Naples & Sorrento

Yesterday Brenda and I met up with Lois and we ventured to downtown Naples to walk around. We visited a few open markets and walked through the streets looking in shops and at different buildings. When I was in Venice a few years ago, I couldn't believe how much graffiti there was all over the buildings and streets, but I was really intrigued by it all. Naples is very similar to Venice with the graffiti and I find that my eye really gravitates towards it when taking pictures. There's just something about it...it may not be a da Vinci or a Michaelangelo, but it is art, and some of these people are incredibly talented.

We eventually met up with Taylor, Ian and Brian at a pizzeria for lunch then we headed home shortly after. The jetlag had finally caught up with me at this point, so it was nice to have a pretty low-key day. Brenda made dinner (while I slept for 2 hours) and then we watched Alice in Wonderland in 3D on Taylor and Brenda's 3D TV!

The plan for today was to head to Sorrento. Brenda woke me up at 9am and I told myself that I would sleep for 15 another minutes then get up. Well, 15 minutes turned into 2 hours and I woke up at 11am...apparently this girl needed to sleep! So we ended up heading over to Sorrento for a short visit in the afternoon. Sorrento is amazing...it's Brenda and Taylor's favorite spot and I can defintely understand why. It's a really quaint little town high on cliffs with lots of great shopping and places to eat.

The Italians are serious about their produce and the lemons here are on steroids. Brenda took me to a store that makes limoncello right on site and I bought a bottle to take home (naturally). I'm hoping that bottle that lasts the trip and 1) The bottle doesn't break in my bag and 2) I don't drink it prior to my departure.

While we were walking around, we found this amazing leather shop with hundreds and hundres of handbags. This is where I made my first amazing purchase of the trip, a rich brown one strap hobo soft leather handbag and holy crap is it fabulous...way too fabulous to lug with me for the next 2 weeks, so I will be shipping it home for a safe arrival at the 689 in the dub-c.

We ate an early dinner at a place called MonaLisa and the food was amazing. I had some bruschetta and raviolis. After dinner we went to get gelato, no joke, I am going to be 300lbs by the time I get home. Rick Steve's recommends this place and when we walked in and there was a GIGANTIC tub of Nutella sitting on the end of the counter. Any place with a tub of Nutella is a gold star in my book. There were over 30 flavors of gelato in this store and way too many choices! I opted for the chocolate walnut, I'm pretty sure that it's gone straight to my ass, and I'm 100% ok with it.

We headed back to the port to catch the boat back to Naples shortly after. Brenda and I were waiting outside the boat so we could board and there was no one in sight to get on this thing. So we're sitting there...and we're sitting there...and it doesn't look like anyone is even on this thing to board.  So Brenda's like, ok I'm gonna go ask someone, it's almost time to leave. So she walks over to a worker guy and he's like, oh, you're boat is on the OTHER side of the dock. BAH! So we start to sprint and run to "the other side" that we didn't know existed. We get there and luckily for the first time this entire trip, the boat is late. If we would have missed the boat, we'd either be spending one expensive night in Sorrento right now or swimming back...holding my new leather bag over my head the entire way!

Packing Brenda's backpack tonight was quite comical. The girl wanted to bring a bathing suit cover-up. When I asked her when she would need it she says to me, "well, when I wear my bathing suit, so I have something to wear over top" to which I responded while pointing at her mound of clothes, "you will wear those shorts and a tank top, and we most likely won't be swimming, now remove the cover-up from the pile." I asked her if she packed a t-shirt and she holds up a Lyco Lax shirt (represent!) and this is how the next scene goes...

Me: Umm do you have anything without writing on it?
(Brenda roots around and finds one of her work shirts and holds one up)
Me: Umm you have anything else that's just plain, no writing at all and screaming that we're Americans?
(Brenda disappears into the other room and comes back holding one of Taylor's t-shirts that she could wear as a dress if she'd put a belt around it)
Me: Seriously?! Now you don't look American, you just look homeless!

So now she runs over to another drawer and is holding up shirts and we finally find one for her. I am crossing my fingers that she wears this thing at least once!  She actually did really well with packing, better than I did my first time around in 2004!

My basic packing rule is, whatever you cram into that pack is what you will be lugging around and sometimes for extended periods of time. So pack whatever you want, but that thing only gets heavier and heavier and you dread carrying it the more the trip goes on. While in the South Pacific, I adopted the throw-out rule, which basically means, throw-shit-out. This leaves room in your pack to bring home new finds and definitely lightens your load. I have already decided that my fabulous Nike's will not be making the trip home...insert sadface here (______________).

Tomorrow is Rome and I am so excited! I have been waiting to see Rome since my sophomore year when I studied Roman art and architecture it in college. Please god, let me hope that Rome is a little bit more exciting than Professor Amy Golhany's, Art in the Dark class...much of which I slept through due to it being...umm in the dark.

Capri

We ventured over to the island of Capri today and Italy certainly doesn't make traveling to Capri easy, but the trip was totally worth it. For us to get to the town of Capri today we drove to the CAPO (at the airport where Brenda picked me up) to drop off Posh and to catch the Alibus. We rode on the Alibus for 40 minutes to get to the Hydrofoil ferry stop, then took an hour ferry trip to Capri, so roughly 2.5 hours to get there!

When we got off the ferry Brenda and I immediately buy tickets for one of Capri's main attractions, the Blue Grotto (Grotto Azzurra). The Grotto is a sea cave that is illuminated by a light that passes underwater and creates a neon blue reflection in the water...it basically looks like the cave is lighting up. Brenda and I have been talking about doing this since we started planning the trip, so this was a must-see for us. We talk to the guy at the ticket counter and ask him what the best option for the trip is...to sail out to the Grotto then immediately return ($12) or sail all the way around the island and see the blue grotto and a bunch of other grottos ($15). We ask the guy if the ride is rough trip and Brenda goes, will I "BLAAH" and gives the guy a vomit face. He starts laughing and goes, you'll just feed the birds! So we decide to do the $15 tour and sail around the entire island. We jump on our boat with about 34 other people, the boat driver and a little round Italian guy in a dingy in tow and we sail away. We get to the grotto pretty quickly and are sitting in our boat and watching all these guides and private tours fight for position on the water to unload passengers into smaller boats then into the grotto. We sit there for about a half hour watching this go down...all the guys who were working for the same company (the company we were on) are setting their boats up to box out the outnumbered boats and keep them and their passengers on the other side and out of the mix. All the boat drivers are yelling at each other and shouting back and forth and you can't really tell if they're mad or just talking that way normally, but once we start to see the formation of the boats, we realize what's going on.

While we're waiting for our turn, we start chatting with the people next to us and decide to go on the same small boat together if we can. So our turn is up and one-by-one we jump on the smaller boat. The husband and wife go first then Brenda sits down (basically on the husband's lap) then I take the spot up at the front facing the other three. Now, we're not exactly sitting up and going out for a stroll on the water. Brenda and the other two are packed like sardines in the back of the boat and we are all laying with our backs on the floor of the boat. We've been watching everyone else do this while we've been waiting and we pretty much need to lay flat in the boat so we can get through the entrance of the cave without getting decapitated (wish i was exaggerating here). The boat driver is now rowing in and out while other boats are coming out and he's timing the swells going into the cave so he doesn't fly overboard. He gives this chain a pull for leverage into the cave and 1-2-3 wham-bam-thank-you-m'am, we are inside! It's pitch black coming in then your eyes adjust and the water inside is glowing, it was a pretty crazy sight! Taking pictures inside was pretty impossible, but I took one anyway. Once you get inside all the boat drivers sing in Italian and it echoed throughout the cave, it was pretty cool. A few people remarked that it was like a ride at Disney...very much like Pirates of the Carribean only umm real life. Here you can see the video I took of us heading into the cave:



This is the inside of the cave...really fuzzy, but the blue color is really that bright!

After the Blue Grotto we took the boat around the entire island which got kind of long and our stomachs weren't feeling too well (not sure how these Coast Guard guys do it!). I turned to Brenda at one point and was like, Ok, I'm over this, take my back to dry dock; I'm through! Unfortunately another guy on the boat couldn't hold it and started puking over the side of the boat (this instantly made us feel better since we knew it wasnt just us). Needless to say, if you ever come here, just do the $12 tour unless you want a 2 hour boat ride. So we finally got back to dock and headed further up the island to Anacapri by railcare, then by bus where my life flashed before my eyes 35 times in a 5 minute drive. We got to the top and then took a chairlift ALL the way to the top where you can overlook all of Capri. That was pretty cool and I got quite a few photos. There was a restaurant at the top so we stopped for a while and sat out in the sun and had a regional beer called Nastro Azzurro. This is where Brenda says to me...hey, the guy at the ticket booth said we were going to feed the fishes on the boat today...we didn't feed any fish! To which I replied, Bren, we didn't feed any fish because we didn't puke!

After a while we called it a day and took the chairlift down the mountain to the bus that takes you to a railcare that brings you to the ferry and docks you at land to pick up the bus to take us to CAPO to get the car to drive home. Get all that?

For dinner tonight, we forgot it was Monday and not too many places are open. We found a pizza place and got pizza and beer for dinner...I feel like I'm at home!! Tomorrow we're going downtown to all the shops and stores to walk around and have a chill day. We haven't stopped moving since I got here and we want to rest up before we head up to Rome. I also get to sleep in tomorrow...total bonus!

Pompei and Mount Vesuvius

We woke up early today and headed out to spend the day at Pompeii. Everything was so magnificient and untouched it was like it wasn't even real. We didn't do a tour so I could take pictures and we could walk around at our own pace. We saw alot of the main sites, but quite a few were closed so there were some key spots that we didn't see. I know we haven't been to Rome yet, but the architecture and the capabilities of these people are just incredible. It's insane to think that they were so advanced at that time. here's a few of my favorite shots...

After Pompeii we were on the fence about what to do so we decided to take a drive to Mount Vesuvius. Well a drive turned into an escapade and we brought Posh along as our driver. We drove up the volcano going probably 40mph tops and as slow as 10mph. There were points where I could have gotten out and ran along side the car! We had crazy drivers passing us, buses driving at us and a heat gauge that we were closely monitoring so the car didn't overheat. We kept downshifting to get more power then we'd quick pop it back into drive and gain some headway. When we got to the top to park, we made sure to face the car going downhill in case she wouldn't start back up, this way we could just throw her in neutral and ride down the mountain! We walked/hiked the rest of the volcano (Random side-note: this is the 2nd volcano I have hiked). The trail just kept going up and up...thank god we both work out! This hike definitely wasn't for the out of shape, however we did see some people doing it in flipflops and sandals with heels; not a recommendation! We reached one of the highest points of the volcano that overlooks the Tyrrhenian Sea and stopped at the little store that was there with souveniers and WINE! We got a small plastic cup of red wine and sat at the top overlooking everything. I took a family photo for some Italian family (a photo they will surely cherish forever and ever) and then we called it a day. We hiked all the way back down to meet up with Posh to take her for her first volcano downhill competition. She placed 2nd right behind a Volkeswagon Toureg.

looking out over the towns:

Inside the volcano:

Wine break on the volcano...don't mind if we do!

We came back home, met up with Taylor and another Coastie named Ian that's staying with them for a few days, then we headed over to dinner at friends of Brenda and Taylor's named Brian and Lois (also Coasties). Lois made us an amazing dinner for us and the six of us sat around and talked about traveling, the Coast Guard and...wait for it...QVC. They had these amazing little desserts that put about 5lbs right on each of my thighs (SO GOOD!)! I think Lois might come out to downtown Naples with Brenda and me in a few days, it'll be great to see her again. She and Brian have literally traveled the world with the Coast Guard, and hearing stories about them and their kids, and seeing all they've collected along their way was really cool.

Ok, so I'm out...2 blogs in one night was alot, I needed to play some catch-up. Tomorrow is Capri and possibly Sorrento depending on how the day goes...stay tuned!

Getting to Naples

Airports are so weird. They are melting pots for all kinds of people...lots of weird random people. A 40-year old woman just walked by my in a Sponge Bob shirt. It looks like she went to Target and shopped the children's section like it was her job. She was also wearing gladiator sandals and cargo pants...she was either homeless or European (it was a toss-up). I'm sitting across from these kids that slightly resemble the "Mathletes" in Mean Girls. They're doing lots of math and saying things to each other like, a+b2 = a-c2. Clearly they're going to a mathematics competition in Rome...obviously something that I never would have been picked to do while in highschool because I couldn't even pass the math questions on Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader. The only math that this girl will be doing for the next 2 weeks is converting dollars to euros and I have an App for that.

I've also decided that one child should be sacrificed on the baggage claim conveyor belt to "prove a point" to all other children in the airport. Seriously people, your kid is 40lbs soaking wet and he cannot pick up your 50lb international travel suitcase, get him the hell out of the way of everyone trying to get their bags! Why do people think it's ok to let their kids act like monkeys on a jungle gym? I would have done that for 5 seconds and my father would have given me the eye and a very fierce point to a seating area and I immedaitely knew what was in store if I didn't obey. Kids in airports are like animals, climbing on stuff, yelling and crying for no reason, they should be put in the cargo hold when taking a plane ride. I like to think of it as a "plane nurshery", it would certainly cut down on the noise situation.

So my flight to Rome was great. I sat next to a girl that seemed really nice and we spoke about 5 words to each other in the 8 hour flight. She was totally my kind of plane companion, we smiled, said hello to each other, she helped the flight attendant hand me my water and tea, we both got the pasta dinner choice together...we were a match made in US Airways heaven. My second flight from Rome to Naples was ok, but I had the pleasure of sitting in front of a screaming child who kicked my seat like he was training to be an MMA fighter. Now most of you know my dislike for small children, well this kid should have been wearing a crown that said, "When I get big, I'm going to be a total jerk." He was ridiculously misbehaved. I waited for a while and didn't do anything hoping that he would calm down, but when the kicking kept happening 5 minutes later I turned around. Well turning around did not help, so I waited another 5 minutes while receiving jabs and uppercuts through the seat and then did a second turnaround which involved a stand up and a piercing glare right through the father's eyes. I win, Junior was real good until we landed and then he just acted up again while at baggage claim. In fact, he was so loud that I received texts from Brenda who was standing outside of baggage claim in another area saying, "I hope that screaming kid is not near you". Little did she know!

I was pretty nervous about my bag arriving, (US Airways being such a top-notch airline), but it did. So other than sitting in front of Satan's spawn on my second flight, my travel was really good. So I grab my bag and come out to meet Brenda and we head to where she parked in a special military section (the CAPO or something like that). Now, I can't go with her because I don't have a military pass to get through the gate, so she goes and gets the car and comes back to pick me up. I just about peed my pants when she rolls up in her new wheels. This car, AKA Posh, is the equivalent to riding in a rollerskate, it's hilarious.

We drive to where Brenda and Taylor are living, I get a pass to be on base and now we're ready to roll. Brenda has planned an "excursion" for us so I grab a quick shower and she and I (and Posh) head off. Now Posh's top speed is probably 55mph and that's if we're going downhill. We are getting passed like it's the Indy 500 and we're driving in reverse. The Italians ride your bumper, flash their lights and honk at you in you're in their way...I love people that are efficient when driving, I would be an awesome driver over here. The roads over here are nuts (to stay the least) and you can read the sign for your exit pretty much as you're passing it, but we make it to the place. We roll up in this parking lot and the first thing I see is a sign that says American Bar...I start cracking up and I'm like, Ahh you're not taking me there are you?! Unfortunately I did not get to experience the American Bar, but we walked into a spa and Brenda got the both of us hour long massages by these awesome masseuses (wait, can you make the word the word masseuse plural? is masseuses actually a word? ahh whatever...) so these women know barely any English and Brenda can speak some Italian and she can understand what's going on while I just stand there like an idiot and just nod and smile. These women keep saying something back and forth to each other about something being too hot. So we change, throw on some robes and they put us in a really nice room with champagne and dolce (really good desserts and lots of chocolatey goodness). We're sitting there eating and drinking and we instantly start sweating our asses off. This is when we realize that we're in a sauna and now we've guzzled the champagne because the sauna is making us thirsty. The heat finally gets unbearable and we come out to get the girl to tell her we're done. Well now, let me tell you, when you get a massage in Naples, Italy, it is not like getting a massage back home. Brenda and I are sitting there pretty much butt-ass naked with a divider in between us. We're a little unsure of how this works seeing that we're sitting there lying face up because the underwear they gave us is basically non-existant. So I'm thinking to myself, ok, do I show this woman my boobs or my butt...what would she rather see first? Awkward!!! Awkwardness aside, it was a fabulous massage, the best one I have ever had!

After the massages we came back home and went out to dinner...took a little detour along the way which was quite an adventure driving through the downtown area we're near. It kind of reminds me of the driving scenes in the Bourne movies. We went out to a great dinner in town at a place called PanArt and then came home and went to bed for our early wakeup at Pompei. I slept like a rock and 8am came waaaay too soon!

Packing sucks

I backpacked the South Pacific for 3 months on 1 pair of pants and 3 pairs of shorts. I packed 4 bathing suits, boardies, a fleece hoodie and enough underwear to last me for 2 weeks...how the hell did I do it? I had to repack 3 times tonight.

I started out with enough clothing to dress half of the kids in Africa. I couldn't even fit the space bag it into my pack. Yes, laugh all you want, I use space bags. These things are a hidden gem in the world of backpacking. So I take a few things out, pack again and throw the pack on my back. Sweet baby Jesus. Round 3...remove extra tank-tops, remove white cargo capris, remove sleep sack, remove extra pack-towel, keep all 20 pairs of underwear. I walk around with pack on for 10 minutes...I fold laundry, wash dishes, walk up and down stairs. Now the ultimate test, I pack 2 bottles of wine in the bag, heave it on my back walk around...it's a go. Clearly my priorities are straight, 20 pairs of underwear and a bag that can hold 2 bottles of wine.

I can't wait to leave tomorrow; I'm finally getting excited. I thought this day would never come. My only fear is that I'll have to square off with a small child on the plane.

Note to self: pack extra sleeping pills that can break into tiny pieces and be easily slipped into food.