Felice Anno Nuovo

Happy New Year! We have readied the house and yard for a festa tonight, which mostly involved stocking the fridge with Prosecco and picking up pieces of a dismembered gorilla (toy) that have migrated to every corner of the yard and terraces. For a small dog toy, Scully and his BFF sure managed to shred and spread it. The Glass House got an update with our all day trip to Ikea, which was as awful an experience as it sounds. Hours upon hours walking the aisles to decide on lamps and pillows and bookshelves and wardrobes! But we're now ready for the fireworks viewing. Italians LOVE fireworks. There are some for every festival and event. Every night, local teenagers light off firecrackers in the piazza up the street. It's now 2:40 in the afternoon, and we already have such heavy booming nearby that the dog is quivering on the sofa. He's going to have a long afternoon and evening.

Back to our previous two weeks though:
Nathan's Aunt B. and Uncle J. made the long trip across the pond for Christmas. After Nathan showed them Rome, Orvieto, and Assisi, I took over for a couple of local days. We visited Herculaneum, a place I've already blogged about. I did take some new pics this time, though:

The next day, we explored Centro Napoli, focusing on some of the beautiful churches there, as well as a walk down Christmas Alley. Napoli is famous for presepios (nativities), made of bark and moss, as well as many handmade figures to go into them. Christmas Alley is the place to go for these things. I didn't take many pics while down there, but I did get one that is so typical of Centro:

A gorgeous church, kids playing soccer in a piazza, and a humongous pile of trash.

Nathan had the Thursday before Christmas off, so we did an Aunt/Uncle split. Nathan and Uncle J. headed off to Benevento (a nice, mountain town) and then on to Pompeii, while Aunt B. and I headed to Vietri, yet another town I've already blogged about. Vietri is a small town on the Amalfi Coast and home to gorgeous ceramics shops and artist studios. Aunt B. cleaned up with some great finds that all made it safely back home in her carry-on luggage.

Christmas Eve found us on a train up to Rome, checking into the adorable M.D.M. Luxury Rooms next to the Vatican. I'd booked them online, and while the reviews were great, the name brought to mind a Vegas brothel. Thankfully, the hotel ran a beautiful, clean establishment. We stayed so close to the Vatican because the Aunt/Uncle combo had managed to secure tickets to the Christmas Eve Mass at the Vatican. Despite a torrential rain all afternoon, the weather cleared just in time for our two hour wait in line in the square outside St. Peter's Basilica. Church doors opened at 8:30pm for the 10pm Mass, and we only had to elbow one group of nuns out of our way to get in. The others beat our elbows to the punch. Once inside, the dilemma was whether to try to sit closer to the front, but in the middle of the row, or further back and practically right on the aisle. We picked the latter, and if I'd transferred the photos of my iPhone, I could show you how this worked out! As they say in Italy, "Domani, domani" (tomorrow, tomorrow). Following a Christmas morning of sleeping in, we headed back down to St. Peter's Square for the Pope's noon blessing of the city and the world before running back to the Metro, and just making it before public transportation stopped running at 1pm. We headed home to Napoli and a nice Christmas dinner with friends.

The day after Christmas, we drove down to Paestum, an area that contains some of the most complete Greek ruins outside of Greece. There are three, standing temples that are just gorgeous. Unfortunately, we arrived 15 minutes after the ticket office closed, so we had to content ourselves with gazing at them over the fence line.

After another day of some local sightseeing right around our house, we said Arrivederci to Aunt B. and Uncle J. We had such a great time spending time with family and showing them a part of our new life here. And they'll definitely be back since they followed the time honored tradition of ensuring one's return to Italy:

We Haz the Internets

Yippee! Our internet is now installed and working just great. It's so funny how so many things in Italy are delay, delay, delay, and then poof...they work. We got the phone call last week - the Tuesday before Christmas - from the telecommunications company. We had company in town for Christmas week and a packed itinerary. This is how the conversation went with the Telecom rep:

Company Rep (aka, Nice Lady):  Hi, we'd like to schedule your appointment for phone and internet installation. Are you available in the morning or afternoon?
Me: Oh, great! How exciting! Can you come next week?
Nice Lady: No, no, no. We are coming tomorrow. Would like us in the morning or evening?
Me [thinking fast b/c of our tour guide schedule]: Ummmmmm...morning?
Nice Lady: Okay, 10-12.
Me: Can you come between 8-10am?
Nice Lady: Okay, tomorrow, from 8-10am.
Me [remembering the multitude of stories I've heard on how the technician NEVER shows up for the first appointment...or the second]: If the technician doesn't show up, should I call you?
Nice lady: No, no, no. He will be there tomorrow between 8-10a.m. Ciao!

And so he was. At 8:30 a.m. There are times that I just love this place. By 9:30 a.m., we were online and able to surf the internet. However, I had places to show our guests, so there has been no internet surfing, blog posting, TV watching, etc. until today.

I'm sorry for the lack of posting. While back in the U.S., the schedule became packed with visiting. I arrived home last Monday, without my luggage, I might add. My two bags were two of the 20,000 pieces of luggage Lufthansa lost/misplaced/delayed last week. But I got my luggage five days later, on Christmas Day, just 24 hours after I'd decided that I probably would never see my luggage again - it's a Christmas Miracle!

But back to arrival day, flight got into Naples with no other problems, I picked up Crazy Dog from his BFF's house (BFF is a boxer named Doc), got home and bathed him (Scully and Doc play non-stop, including lots of slobering on each other, so a bath is always required), watched the Survivor finale (thank you Armed Forces Network for airing shows the day after they air in the U.S., which meant I actually got to see it!), and proceeded to fall asleep 10 minutes before the finale ended - you know, the point when you actually find out who won the million dollars, the goal of the show that you've been watching for weeks and weeks and weeks. So a 2nd thank you to Armed Forces Network for airing the Survivor finale twice, one right after the other. (I actually stayed awake through the second airing.). Nathan soon arrived with his aunt & uncle, who came to visit for Christmas. They'd actually flown into Rome while I was gone. Nathan drove up to pick them up, and the three of them spent a few days exploring Rome and the Tuscan hill towns of Orvieto and Assisi. I have got to go back and re-read the Anne Rivers Siddons book, "Hilltowns."

We had lots of fun visiting and showing our first set of guests around. In the coming days, I'll post some more updates from the last couple of weeks. So excited to have the internets! Hope everyone had a Buon Natale (Merry Christmas)!

Back in the U.S.

I left Italy on a gorgeous, blue morning this past Sunday - our first clear, beautiful day in forever. We had coffee that morning in our Glass House, sitting on our NEW sofa. The Glass House is finally usable! It was heaven to sit and enjoy our caffe while looking out at Capri and the ferries leaving Pozzuoli port. Scully decided to use his great, fluffy tail as a table sweeper and near knocked my caffe onto the new sofa, so he was banished. But he's too cute to have let that last, especially since his tail was wagging so hard due to happiness at being near us. There's just no getting irritated at that.

I flew from Naples to Munich, flying over the Alps on the route. Wow! Absolutely phenomenal, especially from the air. Mountains as far as the eye could see. Snow has hit northern Europe, so we then flew over a white blanket, and at one remote farm, there were three horses with riders galloping across a field, headed towards a home with smoke coming from the chimney. What a wonderful, winter scene and so relaxing in preparation for the many hours I was about to spend crossing the Atlantic. I had a 1.5 hour layover in Munich, and it was just enough. The Germans are super serious about their security measures. I'm thankful for it, but as I was standing in my final security line watching the monitor that stated my flight was boarding, I must confess to a little anxiety. And when my time through the line came, I realized what all the hoopla is about in regards to the airport pat-downs. My security officer was very professional, but I haven't been touched in all those places by someone other than my husband since I was a toddler. We were so intimate that I really feel like I should have gotten her name.

The flight from Munich to Chicago was brutal. It wouldn't have been so bad, but I kept thinking, "When this agony ends, I have another three hour layover and then two hour flight to Baltimore. This trip will never end." The movies on offer were recent, new, and plentiful, and my seatmate was pleasant, so the trip wasn't so bad. I'm now in Baltimore at my sister's house, and it is fantastic! I love spending all this time with my niece and two nephews. They are adorable and I love when they come running into my bedroom in the mornings, hollering "Auntie, Auntie." We spent the first two days running errands. I had a short list that quickly grew very long of things I need to buy here and take back with me. Although in just the first day, I'd collected a pile so large that I'm now putting together a box (or two) to ship home. I miss the stores here. I know it's just familiarity and knowing where to go for what specific item, so in time, I know I'll love the shopping available in Italy. Right now I'm still in the stage of having to figure everything out. Where to go, how to get there, where to park once there, do I have a euro coin for the shopping cart (you have to "unlock" the carts with a coin, then you get your money back when you rejoin the cart to the other carts), how do I ask the shopkeeper the question I have to find an item or about an item...the list just keeps going. It has been nice to have a few "normal" errands.

Yesterday, my sister and I, along with her sister-in-law, took the kids to Longwood Gardens in Baltimore to see their Christmas displays and lights. It is beautiful there. I've included a few photos at the end of this blog. Longwood has the most incredible Children's Garden, filled with water features, fanciful ironworks, pathways and a "secret" staircase. The conservatory was filled with rooms of beautiful trees and plantings, and I think the kids had as much fun as the adults.

I'm here for a few more days before traveling to North Carolina for most of next week for my best friend's wedding. I'll return home just before Christmas. Nathan is back in Italy with Crazy Dog, who is reportedly acting even crazier than normal. Nathan's uncle lives near a great, pet supply store that sells eco-friendly dog toys (organic fabrics, etc.). We got one for Scully just before leaving for Italy and it became his very best friend. He loved his bunny rabbit to death, literally. Nathan's uncle sent a dog toy care package, which arrived a couple of days ago, and here is Nathan's email to me on the events surrounding it's opening:

Scully was too funny as I opened the box and was reading the note.  He repeatedly tried to steal/walk off with the new toys as though I wasn't looking.  I figured that he should get to enjoy the care package from his Great Uncle.  So, I cut the tags off and laid them out on the couch for him to choose.  He sniffed them all very carefully, decided on one, and ran off to the yard with me chasing after him, "NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!! Not outside!!"  I finally caught up to him (he thought it was great fun), and brought it inside.  He never put it down and ultimately slept with it in his box.
[Box is our name for his crate, which we now use for his dog bed that used to be inside the crate, but is now just in the corner of the room.].

Here are the Longwood Garden pics:

Reprieve

Naturally, the day after my post on the rain never ending...the rain ended. Yesterday morning was warm and sunny, a proper Mediterranean climate. This morning, even clearer, blue skies and warmer temps. I am back on base, this time searching for the lost remote control to our garage alarm (a bad thing to lose, especially since the garage alarm was turned on). So far, no luck. I think the remote is gone forever. We have other keys to the alarm, however, in order to turn off the alarm, you must use the same key or remote control used to set it. Unless I find the remote control, we have no way to do a reset. I am sensing the return of "the Electric Man" to our house.

But back to weather, as I entered the library, clouds were massing for a kicker of a storm. Our reprieve may be over. I left Scully outside, too, thinking he could use a nice day in the yard. Oops.

We got a nice Christmas surprise at our house. Last week, while on the phone on a cold, rainy day, I was huddled by the radiator in our dining room staring out at the garden. It finally dawned on me that the tree growing right outside our front door is a poinsettia tree, covered in blooms. The tree is so tall, that the blooms aren't noticeable unless your either on the roof terrace or looking up. I've never seen a poinsettia tree like this. Our landlady came over yesterday and told me she was given a plant as a gift many years ago, and after natale (Christmas), she planted it. The tree is the result:

And just another little photo to share - this one is of Piazza Dante, in the center of Naples. It's a beautiful piazza in an area with much to offer - one of the best archaeological museums, great shopping, pizzerias, ruins, castles, etc. This picture was taken yesterday when I met a friend for coffee at a nearby bar. You may notice the piles of garbage in the middle of the square. We believe a demonstration was about to begin. I'm not sure how much the American news has covered the garbage crisis here, but it's gotten really bad. I haven't taken our garbage up the street to our neighborhood dumpsters, so I'm not sure how much our area is impacted, but there are alleys in downtown Naples where cars can no longer drive because the garbage covers the entire alley. If the issue is still going on after Christmas, I'll take a few photos - just what you all want to see, photos of trash. Anyway, here's the very pretty Piazza Dante:

Thanksgiving Trulli

I am uploading several posts today while I'm on base using the library WiFi. I am beginning to think we will never get internet. After Christmas, I am going to go get an aircard so that we at least have something at home. I thought it might take 6 weeks or so, we're at that mark now, with still not even an appointment (from all reports, it takes at least three scheduled appointments before the service tech actually shows up). It's especially odd because a family who moved onto our same block, three weeks after us, had internet within two weeks of move-in. Usually these delays are because internet isn't available in one's neighborhood. Ahhhhh, Italy!

The time has once again escaped me, and I need to leave the base soon, but I'll quickly write about what we did for Thanksgiving. We decided to travel south to the Puglia region to a little town called Alberobello (pretty tree). The town is an UNESCO World Heritage site due to thousands of trulli homes - little, white, round houses with conical roofs of stacked stone. They are adorable. This trip was inspired by an article saved for us by Nathan's Aunt C. when we visited last spring. She had an article on the food in the Puglia region with pictures of this town, and my imagination was captivated. Once we arrived in Italy, other people also mentioned the town, and there is a friendly hotel owner who has captured the American military market (and allows dogs in his houses!), so we decided to make that our mini-vacation. We stayed in a trulli house (they are cold for the first day or so until the heat fills the space!) and had the chance to enjoy the town in the off-season. It was nice to have some quiet, but it was a little too quiet. The shopkeepers were somewhat aggressive since we seemed to be the only game in town. And every restaurant we visited, we were the only table - we got great service! The food was phenomenal. I had the best pasta I've ever eaten - freshly made, and filled with ricotta and chestnuts in the lightest cream sauce. I'm drooling as I remember it.

We tried to do a good bit of exploring of the surrounding area as well, visiting the Grotte Castellana, a fantastic cave system. I've never been to Luray Caverns in Virginia, which are reportedly amazing, but this cave system here is just indescribable. "Room" after "room" of formations all over the floors and ceilings. One particular cave in the system, the White Cave, is so named because every formation in it is white - and no one knows why. There are plenty of theories, but no one knows for sure.

Another day, we visited the town of Lecce. This is a beautiful town, but to me, it was like many beautiful towns in Italy...charming streets? Check. Beautiful architecture? Check. Amphitheater in the middle of town? Check. Lecce is worth a visit for sure, if only to see the baroque architecture on the churches, but I think  the more important "site" is some of the best gelato ever! Ever! It's at Natale, which is located off of the piazza where the amphitheater is located. And Nathan finally had the chance to taste "real" gelato. He loved it! On our way to Lecce, we stopped in the tiny town of Locorotondo, which our guidebook stated has the prettiest centro (center) in Italy. I might just have to agree. The buildings are all white, the pavement is ivory, colorful flowers spill out of window boxes, and alleys are small and curvy, leading you ever onward with the expectation of more lovely sights to see around the corner. Shops and bars were all closed, but the kids were on recess, which apparently takes place in the alleys/streets of the town. We dodged many soccer balls, including one made of balled up paper.

Our final stop was on the way back to Naples, where we stopped in Matera, home of the Sassi (stone/cave dwellings) and the town where "Passion of the Christ" was filmed. The sassi rise up on a hilltop, and across the gorge, the views are of more and more cave dwellings. These places have been used as homes for many thousands of years, and Matera is thought to be one of the oldest, inhabited towns in the world (the whole world - not just the western world!). This place is only two hours south of Naples, yet we'd never heard of it until we were skimming the guidebook to see what types of things were on our route. I look forward to returning and doing some exploring in the gorge/ravine, where there are many, frescoed churches in caves.

We didn't load up on turkey, stuffing, cranberries, potatoes, and pumpkin pie. But we did have a Thanksgiving feast, quite by accident. We'd had a late (and large) lunch, so at dinnertime, we headed to one of only two restaurants we found open and asked if we could just have antipasti, wine, and dolci (dessert). The answer to these types of questions is always a yes, with a look of confusion as to why that would not be possible. But anyway, we ordered our bruschetta, the wine, then decided to also try the antipasti sampler of regional dishes. Good gracious was that a lot of food. Six of us could have eaten on that appetizer as our meal and still not finished it! We had a cheese platter, meat platter, basil souffle, chickpea mix, a bunch of other things of which we weren't sure what we were eating, and even that most disgusting of delicacies, tripe. We'd never tried it before, but since it is considered a very special item here, we thought we'd at least give it a taste. Well now we've tasted it. And that's all I need to say about it. At this point, the food had been so plentiful and delicious, we decided we had to try their dessert and ordered what we thought would be a small bowl of gelato. Nope. Large bowl of gelato, big plate of cookies (lots of cookies), and another large plate of chestnuts the restaurant owner had been roasting at a nearby stand. The restaurant was an old olive mill, in an underground trulli house, so the atmosphere was as delicious as the food. The only thing missing was the nap on the sofa after our gluttony.

Just an update

I now believe that it is never going to stop raining – never, never. It has rained all day, every day for weeks on end now. I think we might have had a nice day two weeks ago. One nice day. Even a friend from the Northwest recently commented that this is worse than Seattle, just to give you an idea of how much rain we’re getting. Crazy Dog is stir crazy in the house, but doesn't want to be in the rain. He has developed little monkey paws, and when I leave for language class in the mornings, as I'm trying to close the front door, he hooks a paw around the door like a cat and has apparently been lifting weights as he has developed enough strength to actually stop me from closing the door. So every time I leave the house this happens, I have to open the door back up, whereupon we have yet another discussion on how scared he is of thunder and lightning, so he may not stay outside while I'm gone. During one of our recent storms, Scully jumped full into my lap and commenced shaking. That was fine with me as the lightning was hitting really closely (and we've already had one strike that knocked out a light fixture), so we cuddled together until the storm was passed. I hope by my return to Italy we will at least begin having some sun every now and then!

In other news, I have finally ventured into our local Supermercato. Supermarket is a bit of a misnomer as it is more of a neighborhood grocery, but it has all the basics, with an added bonus of the most interesting freezer section I've ever come across. Sadly I didn't have my camera with me, so photos will have to come later. The freezers are the ones that are open on the top, like where all the frozen turkeys and chickens are put in American stores. Except here, there is frozen seafood...not in a package. One section has a bunch of frozen octopus(es? - what exactly is the plural?), another has some pre-fried seafood, just ready to go back into your own pot, and yet another has a bunch of beady-eyed fish staring up at the shoppers. It's fascinating.

We also finally tried out our local pizzeria. It's yummy, and about a 3 minute walk away, so "perfetto" (perfect). I was scolded by the owner because I only ate half my pizza and Nathan ate the rest. I think he didn't believe me when I said how good it was. But the pizzas are the size of two dinner plates, and one person is supposed to eat a whole one! They are significantly lighter than U.S. pizzas, but still!

Horseback Riding in the Abruzzi Mountains

Weekend before last, I joined a tour organized by our Outdoor Rec program to the Abruzzi Mountains. We stayed overnight at an agriturismo located within the National Park and enjoyed two trail rides through the beautiful region as well as their incredible food. Agriturismos are very popular in Italy and are somewhat similar to a countryside B&B. They usually include meals, which are hearty, traditional, and delicious, and many offer some sort of additional attraction – cooking classes, a vineyard and wine tasting, etc. This one was also a horse ranch and offered trail riding. We were in a group of eight plus one guide provided by NOR (Navy Outdoor Recreation), and I went with my roommate from the EuroChocolate trip of last month and another friend from language class.

We left Naples and quickly found ourselves enjoying Italy’s incredible countryside, stopping twice for the obligatory “caffe,” much needed on the chilly, rainy day. Reaching the agriturismo, ValleCupa, we checked into our cozy, clean and pretty rooms and hotfooted it down to the nearest town, Pescasseroli, for some lunch. The rain was really starting, and much of the town seemed closed. We were able to find a small trattoria, warmed with a wood burning fireplace and decorated with wooden beams and vintage photos of the town, and had filling pasta, bean soup, and local cheeses – yummy! Following lunch, we returned to the agriturismo to saddle up for the first trail ride. The rain continued, but we were determined to head out and see the scenery.

With only one really experienced rider in our group, the first ride was quite an experience. This was capped with the fact that the horses were not at all happy about being taken out in the rain, so they just started wandering up hills on their own, refused to stop, and in general, behaved like cranky children. My horse, in particular, was determined to always be in front. He was not at all a follower, even if keeping his lead meant running through large thorn bushes. We all seemed a bit frazzled after the first ride, and I don’t think any of us really had a chance to actually look around at the landscape.  Even the lone experienced rider in the group had an "active" ride. After naps, we headed into town again to do a little shopping and, as is the Italian way, ended up in the bar (coffee bar). Dinner back at the agriturismo was a traditional meal with many courses, each more delicious than the last.

The next day dawned with blue skies, lifting our spirits and giving us hope that the morning ride would go a little better than before. During breakfast, though, the clouds started rolling in. We were able to get started early, and remarkably, the horses seemed to have gone through a personality transplant overnight. Some were given their same horse; I got a new one – Furetto (I later learned his name meant “Little Fury”). He was wonderful. Calm and very much a follower. He had his friends, and he was determined to stay just behind one of them. He also had some enemies, resulting in a little kick given to one horse and a few bites when some of his enemies tried to pass too closely. But he remained calm and even-paced for me, so I was quite happy with him. Some of the other riders were not so happy with him, so there were a few people I did not get to visit with on the ride.

I could not get over the scenery. In our two hour ride we traveled through mysterious forests, populated with trees covered with moss and bare branches reaching to the grey, rain-laden clouds, huge boulders rising up from the red leaves coating the ground, a green grass highland reminding me of Scottish moors that I’ve seen only in my imagination, and steep, rocky trails where each of us were sure our horse would slip, throwing us onto the rocks below. It was so tranquil, and the only signs of other life came when we came across a group of wild horses. They must not have been too wild since one was wearing a cow bell, but there was no farm around. The group began to approach our group, and I thought we might have a little horse rumble on our hands, but we passed without incident and got to enjoy watching the lead horse of the wild pack, a magnificent white horse with a flowing mane that was lifting wildly in the high wind. It could have been the cover of a novel.

Our ride was followed with yet another delicious meal, the best one yet, and then back to reality in our little van that took us out of the quiet mountains and back into the craziness of Naples (after a stop for caffe!).

Around Our House

I think I used up all of my energy in our first two months here. A friend invited me to her house for dinner last night, and while we were discussing living in Italy, I realized that we've now lived in our house for two weeks. In that time, my excursions to explore our neighborhood have consisted of three dinners out (including the Chinese restaurant!), one short drive to a little beach area called Capo Miseno, and a visit to the Baia Archeological Park, which I did on Sunday. That's it. I have not gone out for gelato (horror of horrors), I have not walked around the nearby lake, I have not gone to the supermercato (grocery store), I have not walked around the shopping area in the next village over, I have not explored any of the great ruins we have within a 5-10 minute drive from our house, other than my Sunday excursion. It's shameful, really. But I wanted to write just a little about our area.

We live in the area of Campi Flegrei (in English, called the Phlegraean Fields). It's home to thousand years old ruins, volcanic craters, a place where myths were born and the Sybils offered up their oracles. Amazing wines grow on it's hills, and those hills abound with Greek and Roman ruins, the oldest of which pre-dates Christ by about five more centuries. We don't really live in a village. I call it a roundabout (a traffic circle) because really, we're located in between two smart looking, seaside villages. Our little roundabout hosts a gelateria, a newspaper stand, a salumeria (fancy 7-11), macelleria (butcher), tabacchi (guess what that is), and several restaurants. Oh, and my favorite, a "beauty farm." The roundabout and these lovely places are on a small lake which was once a hotspot among the wealthy Romans. Many of their villas are either long gone or under the sea...which leads to some disturbing information. We live on the slopes of a place called Monte Nuovo (new mountain), so called because the entire mountain appeared in one week in 1538! This is not a joke. A volcano erupted, and in the ensuing aftermath, this mountain was formed. Nathan finds it "cool" that witnesses actually watched a mountain form 500 years ago; I find it terrifying. Also nearby is what I hope will become a favorite: Terme Stufe di Nerone. Thermal baths. In the 1960s, two brothers re-discovered thermal baths and grottos located among some Roman ruins on land they inherited from their mother. They created a modern complex to "take the waters," have massages, etc. I look forward to trying it out!

The Archeological Park of Baia is a lovely area with lots of ruins to explore. In places, columns and pedastals are just sort of toppled over. One of my favorite things was the most unassuming - as I walked down a dirt path and found about five rows of mosaic tiles poking up from the dirt, the remains of an old floor taking its last gasp before time covers it completely. One of the men working at the site was generous enough to share tidbits of info with me, which increased my enjoyment of the site immensely. Especially because we conversed in Italian. His sentences were long and fluid, while mine were punctuated with lots of pauses and the vocabulary of a two year old, but still, it's progress. He showed me a little area I would have completely missed, which is an itty, bitty room that used to be a sauna. A culvert in the floor allowed the steaming water to pass through, and the ceiling still had the carvings of the Romans decorating it.

There is also a huge, domed structure, called a temple, but what I've learned is that a few hundred years back, when lots of these sorts of things were "found," folks labeled anything they weren't sure about a temple. Nowadays, there are a few more ideas about the varying purposes of structures, but the temple names have stuck. So the Temple of Mercury is built just as the Pantheon in Rome was built (Thomas Jefferson based his design of UVA's Rotunda on the Pantheon), only this one in Baia was built 100 years earlier. It is eerie to visit because you enter through a short, stone tunnel, and step out onto a metal walkway. After you've stepped out, you realize there is water about 2 inches below this metal walkway - I'm a child of the 70s/80s, so I just can't help but say this - it was a "Goonies" moment. As with so many fascinating ruins here, they are edged with modern (sort of) buildings edging them. What sorts of treasures and history lie beneath these apartment buildings and houses?

 

Can you make out the remains of the frescoes?

Pictures

I'm at the base today using WiFi, so I can finally upload some photos of our house.

Living Room

Kitchen with our huge stove on loan from Housing

Lower Terrace - the white frame is for large awnings that roll out

View from roof terrace

Scully's Yard

Other side of the garden - the area on the right has a humongous water fountain in it that we found when we started clearing away brush. Nathan calls it our "Lost" garden with ruins that just crop up.

The "glass house" on the roof that will eventually have furniture in it.

 

Eating Out

Last night, we ate at a Chinese restaurant. We do see the irony in living in a country with some of the best food in the world, yet paying good money for Chinese food; however, since we arrived here, at least eight people have said some version of, “There’s a great Chinese restaurant in Arco Felice. You’ll be living near it.” Eight people! That’s one for every week we’ve lived in Italy. The kicker was when a perfect stranger who came to pick up some of our moving boxes called me back later in the day yesterday to say, “Since you just arrived here, you may not realize you have a great Chinese restaurant down the street.” Not only have people volunteered it as a great restaurant, but they use it as a landmark when trying to tell us where other places are. We decided we needed to check it out earlier rather than later, and it did not disappoint.  Food was excellent, and it was fun to see a Chinese menu arranged Italian style.

I may have already written about this, and if so, my apologies, but in Italy, meals come in courses. In medium to nicer restaurants, you order each course after finishing the first. First is your antipasti, just like an American appetizer menu. Next is primi (first) of pasta (or…if you’re at the Chinese restaurant, rice/noodles), next is secondo and is your meat and/or seafood plate. This does not come with sides. Your veggies are a separate course, which can be ordered with the secondo. If you choose a salad rather than veggies, the salad is ordered after the secondo. Next up is the best part…dolci (dessert). After all of this, the waiter brings two bottles to your table – grappa and limoncello. These are complimentary, and you sit and drink a cup or two of your digestivo. In Italian restaurants, you always pay a “coperto,” which is a cover charge for sitting down. Think of this as the tip for the busboys. It’s generally 1-2 euro per person. Meal tipping is 5-10%. 

Another little note about eating out in Italy…there are lots of “bars.” Every block has one or two. A bar in Italy is completely different. It’s the coffee shop. So it’s a completely different connotation to arrange a meeting at a bar. Some (many) have only counters as you must pay extra for a table, even in a coffee or gelato shop. You decide what you want and pay the cashier. Grab the receipt and present it to the barista, telling him/her what you want to drink and which pastry you ordered. In some very busy bars, the barista ignores you until you put your .10 tip next to your receipt. But in most cases, after drinking your coffee while standing at the bar, you can leave your little coin next to the empty cup. Coffee is not some large cup of what the Italians call “brown water,” which you sit in a Central Perk type place and sip for hours while visiting with friends. Coffee is small cups of espresso, which have less caffeine than a cup of American coffee, and you enjoy them while standing at the bar socializing or down it in a couple of drinks and head off to face the rest of your day. There are strict rules for what type of coffee to drink depending on the time of day. I follow none of them. I like my cappuccino and order it all the time, even after 11am! The horror! For those who are really interested in the health benefits of coffee and Italy’s coffee culture, this is a great blog post by another blogger here in Naples: The Espresso Break: Drink Coffee, It's Good For Your Health

Another observation on life here in Naples was brought home last night in the Chinese restaurant. It’s a small place, only about 12 tables. I’d noticed this table of three young boys who looked to be about 10 years old. After half an hour or so, I realized there was no adult with them, not even one at a nearby table. They were active and clearly having a fun time together, but were behaving appropriately for a restaurant. They sat down, ordered, were drinking their Cokes out of wine glasses, sharing food, and looked for all the world like a group of elderly men enjoying an evening out. That merging of time in which I suddenly see the same scene in the past or future happens so often here, in this place where the ancient world is such a part of modern life. Nathan said he imagined these three kids sitting around playing X-box, when one of them says, “Hey, want to go out for some Chinese,” and off they go to a nearby restaurant at 9:00pm. Age 10!

Finally...

I am writing this post as I sit in the rooftop solarium. Today is a beautiful, Mediterranean day with a cloudless, blue sky, a temperature warm enough for a T-shirt, but not stifling hot, a gentle breeze blows through the walls of open windows, the island of Ischia is rising out of a haze in the distance, and the sea is calm and filled with fishermen and ferries traveling about. Before your irritation starts at this seeming lap of luxury, this moment is earned after seven straight days of 13+ hours of unpacking, organizing, sorting, cabinet stocking, trash hauling, and so on. Most days, lunch was a sandwich at the kitchen counter while planning my afternoon assault on the house. I’ve come up to the solarium exactly twice – once to figure out which keys worked for the lock and the second to bring a load of stuff that goes up here.

We still have pictures to hang on the walls and kitchen cupboards to line with non-skid, but those are the last projects for the inside of the house. The solarium is another story. We’ve searched a few stores here for some decent outdoor furniture, but we haven’t found what we want. Since we intend for this to be an everyday, living space, we’re looking for comfortable furniture that can handle the sun and the greenhouse effect. And Nathan wants some Meyer lemon trees.

Speaking of which, I’ve just found what I think is a lemon tree in our yard. Scully has this favorite area in the yard which is a small, grassy ledge that overlooks the back patio. He loves hanging about in the grass up there watching over his domain. I noticed some sort of stone structure up there and went to investigate, finding a citrus tree in the process. We also have an out of control eucalyptus tree which grabs at our legs when walking up to the side yard (aka, Scully’s bathroom). Conveniently, Scully has selected the area right beside our outdoor kitchen as his toilet. He is continuing to enjoy his yard, and is living up to his Crazy Dog moniker. This morning, he was watching me sweep the patio when all of a sudden, he galloped off in some sort of odd fit, raced around and around, the whole time growling at himself. I think he’s been getting into some sort of yard berries I don’t know about.

Our first couple of days here were a challenge with a few unhappy surprises, but as the week has continued and we’ve become more settled, we’re both growing to love the house. Here are the things I love so far:  we have a street sweeper who cleans our street once per week (there is a trash crisis going on right now, so I’m thankful to live on a street where there is not trash piled outside the doors), we have dumpsters and recycling bins just half a block away (no curbside service here, so it’s great to have something in walking distance!), the garden is so beautiful with plants, statuary, and planters everywhere, our bathroom (it’s small, but has great storage and water pressure), metal shutters that close up the house (I never knew how much ambient light affected my sleep in the U.S.), large doors and windows that open up for indoor/outdoor living, a garage so I don’t stay awake at night and wonder if our cars that don’t have theft insurance coverage are being stolen, that from a certain spot on the roof terrace, we can see the ruins of a medieval castle jutting out on a cliff, and our 6-burner, gas stove the Navy loans us.

Well I’m off now to grab the camera and take some pics. I’ll try to upload them soon…on my way downstairs to post this, I found a big, basil plant! I can’t wait to really explore the yard and planters to see what we have!

Moving In

Friday was a whirlwind with three sets of movers - household goods, express shipment, and the Housing Department delivery of our loaner appliances and furniture (stove, fridge, washer/dryer, kitchen hutch, electrical transformers, and three wardrobes). We'd hoped the three would be staggered, but they were all there at the same time. On top of the 11 movers, our landlord and his mother were there with various workmen all day. I have no idea what the purpose of the inspections done by the housing department was since the house was not at all ready for move-in. In addition, at least two of the items that were on the first two failed inspections had not been repaired, so how did the house pass the third inspection? The new city gas resulted in the hot water heater needing replacement and some sort of replacement fixtures on the gas stove connection. The house had not been cleaned at all, the landlord still had all sorts of personal items in the garage and wine cellar, and the garage door, alarm system, and video surveillance system didn't work. BUT...with us moving in, the landlord had workmen on the problems all day Friday and Saturday. The only things left are the alarm and video systems, and I have an appointment with "The Electric Man" on Wednesday to work on those. It's frustrating to me not that we moved in when the house wasn't ready, but that we were delayed for so long for nothing.
Scully is loving his yard. He gallops around it, and paces on this tall wall and grassy area that overlook the back patio. We inherited two cats, and Scully loves just sitting in the grass and staring up at the wall they use as their dog escape hatch. He comes into the house looking like some sort of jungle dog with flowers, leaves and branches sticking out of his hair.

We've been so focused on getting unpacked quickly that we've yet to explore the area. We did go to dinner at a nearby trattoria on Sunday night. The food was delicious, but I was surprised at how expensive it was. We've generally found restaurants to be very reasonable in cost. We'll have to keep exploring. Nathan has a coworker who lives nearby, and she just told him about some great places that are also within walking distance of our house. We're looking forward to the exploring!

Tuscan Afternoon

Yesterday, we took the train up to Lucca, a nice sized town in Tuscany with the crowning glory of completely intact, medieval walls which now form a pedestrian and bicycle promenade. We were supposed to be in Livorno, picking up the car we'd shipped from the U.S. Those of you who've read the blog from the beginning may remember that the government shipped one car, and we elected to ship our 2nd vehicle at the last minute. With some sort of weird mix-up, we did not ship it with the same company who holds the government contract like we thought we were doing, so the car did not get all the way to Naples. Instead, it was shipped to Livorno, about five hours north of Naples, and coincidentally, the place where Nathan's uncle was stationed several years ago while in the Army. When we told a few people about having to go to Livorno, they all recommended a visit to Lucca, about a half hour away, so we made our hotel reservation for a little B&B within Lucca's city walls. We weren't able to get the car out of customs yesterday, so instead, spent the late afternoon wandering around Lucca's streets, enjoyed a late lunch in a piazza that sits in the middle of what used to be the town's amphitheatre, rode bikes on the city walls, and had a great dinner at a local trattoria.

The port in Livorno closed today at 11:30, and we calculated it would take us an hour to get there given the 15 minute walk to the train station, two trains, then taxi to the customs agency office. Thankfully, we got ready a little early and decided to head out rather than have breakfast at our B&B. Due to our late trains, the trip ended up taking two hours. But we made it, got to the port, and while our customs agent was inside getting the documentation stamped, we stared at our car in a nearby parking lot...and realized one of the tires was completely flat. While we were staring in consternation, wondering how we're going to get that car back to Naples today (not optional to wait due to the movers!), a security guard walked by to ask what we were doing, and Nathan, mistaking him for a port agent, started into the whole story. The very nice security guard offered up the use of the air compressor he keeps in his trunk (??? why???), spent 20 minutes with us while pumping up the tire, then gave our customs agent directions to a nearby repair shop who would do a fix immediately and for a fair price.

The sense of relief we felt when we were finally on the road, in our own car, was so great. We concocted this great plan to have lunch in Florence and dinner in Rome since both were on our route home. We re-routed the GPS for Florence, but then decided that instead of battling Florence's traffic and busyness, we'd detour off the main route and lunch in San Gimignano, one of Tuscany's best hill towns. San Gimignano has 13 of it's original 70+ towers still standing, the most of any city in Tuscany. Most cities tore down their towers for the sake of development, or, the towers crumbled with lack of upkeep. For lunch, we picked a trattoria on a side street that didn't seem too touristy and had one of the best meals we've had in Italy. Absolutely phenomenal. Nathan had a beef carpaccio antipasti he loved, and for our primi plates, we had tagliatelle with tartufo (truffle) and ravioli stuffed with gorgonzola and walnuts. Plus a chocolate cake made with almond flour for dessert - yum, yum, yum. After that, we hit a calorie coma and were so tired that we skipped walking around San Gimignano for more exploring. In addition, we nixed the dinner in Rome plan after remembering all the packing up of the hotel room still left to do. Unfortunately, it meant nixing the entire blog I had written in my head and entitled, "Lunch in Florence, Dinner in Rome." Another time, perhaps.

Key Pickup

Tonight I met our landlord and his Mama (our landlady) at our new house to pick up the keys. I have absolutely no idea what all of these go to. That was the purpose of the meeting, and unfortunately, the electricity had still not been turned on. So not only did we not have any light to see by, we've yet to test the electric garage door, the electric metal shutters, the video surveillance system, the doorbell, the automatic gate opener, the light fixtures...the list keeps going. Hopefully, the electricity will be turned on by Friday. Then, I can find out how on earth we will possibly need 11 keys for one house. AND...there's another basket of keys (not a duplication of these; I'm talking about more keys we supposedly need) in the house.  In addition to these keys, we have a garage door opener, some sort of wand thingy for the video surveillance, and four remotes for the four A/C units in the house. I didn't get a good look at the house tonight because it was raining hard, and one drawback I found, our front door does not have an overhang. This means that while one is shuffling through 11 keys to find the correct ones to get through the front door (multiple door, multiple locks), the rain is dripping down the back of one's neck, down the spine, down the pants, and falling onto feet wearing flip-flops in November because one only packed two pair of closed toe shoes, both of which have given recent blisters. Note to self: Do not go grocery shopping on a rainy day. And find some shoes that don't rub blisters.

I had a carload of stuff to unload because somehow, everything does not fit back into four suitcases. In the event we do not get our 2nd car out of the customs lot tomorrow or Thursday (long, long, long and frustrating story that's too demoralizing to repeat as getting a pocketful of keys to a house in a quiet, little, seaside village that's on the Metro line lifted me out of my funk)...what was I saying...oh...if we don't have car #2 to drive to the house on Friday morning, there is no way everything would have fit into the Toyota in one trip. As I was dragging this heavy, X-Large dog crate filled with other stuff out of the trunk, here comes 76 year old Mama (I was wrong about her age on a previous blog) who just grabs one end and starts hauling. I felt terrible and kept saying, "No, no, no," but off she went. I had no choice but grab the other end and try to hang on! We can't wait to move in for good! Please let there be light...

The Deal is Done

Our housing contract is signed, we've applied for the utilities, and finally (!) have a move-in date. We're set to go for this Friday. I go tomorrow to pick up the keys and drop off a load of things. It can't come too soon, especially because we found out today, after almost seven weeks of living in our government assigned temporary lodging, that we're not actually getting reimbursed for the entire amount of the room. It's a long and frustrating story as to why not and frankly, just makes me angry, so instead I'll focus on our other good news.

In addition to getting our house this week, we will also be picking up our second car (we hope). Although even that was not without it's drama. The car came into Livorno, which is about a six hour drive north. Having not heard anything in awhile, we emailed the company who shipped the car last Wednesday. On Friday, we received a reply from the customs agent in Livorno, with whom we'll be working, and he said, to paraphrase, "Your car came in this past Monday, and after six days, you will begin paying storage fees." Thanks for the heads up. In addition, he's not actually clearing the car into Italy as the shipping agent told us he would. He's giving us a temporary clearance. Then we have to drive it down to Naples, and hire a second custom's agent to give us a final clearance. Nathan and I both spent hours today working on this problem, each dealing with separate issues having to do with the car. But...insurance is secured, paperwork has been faxed, Crazy Dog care is arranged, transportation to the train station is set, and best of all, we have reservations at a highly-rated (in user reviews) B&B in the walled, Tuscan town of Lucca. It's only a half hour drive from Livorno, so since we have to spend the night up there, we decided to do it in a town so many have raved about to us. This will be our first weekend trip together here, and Nathan's first trip to Tuscany.

The blog is probably going to be updated slowly for the next few weeks. We will not have internet for a month or two. A friend just showed me how to make my iPhone an internet hub, but it will be pretty slow. I'm hoping it will be fast enough for me to at least upload to the blog, but I'm not sure how it will handle adding the pics. We'll just have to see how it goes - only four days, and I'll know!

Hallelujah!

Literally, hallelujah! One of the biggest challenges we have faced as we've moved all over the U.S., and now around the world, is finding a home church. In our 14 years of marriage and eight cities, we've only had two churches that we felt were true home churches. We've always managed to find a place where we liked the preaching, but in many places, we've just never felt welcomed into congregations. We came here with a small list of potential churches here (one of which, coincidentally, is pastored by missionaries supported by my aunt/uncle's home church in Alabama). A friend in my language class mentioned her church one day, and it was one on my list, so we made it our first visit to a church off base. Thankfully, we both really enjoyed it. A band provides music in the form of contemporary songs that we like. In addition, both the singing and the sermon are dual language. We sang one verse in English, then repeated in Italian, and so on. Same for the sermon. There are several preachers who take turns. Today, one of the Italian preachers gave the sermon (a good one) while an American preacher translated. As it turns out, we knew several people in the church, three or four of whom work with Nathan, as well as a lady I've befriended who is moving (with her family) to a house that is just up the street from ours. We felt very welcomed, loved the music, and heard a great sermon, so...hallelujah!

EuroChocolate

"Evento PeriGoloso" is a fun play on the Italian language. Pericoloso (with a "c") means dangerous, while a Goloso or Golosa is a man or woman who really, really, really likes sweets - can't stop eating sweets.

(continued from Friday's post)...
We loaded back onto the tour bus Sunday morning for the short drive to Perugia, but then waited for over an hour while the tour guide tried to figure out the best way for us to get into the city. There must have been over 1000 people just in the parking lot where we were, all trying to buy tickets and then get on the shuttle buses and/or tram into Perugia's old city. After much plan changing, we got our bus tickets and were given freedom until 5pm that night. After missing two buses due to crowding, my group of six ladies shoved our way onto a bus Japanese style, and a few of us even secured seats - a wondrous feat.

Exiting into the Old Town, we were faced with a split, one stream of people going up some stairs, the others going into a tunnel that sloped up. Heading into the tunnel, we went up, up, up and came off of escalators into some sort of amazing forum or colisseum from antiquity. Lots of dark, arched tunnels and rooms branching off. These types of ruins are so interesting to those of us from Naples because the majority of "our" ruins were buried by Pompeii, thus, to see ruins in this region, you head underground. The hilltowns are, well, on hills, so it's a really different feel when visiting buildings and ruins that are hundreds, even thousands, of years old. In Perugia, there was a display set up from Mexico with samples of chocolate in one of the side branches. It was crowded, but not terrible...we should have known better.

After making our way out of this building, we were hit with the full blast of an Italian festival. Wall to wall people. The festival was set up running up and down the main street of Perugia's old city, along with a few off-shoots. Booths upon booths of chocolate from around Europe on both sides of the already narrow street. We pushed our way up to one of the booths and were able to get a couple of samples - Mama Mia! Delizioso! Unfortunately, that was one of the last samples of the day. The crowds were truly unbelievable and defy description. One of the things we were all looking forward to was the hot chocolate (I was walking around with the ladies from dinner the night before), so we got cups of that - and ate it with a spoon (see picture on right side of blog - yummmmm). We also pushed or way to the booths with liqueurs made from chocolate. All sorts of sauces and cremes were available - chocolate & orange, chocolate & almond, chocolate and pepperocini, and just keep on imagining. After pushing our way through the crowds (and in the rain, so add umbrellas to the madness), we decided to take a respite in a shoe store, an oasis for which were all so grateful that we all bought shoes. This also kept the shop keepers from saying a word about us dripping all over their tiny store and lounging around on their gigantic, leather seating.

I'm really not exaggerating about the crowds - here's a pic, and keep in mind, this street is one of the side streets of the festival!

Back into the madness, we quickly decided it was lunch time. We'd only each had a large breakfast, four sips of chocolate liqueurs, three pieces of chocolate, and cups of thick, creamy, hot chocolate. Clearly not enough food. We lucked out in finding a nearby restaurant with a great menu, good food, and only a ten minute table wait. When we left, the restaurant had a 45 minute table wait because by then, the light, misting rain had turned into an all out assault. But Perugia is yet another beautiful, Italian town with old stone buildings, fountains, detailed carvings hanging off the buildings, enticing alleys, and so on. I wonder if I'll ever tire of these charming, little places. My group decided to spend the afternoon getting off the beaten path and exploring Perugia's old city.

We walked around taking pictures in the rain, found a little chapel with a fresco painted in the 1500s (or thereabouts), and in general, just enjoyed the town without the crowds. The day was so nice, despite the rain, but we had a really rough, long trip home. I did learn a valuable lesson for the future. If we join in these tours on the future, we will drive our own car. The trip home took about 6 hours due to multiple bathroom stops (which each took a minimum of 30 minutes), while the driving time should only be about 3.5 hours.

Just a little sampling of what was available...