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!
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