly something has happened. We are still in the same place. However, we have discovered some people from our hostel in the queue. There are the Asians, the ones with the NUS-bag. Are they from Umeå? The plane is destined for Sweden.

10.38 Now it starts to happen. We are on board. Let's bring us to grips and get ready to fly. It is time to say "Arrivederci Roma!"

Another trip in Ryanair´s familiar yellow environment.

The Ammersee lake in southern Bavaria was visible through the airplane window.

12.06 It is sunny in southern Germany. It allows one to study the towns, lakes and mountain ranges in detail from the air.

SWEDEN

13.38 Cold and hellish, snow and biting wind. This is what awaits us. We are about to land. As soon as we have landed, we will take the airport bus to Stockholm.

14:26 We're on the road. The bus will take us towards the capital. Now the question is, what about food before we travel to Sundsvall from Stockholm? First, however, we must reach Stockholm. We are late compared with the schedule we had. The time should be enough anyway.

Peter is having a quick dinner at Sala Thai.

16:20 This year's first dinner on Swedish soil was in the for us classic Sala Thai at the Central Station. Ww are about to travel on. There was not much time between bus trips.

17:02 Now it's off to the Y-bus, off to the north in a snow-covered land.

22:23 It felt good to walk from the bus station and up to Christer's apartment. We are back where the journey began. Now as then, it is dark outside. Now it is -15.5°C. It is time to gather strength. No new journey is underway, at least not within the next three months.

Yes, once again we arrived home safely!