I finished my second week studying Italian and the four of us set off for Napoli for the weekend. Ale, Sam, Nate and I met Friday at 6pm at Piazza Argentina for Roma Termini, the central station in Rome. We took the "64" bus, which is the most famous in the city for pickpocketing. Yes, we made it with all our belongings... After a little confusion about whether we needed to print anything after having purchased our tickets online, we boarded our train. We were fortunate to have four seats facing each other and Nate said, "This is cool - I never thought I'd get to ride on a train like this". As fortunate as our kids are, it sure is nice when they appreciate the cool opportunities they get!
During our very short, one-hour train ride, we chatted with a nice Napoletan business man who knew San Jose, California because he had worked as a tax consultant for Cisco for several years. Then, we were in Naples! We found a taxi and made our way to the Hotel Caravaggio, a hotel I had booked a few months ago. Ugh! It was horrible! I really don't know what I did wrong when booking it, but WOW! We had to walk through an outdoor janitorial/storage area to get to it. The room was stuffy and smelly; there was one double bed and two fold-out cots - one of which, Ale's, had little bits of black "dust" that had obviously come from the beam ceilings above. The A/C chuffed through the night to try to make the room bearable and the beds were hard and the sheets were scratcy. Addind insult to injury, we got no cell service in the rooms and neither the hotel's wifi nor my portable mifi worked! So, I couldn't comfort myself in the rebooking until morning.
But, in the morning, rest assured, I booked a different option for that night. After getting that settled, we went of to the National Archeological Museum for our 11:00 a.m. reservation. So, I can't say as I know how big that museum was because it was not only labyrinthine but way bigger than a party with 2 kids, aged 3 and 7 can see in its entirety. What we did see was pretty incredible. This museum contains the treasures found in Pompeii as well as all other archeological findings throughout Italy. Huge sculptures and mosaics being the most impressive to me.
The boys started to fade and we still wanted to have some famous Napoletana pizza before we took off, so we trekked out in search of pizza. We walked for more than 45 minutes then waited outside (in the shade, at least) of Sorbillo's for 30 minutes until we got a table. Once inside, we ordered 4 waters (3 frizzante and 1 naturale - Sam doesn't like his water bubbly) and 4 pizzas. I had the margherita, Ale the margherita buffula, Sam the margherita with sausage and Nate the 'diavola'. We waited another pretty fair bit of time, but when they came, boy were they awesome!
From there, back to the hotel, checked out and caught a cab to the station. We took the regional rail to a little station near the coastal town of Sperlonga. Then, another cab to the town of Terracina. We checked in to our hotel (not a WHOLE lot better than the one in Napoli, but acceptable) and went down to the beach. We played and walked in the water for about an our, met a nice crab who we did not get too close to, gathered some neat shells and went for dinner.
This morning, we woke, had breakfast at the hotel and went to the beach. We had a nice spot with two chairs under an umbrella. A man strolled by with a cart full of water toys and we bought a sand toy set for 8 euro. Ale and the boys collected sand crabs into the bucket until it became clear that the bigger ones were "picking on" the littler ones. My American boys stuck out like sore thumbs with their (comparably so) huge swim trunks! I was glad I brought a bikini because I saw absolutely no women (no matter the shape or size) in a 1-piece suit or tanktini. In fact, girls under the age of 5-8 only wore bikini bottoms.
We all had a great time there, but the sun was getting hot and our bellies were empty, so we cleaned off, changed up, gathered our bags and headed to the bar (not like an American 'bar') for gelato and drinks. We found a nice spot in the shade with a pleasant breeze and just sat and vegged for a while. I did my Italian homework while Ale chatted on her phone and the boys played with ipads and ipods. We hoped to take a look in some stores, but everything was closed so we just took a little walk. Then, it was time for our bus, train, taxi back to Rome. The train was CRAZY crowded but we all made the best of it and by 8:00 p.m. at the end of our adventure weekend, we were home, ready for showers, a little cold dinner and bed.
One last week of Italian classes starts tomorrow and one week from now, Brian will be with us for the next steps of our adventure.
But, in the morning, rest assured, I booked a different option for that night. After getting that settled, we went of to the National Archeological Museum for our 11:00 a.m. reservation. So, I can't say as I know how big that museum was because it was not only labyrinthine but way bigger than a party with 2 kids, aged 3 and 7 can see in its entirety. What we did see was pretty incredible. This museum contains the treasures found in Pompeii as well as all other archeological findings throughout Italy. Huge sculptures and mosaics being the most impressive to me.
From there, back to the hotel, checked out and caught a cab to the station. We took the regional rail to a little station near the coastal town of Sperlonga. Then, another cab to the town of Terracina. We checked in to our hotel (not a WHOLE lot better than the one in Napoli, but acceptable) and went down to the beach. We played and walked in the water for about an our, met a nice crab who we did not get too close to, gathered some neat shells and went for dinner.
We all had a great time there, but the sun was getting hot and our bellies were empty, so we cleaned off, changed up, gathered our bags and headed to the bar (not like an American 'bar') for gelato and drinks. We found a nice spot in the shade with a pleasant breeze and just sat and vegged for a while. I did my Italian homework while Ale chatted on her phone and the boys played with ipads and ipods. We hoped to take a look in some stores, but everything was closed so we just took a little walk. Then, it was time for our bus, train, taxi back to Rome. The train was CRAZY crowded but we all made the best of it and by 8:00 p.m. at the end of our adventure weekend, we were home, ready for showers, a little cold dinner and bed.
One last week of Italian classes starts tomorrow and one week from now, Brian will be with us for the next steps of our adventure.
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