Exploring

We had a busy day exploring downtown Naples today with a bunch of the other new junior officers. Some of the highlights:

-Great tour of the historic district given by a JO who has lived in the area for 2 years and who gave us lots of info and tips.

-Waiting for a seat at a famous pizzeria while drinking red wine (clearly homemade) from a cafe.

-Being seated with an ancient little Italian man who ate his entire pizza while possessing only one tooth.

-Visiting a limoncello shop where the owner showed us the process of making the limoncello and gave us a tasting.

-Viewing the city of Naples, at sunset, from the ramparts of an old castle.

-Buying new cell phones!

Driving

Everyone knows that people drive like maniacs in Naples. Even so, Jake and I were shocked by the ride we were given last night. Our navy sponsors drove us to a Hail+Farewell evening event at the Admiral's house. We were dodging and weaving, speeding and slamming brakes, backing up on exit ramps....at one point the wife of the pair was literally shouting to her husband about a car headed right towards us on the wrong side of the street. We survived, but my hands were shaking for a good half an hour afterwords. Needless to say, Jake will be doing the bulk of the driving when we get our Italian licenses next week!

Day 2 in Naples

Last night we made our first attempt at cooking in our tiny hotel kitchen. After deciding that wandering off base to explore Naples for the first time at night was probably not the greatest idea, we visited the little mini mart next to the hotel. With a few ingredients, we managed to make a funky version of chicken parmesan. We bought a stick of Italian Parmesan-Reggiano cheese to compensate for the frozen Tyson breaded chicken we used. This I managed to ply with a vegetable peeler for a "table side" presentation Jake was quite amused with. Our first 2 bottles of wine in Italy were revealing. I preferred the wine made from Prugnolo grapes which was light and easy to drink. Jake was a big fan of the one made with Nero D'Avola grapes which tasted exactly like a California Cabernet.

Day 1 in Naples

Jake and I woke up this morning in Naples after a bewildering 24 hrs of travel. After coffee we set out to explore the base- encountering numerous humorous American touchstones along the way (Subway, KFC, Lunchables, Totinos, etc.). Surprisingly, all of the base employees seem to be Italian and so the confusion-free "American island" is not exactly what we expected. Thanks to a kind lady at the commissary, we discovered a 1 euro coin is needed to retrieve a shopping cart...It is a beautiful and balmy day of 60 degrees. The base boasts a view of Mount Vesuvius. Charles Dickens recounts his descent from that mountain:

"The ladies are taken out of their litters, and placed, each between careful persons; while others of the thirty hold by their skirts, to prevent their falling down - a necessary precaution, tending to the immediate and hopeless dilapidation of their apparel. The rather heavy gentleman is adjured to leave his litter too, and be escorted in a similar manner; but he resolves to be brought down as he was brought up, on the principle that his fifteen bearers are not likely to tumble all at once, and that he is safer so, than trusting to his own legs."

-Charles Dickens Pictures from Italy

HA!