Last Day in our Apartment Thoughts

Here we are on our last day in our apartment, in the middle of doing one last load of laundry, getting ready to pack, etc. - and the power suddenly went out a few minutes ago.  Sigh.  Really hoping it comes back on soon.  This is the second time we've had a power outage here.  The first time it was out for just about a whole weekend, and was an issue that actually affected much of the comune.  I just sent Paolo out into the streets to see if this is a comune-wide problem, or a just-us problem.  We'll see what he finds out.  UGH.

I was just thinking about what things I will miss, and what things I won't miss when we leave.

Things I won't miss:

- constant vigilance against muffa

- the crazy plumbing issues in our apartment:

    - the very loud, drawn-out moaning noise the toilet in my bathroom makes when I flush

    - the fact that lately, in order to get hot water from any other faucet or showerhead, you first have to turn on the faucet of the sink in Paolo's bathroom (it's crazy, I know!  We don't know why this should be, but it is!)

- having to drive 45 minutes to an hour if we need to buy something other than basic staples (gas was about €1,75 per liter here last time I checked - about $1.89/liter, so well over $7/gallon)

- having to dry laundry in the house if it's raining (or having to wait for a sunnier day to do wash)

- Italian drivers, particularly on narrow, curving mountain roads, or in cities, or...well, pretty much anywhere, really

- the lack of "ethnic" food - while we've been to a handful of good Asian restaurants in big cities, there's just nothing like that in most small towns; and other types of ethnic foods / cuisines from other countries (even European ones) just aren't available (for example, no Mexican restaurants - although you can purchase a handful of things like tortillas and salsa in the big grocery chain stores, they are not the same and definitely not as good; the salsa is particularly weird)

- Italian bureaucracy - one does get used to it, but honestly, for those like us who don't speak the language well, certain aspects of it can be a real struggle

Things I will miss:

- friendly neighbors - even if we don't speak the same language

- seeing dogs everywhere (Italy is very dog-friendly; people take their dogs just about everywhere, it seems.  Since our own Very Good Boy passed away last summer, I have missed having a dog)

- the weekly market with its fresh, inexpensive produce and bread

- bread and produce trucks stopping by twice a day

- the local bakery!  I swear we get the best, freshest bread in Italy here, not to mention all the other scrumptious goodies they make

- walking down to the local bar to hang out with neighbors, people watch, and/or cheer on the soccer matches on the big screen

- being able to just walk down to the mercato with a backpack to pick up basic groceries, or to the farmacia (pharmacy) for those needs

- being able to ask for advice and get good recommendations for basic OTC medications at the local farmacia (Paolo has gotten a few things there, including one medication he regularly takes that requires a prescription in the US, but not here, and a skin cream that helped soothe a minor skin irritation issue he'd been experiencing)  

- travelling around Italy by train whenever we feel like going somewhere new - just pack a bag and go catch the train in Termoli

- real Italian food!!!

- cheap cell phone and internet services, no long-term contract required - just top off your account online or at the tabacchi

- the tradition of afternoon "quiet time" / siesta when almost everything is closed in the middle of the day for a few hours (except the bars) - I know it sounds like that would be inconvenient, and occasionally it is, but for the most part, I find it's actually quite pleasant and peaceful

UPDATE:  the power has just come back on!  It seems it was a just-us problem this time; our landlord came by and flipped the breaker and all is well now.  Whew! Admittedly, we feel slightly silly for not having figured that out for ourselves.  But in our defense, we didn't know where the breakers were - it turned out that they are located downstairs in the foyer of the building, not up here in the apartment.

I suppose I should get back to packing now...sigh.  Later, we have plans to meet a friend at the bar for good-bye drinks.

An Accidental Day at the MANN - 4/10

In case it isn't obvious:  I'm the one that does the majority of our travel planning.  I'm usually the one that finds the venues, books the tickets, figures out how to get where we want to go, etc.  Most of the time, I think I do a pretty good job of it, too.  But even I make dumb mistakes every now and then.

I was looking forward to a visit to the Cimitero delle Fontanelle -  one of several ossuaries in Napoli.  This one is interesting as it is mainly a collection of skulls located inside a cave.  Creepy fun!  Looking at Google Maps, I determined that we would take the metro out to Materdei station and from there, it would be a "mostly flat" 9-minute walk.

Sometimes, Google Maps lies.  Or else it has a strange definition of "flat."  In any event, we did have to go down several steep flights of stairs to get down to Via Fontanelle where the Cimitero is located - which meant of course that we would have to climb back up later.

We navigated our way down the steps and up the street - a mix of dirty garages, seedy-looking little shops, and residential flats - only to be greeted by this:

Yup - it was closed, as per the sign on the gate.  Somehow, I'd missed that when I looked up the opening hours online (I did check back later and sure enough, the site is listed as "temporarily closed" due to some ongoing renovations).  Needless to say, I was super annoyed with myself.  It did make me feel slightly better to see that I wasn't the only one who missed it: there was what appeared to be a tour group standing around in the street scratching their heads in puzzlement as well.

So, disappointed, we hiked back up the street - and climbed up all those steps, ugh - and returned to the station.  Resting on a nearby bench, we caught our respective breaths and thought about what to do with our now wide-open day.  Paolo suggested revisiting the Museo Archaeologico Nazionale di Napoli - otherwise known as MANN.   Although we previously visited this museum back in 2018, in that hot, sweaty, leg-aching moment, I just didn't have the energy to look for anything new-to-us to do.  So we got ourselves back on the metro and rode out to Museo station - which has an exit right next to the museum.

Interior courtyard of the MANN

And, as things usually do, it worked out splendidly.  We re-visited some old favorites...

My man Claudius ❤

Artemis of Ephesus

…and found some new exhibits and collections we hadn't seen on our first visit.  There was a Gladiators exhibit this time around, which was interesting - and included skeletons of (probable) gladiators from what is now York, England.  So I got to see some skulls after all!

Gladiator who likely got his head cut off in the arena in York

Ancient arena games-themed art

They also had an exhibit related to contemporary toys and games...it was a bit strange to see those items interspersed among the more classical collections:

Perhaps a modern artistic take on amphorae?  The purple one on the right looked a bit like Grimace

Paolo particularly wanted to see the Magna Grecia collection, which I think we might have missed last time we visited:

The flooring throughout this exhibit area is part of the collection - we had to wear these special booties while in this part of the museum

Detail from the artwork on the vase above

I don't know why, but I like this amusing little guy.

So - a day that started out as something of a disappointment ended up being pretty great after all.  We concluded our day with an excellent meal; we were excited to find that there was a well-rated Japanese restaurant about a three minute walk from our hotel.  I'd definitely recommend Koi if you're in Napoli and in the mood for something other than pizza:

And so ended our visit to Napoli; we spent half the next day on trains heading home (well worth it too, as I would never, never want to bring a car into Napoli - I do not have a death wish).  We were once again stopped by polizie at the train station for an ID check:  

This time, they spent quite a few minutes scrutinizing our documents.  One of the officers gave me a funny look and asked me (I think) to confirm that I am, in fact, Italian as he was scanning my Italian passport.  "Sì, sì."

Hard to believe that two weeks from now, we'll be back in the US.

A Day in Vomero - 4/09

We chose to spend Saturday up in the Vomero district.  We could see it from our hotel room window:

The big hill in the back

I suppose fitter, hardier folks might walk up there in order to explore other neighborhoods along the way - but those people might also be nuts.  We rode the Montesano funicular, as the funiculars are included in the metro pass.

At the station, waiting for the funicular to arrive.

You'd think that there would be an opportunity to take some cool photos as you travel up and down the hillside - but you'd be wrong.  Much of the ride passes through a tunnel, so there's not much of a view.  Still, it beats climbing the mountain, that's for sure.

From Morghen station we walked to our first destination, the medieval fortress of Castel Sant'Elmo (taking notice that the streets up un Vomero are much less congested as well as noticeably quieter than those in the city below).  The fortress dates from about the 1300s, was once a military prison, and is now fairly empty, except for a few cannons and some art installations here and there.  

A whole lot of nothing much

The hands on the clock appear to be knives or, perhaps, spearpoints of some kind...?

But the real reason to visit it isn't so much for the fortress itself - aside from its interesting star shape, it's not much to look at.  Rather, it's the breathtaking views available as you walk along the top of the walls that makes the excursion worthwhile.  I took many (far too many) photos as we slowly made our way around.  I couldn't help myself.  I'll include a few of the better ones here:

My favorite travel companion

Photographic evidence that I, too, am here in Italy.  Please excuse my messy hair; it was a bit breezy up there.  Also, I ran out of conditioner.

I think these photos convey a sense of just how dense Napoli is.  Notice that there is very little green space within the city.

After we made our way around the fortress walls, we headed down and out to the street to the nearby Renzo e Lucia for a leisurely lunch on the terrace, so we could keep admiring the view.  

How could you not eat outside on a day like this one?

After lunch, we continued a short distance downhill to the Certosa di San Martino - the Charterhouse of St. Martin.  Once a monastery dedicated to St. Martin of Tours (the St. Martin who gave half his cloak to a beggar, not the one trying to convert the rustic pagans, or the one who is the patron saint of gout sufferers), it is now a museum focusing mainly on Spanish/Bourbon-era artefacts.  It also houses a large collection of Nativity scene displays (this is a real thing here in Italy - they're called presepio, and can be extremely elaborate as well as humorous; some of them include pretty wacky characters that I am fairly certain aren't mentioned in the gospels).  The Charterhouse, incidentally, is the big white building at the top of the hill that is quite visible from our hotel room (pictured at the beginning of this post).

Detail from the front door

Paolo said there was nothing in the well except "dirt, grass, and coins."  He was disappointed.

Really glad we went to Sant'Elmo first, otherwise we'd have missed out on those amazing views of the city.  A heavy fog rolled through while we were at St. Martin's.

The Royal Whip

Obligatory artwork featuring St. Martin of Tours.  I am of the opinion that it would have been a bit more saintly to just give the beggar his whole cloak.

I just liked these tile floors

The most elaborate of the nativity displays, complete with flying angels

For the record:  I'm not the one who put the flowers in the skulls.  But I wish I had thought of it!

Don't often get to see the view behind the altar

Detail from the wooden panels

We enjoyed our time up in Vomero very much.  If we were going to live in Napoli, this is the section of the city I would choose, as it is relatively clean and quiet, and there is a lot less vehicle traffic than in many of the other neighborhoods - part of the area is in a ZTL (Limited Traffic Zone).  To give you a sense of the difference, here are a few shots I took on our walk back from the funicular station to our hotel:

Imagine having to drive around racks of clothing in the middle of the street on a daily basis. Or having to drive in Napoli at all.

Selling seafood in the middle of the sidewalk...

…and selling it in the middle of the street

See the motorcycle folks stopped in the middle of the road for a chat...with traffic behind them?  Also - see how steep that hill is!

This is the spot on Via Toledo near our hotel where it seems musicians play every late afternoon.  There's always a military vehicle and a couple of soldiers here too.

For dinner this evening, we wanted to have pizza - after all, we're in Napoli, home of the some of the world's best pizza.  Gusto Marigliano did not disappoint!  I took our server's recommendation to order the "Super Bufalina" (a reference to the buffalo mozzarella cheese on it, not its size).  It was as if I died and went to Pizza Heaven.  The crust!  The cheese!  The nearly perfect ratio of tomato-to-cheese!  Yum.  Paolo had a pizza with anchovies, olives, capers, and lord knows what else on it, which he enjoyed thoroughly.

If you look closely, you can see the stacks of wood beneath the oven.  Our server is on the left.

Sure, these pizzas look huge - but despite the relatively wide edges, the crusts were quite thin and light - very typical in Napoli.

Dessert was some kind of ricotta and pear concoction with a cookie, topped with a sprinkle of black salt.  It too was delicious.

Next up:  I make a mistake in planning, so we end up at a museum we previously visited in 2018.