It was 12 days before I got to explore in Italy at all. 12! I did get to go to the electronic store, at night, and to a friend’s house for dinner. Also I got to do a little sightseeing while house hunting but all of those trips had an agenda and a task to be completed. So Sunday afternoon, we decided we were going to go downtown. Part of the orientation is a trip downtown to show you how to navigate the various forms of public transportation (trains, metros, bus), how to buy the proper tickets and where to buy them, and see a few of the wonderful things Napoli has to offer. The baby was not invited to this session of orientation and since she can’t be left alone, I also missed the orientation. I told Matt he had to take me on my own personal tour and tutorial on public transportation of Napoli.
Because petty theft is a big problem in Napoli, we drove to the NATO base and parked our truck in the safe zone. The GPS took us on the long way so we got to drive this AWESOME road that overlooked the water and was through a little town called Pozzuoli (one we want to live in, maybe!) Then we walked to the train station. Another major decision we had to make was which stroller to take downtown. We have an awesome MacLaren stroller (thanks Suzie and Doug!) and the car seat stroller frame but when Matt went down on Friday he noticed that most of the strollers were like the MacLaren but that it was VERY crowded. So we decided to ERGO the baby. Because Matt is still sick (yes, the entire first TWO weeks of our European experience he has been sick), I actually got to carry the baby. Matt is a big baby hog! At every opportunity he gets, he wants to hold the baby or push the baby or talk to the baby. (I am one lucky lady!)
The baby has been on nine different flights (two from California to NC, two to Rhode Island, two back from Rhode Island, three to Napoli) and ridden in at least 15 different cars but she has not been on a train yet. So being the new mom, I want to take pictures of her first train ride but Matt doesn’t want me to call too much attention to the fact that we are American tourists. I don’t really know how with his haircut, my pale skin, and her big blue eyes we would be mistaken for anything but Americans. So I had to settle for one little picture at the station since no one was around.
Matt is our tour guide for this family excursion and I am not worried because he is a world traveler and a navigator. This is my first real taste of Italy, or Europe for that matter. The rest of my European Vacation was centered in England when I was in fifth grade and we went to visit my sister who was studying abroad. She was the favorite child at the time, living overseas. Ironically, we never went to visit my brother when he was studying abroad in Paris. Anyway, I was a little too young to appreciate all the wonderful things I was seeing and really have very few distinct memories of the trip. One was seeing the neighborhood friends, the Burtons on the street corner from the tour bus and then running into them at a coffee shop while discussing the fact that we saw them from the bus. The second major one was getting off the Tube and being given a button that said “FREE KUWAIT” and I asked “Who’s Kuwait?” And of course I remember Stonehenge, which always makes me think of Clark Griswold backing into Stonehenge and it all falling like dominos. So as you can imagine, I am very excited.
While we are on the train going into town, Matt trying hard to guess which station we are supposed to use, the love of babies continues. This very punk man sits across from us and starts talking to me about the baby in Italian. Of course, I have no idea what he is saying; my Italian class doesn’t start until January!! He uses hand motions to ask if the baby is sleeping and then tells me how beautiful she is. We come to a stop, which Matt thinks is the stop he wants so we got off the train. It’s not the stop he wants!! We turn around and get on the next train, which is much nicer than the first one with padded seats and headrests. The next stop is the one we wanted so Matt says, let’s take the stairs. Of course I say okay. This was before I saw the stairs. They are literally vertical. And from the bottom you can’t see the top. EVERYONE else is taking the escalator. I have not started exercising post baby so this was HARD. But I am stubborn so I do it. I am huffing and puffing up the stairs carrying the 15 pound baby. But I did it. I was proud of myself. Then I see the SECOND set. This time I take the escalator.
We walk out into the crowded street with tons of people and market stalls everywhere. And cars and scooters still trying to use the road. It was insane. I assumed it was this crowded because it was Sunday afternoon but Matt said it was just as crowded on Friday morning. The vendors have everything from faux handbags, Santa hats, scarves, umbrellas, children’s toys, fish (alive eels!!), winter hats, almost anything you can imagine. I am really enjoying walking the street and looking at the people. I did not really look at any of the stuff, which will probably make you shoppers of the world cringe. I did go in the baby store to see what the clothes were like. One store had Tweety Bird on everything. Or Disney characters. I also noticed some familiar stores such as Foot Locker and the United Colors of Benetton.
We walk to the Galleria Umberto which is this amazing mall with marble floors and fantastic windows and a high intricate ceiling. There is a Christmas tree in the mall with letters to Santa tied to them, which I think is a very cool tradition. There are lots of people in the mall and one little girl is on her very own motor scooter by Peg Pergo. It was crazy!
We decide to eat lunch in the mall at a little pizzeria. The host speaks to us in English, what we don’t look like Italians?? Matt responds in Italian and the man is impressed. It really makes a difference if you attempt the language. If you try to speak Italian to everyone you meet, you can learn at least one new phrase from them. Of course, you have to remember what they teach you! We order a pizza and a caprese salad to split. I think this might not be something that Italians do, oops! The people next to us, there table is two inches away from ours, order three pizzas for the mom and two kids. And they eat it all!! They of course want to talk about the baby and ask her name and how old she is. The baby smiles at just the right time again! Anyway, the pizza is wonderful. It is not like pizza you have in the United States. It doesn’t come precut and most people use forks and knives to eat it. The crust is thin (why people use forks), but not like American thin crust pizza. There is not too much cheese or too much sauce, a wonderful combination of both. Overall, a very enjoyable lunch!
After lunch we continue our walk to the Opera House and a very cool church. There is a large plaza in between the Opera House and church that people were lingering in. One person was driving a remote control car through the plaza.
Church
Opera House
We continue our stroll to the Bay of Napoli. There are tons of rocks on the edge of the bay which people spray paint their love for others. You can see Mount Vesuvius and the Island of Capri. There are lots of sailboats, which Matt loves. You can see a castle, which we did not have time to visit, and so many other neat things that have been around for 2000 years!
Mount Vesuvius
Because we are obviously Americans, it gets dark early, and we don’t really know our way around, we decide to turn around and head back to the train. On the walk back, we pass a gelato stand, selling pistachio ice cream! We order one chocolate gelato and get totally scammed! Matt asks (in Italian) how much it costs and the guy tells us 4 euro!! SERIOUSLY!! Of course I have already had a bit by the time he tells us this so we have no choice but to spend entirely too much money on a small chocolate ice cream but we learned a lesson…ask the cost before you get it because they will scam the Americans! The walk back is nice, just more people watching. I did see a Burger King crown and lots of Merry Christmas signs. It amazes me to see so much English! On the train ride back to the base, another couple of ladies sits across from us and talks to the baby. I am going to learn how to communicate about the baby first! Overall a great first trip to Napoli! Next weekend, Mount Vesuvius…or house hunting.
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