MAYDAY! Welcome to Napoli...

So this past weekend was a holiday weekend here in Italy for the workers. It's called Primo Maggio, and we would refer to it as May Day. I went to Naples with Shawn, Gio, and Sarah, and our roommates Azzurra and Alessandro decided to join us a couple days later. Our train ride down took FOREVER...6 hours plus it was two hours late (we sat in the Rome terminal for over an hour, just waiting!). Here was the first time I wanted to yell out MAYDAY! on May Day Weekend. However, there was the cutest southern couple in our compartment and the husband was a hoot! He kept telling these random proverbs, stories and jokes, usually with a thick accent and often in dialect. Plus the two of them were so cute together, always making fun of each other and looking out for one another. They are exactly the picture of how everyone would like to grow old. You wouldn't believe it looking at him, but he's 79 years old!

Once we finally got to Naples station we decided to take a taxi because we didn't know exactly where the hotel was and it was one in the morning. So the guy isn't running the ticker and we're all wondering what we're gonna end up paying at the end of the ride. So he takes a few random turns and after about 7 minutes we make it to the hotel. We get out, I ask how much, and he tells me me 20 Euro. MAYDAY! I just about had a heart attack, but instead said, "No." Shawn and I argued with him for about 3 minutes, him saying it's a holiday, you guys have luggage, it's late, etc...and me and Shawn telling him it was such a short ride, that he knew that wasn't a just amount to charge, and come on! 2o-no, 10-ok 15-no, 10-fine, 12...So finally we get him down to 12. The greatest part about it was the next day we come to find out we're seriously 2 blocks from the train station and it should have taken about 3 minutes to get there, not 7! But we feel that from 20 down to 12 was a pretty good deal to strike with a Napoletano and so we were quite proud of ourselves that we didn't just turn around and take it up the tailpipe (as Jim Carey says in one of my favorite rants from Liar Liar).

The next day was dedicated to Pompeii. We went to the Archaeological Museum in the morning and then to the ruins of Pompeii in the afternoon.

Rick Steves is our travel God.

I remembered that when I went to Pompeii 7 years ago with Mr. Rayburn's group, we took pictures on some columns in Pompeii...well I found them again! We took like 10 poses, but here's on of my favorites:

and then another pose at what used to be a fast food restaurant:

Ok so here's the deal. There's not many bathrooms in Pompeii. And I had bought a huge water bottle and was drinking like a camel because at the Valley of the Temples I had gotten dehydrated and learned that it's not fun to be dehydrated. Well then, as is the natural course of nature, I had to pee realllly bad after a short time. But Sarah wanted to keep following Rick Steve's guided tour of Pompeii. So I'm slowly dying and trying to get them to go to a bathroom but no one's budging and I'm about to explode and Sarah's like why don't you just pee in that corner and my big confession is that I couldn't wait and so I did! I peed on Roman Ruins! How embarrassing. But afterwards I could smile again:
That night we decided to eat at the most highly recommended pizzeria in Naples, Da Michele. They only have marinara and margherita but it was SO GOOD! The crust in Naples is out of this world. It's like if pita and crepe got together...they would produce a Napoletano crust baby!


After dinner we went back to the hotel...and instead of watching TV, which didn't work anyways, we just stood out on our balcony and watched a whole lot of stuff go down. There were cats and bats and rats and prostitutes. We were entertained for hours.

Day two we made our way to Capri along with Azzurra and Ale. I was super excited to go to La Grotta Azzurra (The Blue Grotto) with Azzurra! It was a beautiful day and inside the grotto was just fabulous, plus everyone was singing in Italian! It was quite magical.

Blue Grotto

That area is really well known for their lemons...and so Sarah and I just had to get a lemonade granita. It's the best I've ever had! I'll admit...I got two!

We decided to go all the way to the top of Monte Solare, at the highest point...and so we had to take a chairlift! I've never taken a chairlift without the presence of snow. At the top there was a gorgeous view of both sides of the Island, and I got to see the Faraglioni Rocks again, which is one of the main sights in Capri.



In Anacapri, the town above Capri, I went into the church to see a beautiful tiled mural that covered the entire floor. The really sweet curator lady there told us all about it...it's of the Fall from Eden and it's just beautiful.

Before leaving Anacapri I decided I had to buy a pair of sandals. They were hand-made just for me! I picked the color, the style, and he fit them to my feet! I wish I had a picture of him making them, but I was so freaking excited that I didn't even think of it!

Here's some shots of the beautiful harbor in Capri:


On our last day in Naples we got a personal tour from Azzura's cousin, Zaira, who's lived there for ten years now. We went underground to see the passageways underneath Naples, where at one point there was a super-narrow passageway through which we had to carry candles! It was beautiful. We also went down a street that's famous for having figurines for things like Nativity scenes...it was really neat to see the artistry and variety!

We rode a funicular (Sing along: Funiculi, Finicula...!) to a much nicer part of town where we went to Castello St. Elemo which had a beautiful panorama of the city. That's Mt. Vesuvius always in the background!





Shawn found a restaurant named Cin Cin which I got really excited about because that's what we often say here in place of Cheers (even though I'm pretty sure it's Chinese):

And then we continued with a tour around the city...


Here's my favorite picture of Italian boys playing in the park! Napoletani are known for raising their children in the street...We saw sooo many examples of it. Cute, eh?

That night we ate dinner at Zaira's apartment. We were entertained for hours with a very intense discourse (mostly between Ale and Zaira) about Naples' reputation.

All in all it was a great trip...now I just have a few days at home to get myself together before I turn around and head to Sardegna Friday...with a real Sarda!

Kelly è scappata alla Sicilia!

In my most wonderful escape to Sicily, I was greeted by warm, sunny weather, delicious seafood, and an exciting young vibe. I went with three others from my program: Shawn, Gio, and Elizabeth. This is the first trip I've taken that really felt like a vacation, in the sense that I stayed in Italy, moved to a warmer climate, and spent my time chilling on the beach and such. We all absolutely LOVED Sicily. We flew directly into Palermo, the capital of the Sicilian region, but also took small trips to the towns of Cefalù, Agrigento, and Monreale. Here's the picture that best encompasses my trip to Sicily:

We got in late Wednesday night and only had time to go grab some dinner at a restaurant called Divino Rosso Osteria. You get so much amazing food for cheap! The menu wasn't exactly what we were used to...and so after my delicious fish-stuffed pesto ravioli, instead of a fillet of something yummy, I got squid! It was an interesting experience, and actually quite good. We took a small tour of the area on our way home, and came across the theater, which looks gorgeous all lit up at night.

The next day we spent exploring Palermo. We went into several churches, including the Cathedral, whose exterior was phenomenal. Sicily has been controlled by and thus influenced by so many different cultures in its history that it now has a very diverse variety of foods, architectures and people.

I like this one because Shawn looks like he has no idea what's going on...even though he's the one taking the picture. Afterwards we spent a bit of time wandering, exploring, and then searching for somewhere to eat. Finally we found a place where we could sit down and I ate such amazing vegetable cous cous. Mmmm.

Then we moved on to the Catacombs, which were SO much cooler than those I had visited in Rome and Paris. There were actually entire skeletons, complete with clothes, hats, everything, all in different stages of decomposition and preservation. It was super creepy. Mostly they were monks and priests, but there was a section with just babies and children which was particularly disturbing. There was also the body of a young girl who had been embalmed by this master who died without sharing his secrets...she looks as if she's just sleeping, even though she's been dead for over a century. It's insane. Unfortunately I couldn't take any photos within the catacombs, but here's one I stole from Google so you can get an idea:

On our way back into town, we saw this guy with a fruit stand in his garage. Apparently they live above, because at one point his wife lowered down this basket for him with water in it. No words were exchanged, he just took the water, disappeared back to his fruit, and the wife yanked the basket back up. It was great.

So after some serious navigation, as was always the case because for some reason it's super easy to get turned around in Palermo, we went to the fresh market and bought a whole bunch of food to make dinner that night at the hostel. We ended up cooking a delicious vegetable pasta for our first course and then chicken/prosciutto skewers for our second, and were joined by the couple who runs our hostel. The man is originally from Palermo, but his wife is actually Argentinian. They met when he was on vacation there...and he snagged her and brought her back! After dinner, we shared the pastries we had picked up, including Cannoli, Cassata, and Sette Veli, as well as a digestivo (after dinner drink) Shawn and I had picked up that was pistachio-flavored. Later on, the four of us went out to check out the bar scene. We sat down at an outdoor table, ordered a couple of drinks (bellini!) and chatted about marriage, of all things.

The next morning we decided would be Beach Day, and so we headed for Cefalù, a small coastal town about an hour away by train. It was so cute there, and after visiting the Cathedral we had a great lunch followed by lounging on the beach, Sicilian oranges, swimming in the Mediterranean, and creamy gelato. It was a great day.

Cute photo shoot we stumbled upon

That night, we met up with a friend of Elizabeth's, Lino, who is actually from Palermo. He and his friend took us out (in a car!) so were able to leave the center of the city. We went to a club in a very old Palazzo that was just gorgeous. They had a live band, great atmosphere, and traditional Sicilian appetizers.

On Saturday we checked out of the nice couple's hostel and left for Agrigento to see the Valley of the Temples. Once we arrived at our "hostel" aka VILLA, we were in love. This villa is indescribable. It's everything you would ever dream accommodation in Italy to be. It is lived in and run by a middle age couple who have had the land in their family for generations. There are phenomenal views of the Greek temples from the backyard since they are practically IN the Valley of the Temples. There are dogs, cats, geese, and peacocks! The architecture of the villa is so picturesque and the grounds are charming.

At the Villa, we met a young Afghan who was working there. It was amazing to cross paths with someone from "the other side". He said he had been transfered there from his refugee camp, after growing up in India, and spending some time fighting in the war-against us! What an experience, to meet in such a normal, nonthreatening situation someone your age that your country-your soldiers-fought against. Talk about perspective.

Our room and the room across the hall shared a common sitting area with a fridge that had free drinks offered to guests. We decided to put the rest of our Pistacchio liquor in the fridge for after dinner, but a couple hours later saw that the other couple had drank it all, thinking it was free from the establishment! It was sad, but a funny exchange nonetheless. Besides, the couple was so apologetic, what could we do?!

The peacocks were freaking awesome. I have never been that close to a peacock...they are fabulous! Well, except when they wake you up at sunrise and every 10 minutes thereafter with their calls. However, we got to see the "courting" process of peacocks, right out our window! It was seriously cool.

As far as the temples go, those were really cool too. I mean, these Greek ruins are mostly from 500 B.C. and are still around today. I had a small bout with dehydration, but after I recovered from that, we were good to go explore the temples!

That night, we ate dinner at the villa with the couple. The husband, Vincenzo, made us artichoke pasta followed by stuffed artichokes, which were particularly delectable. We wrapped up the meal with some of their homemade limoncello. It was a lovely evening.

The next morning, we went back to the deck for brunch, which was included with the room. I felt like a princess. There was fresh squeezed juice, as well as homemade croissants, jam, and nutella. Not to mention they brought tea and coffee. Plus, the sun was out, the air was fresh and we had the most spectacular view of the temples to boot! We missed the morning train (somewhat purposely, I must say) and spent the morning lounging by the pool. It turned out that that day was Vincenzo's birthday and all his kids had come home from university to surprise him! So one of his sons drove us straight to the train station, and we headed back to Palermo, somewhat reluctantly.

Upon our return to Palermo, we had to stay at a different hostel because the first was booked. We ended up in a somewhat shadier part of town, but near the water. It was an apartment, but we lacked sheets and towels, which made for a more interesting experience, hehe. We made do.

On our last half day, since our flight was in the afternoon, we made it up to a hill town only 20 minutes outside of Palermo called Monreale. There is a spectacular church there filled with mosaics. I tagged along with an English tour group for some history, but was mostly just amazed by the biblical depictions on the walls. While the other girls went into the cloisters Shawn and I wandered around the town and found this traditional Sicilian carriage as well as grabbed some fresh-squeezed Sicilian orange juice.

Afterwards we hurried back to the restaurant from our first night for another cheap and amazing two course meal. I had seafood risotto and then a pork roast that was stuffed with prosciutto, salmon, and asparagus. It was so tasty!

We all cannot stop raving about what a wonderful time we had in Sicily. There is something in the air there...you just know you're living the good life.

La Posta

I figured out today first hand why the Italian postal system is so messed up. So I'm walking home, already on my street, and the postman waves me over and asks if I live at number 20. I say yes. He says, great, because I just went there and no one opened the door for me...would you mind taking these two letters and dropping them in their respective mailboxes? So I proceed to take and deposit two apartment's bills in their boxes! How illegal is that? Anyways, he told me he'd give me a stipend, so I guess it's ok. Don't be surprised if I don't get your letters. : / Oh, Italy.

Mirabilandia!!!

Yesterday was Azzurra's birthday and she chose a trip to the Italian theme park, Mirabilandia, for her celebration. We had a pretty good group-11 people! Shawn and I were the only Americans and we had the best time experiencing theme parks the Italian way. Mirabilandia is located in Ravenna, which is a beach town on the East coast of Italy, only about an hour and a half away from Bologna. We took a bus straight to the park early in the morning and got our fun-having underway!

The park isn't huge but it was actually surprising good compared to what Shawn and I had expected. It's owned by Nestle actually so there were a lot of American/English aspects to it which kind of threw us off. There was only one really big roller coaster, Katun, which was kind of like Top Gun at Great America (my favorite!). We also did several smaller rides, like a haunted house, a dumbo-esque ride, and several water rides.

Lunch was pretty funny because we busted it out Calabrese style. We had brought sandwiches, chips, and cokes...and then Alessandro pulls out a new package of sausage and his army knife. It was too funny. The coke we brought was left over from when my family and I went to the commissary at Camp Darby. They were amazed to see diet, caffeine free coke. I told them they didn't even know the half of what they're doing to sodas these days!

My favorite thing all day was the show "Scuola di Polizia" or Police School. Basically it was a stunt show with every kind of vehicle imaginable, mostly motocross bikes and BMWs. It was freakin' awesome, I loved it. They were jumping things, peeling out, riding cars on their sides, and it was all for real. Plus, it was hilarious because the set was so American! One of the BMWs was decorated with US Navy Seals decals, another police BMW had LA Police Department, and the set said "Hollywood" and "California Jail". Strange, huh?

It really was a lovely day spent with my closest Italian friends. Shawn and I kept running around yelling, "Mirabilandia!" out of pure excitement. By the end of the day, though, we could not have been more exhausted and we all slept on the bus ride home. We might go back in the summer so we can enjoy more fully the water park part of it-Mirabilandia Beach!