Naples Ate My Shoes

Jake and I did a lot of stomping around the city this weekend. On Friday, we finished up a week of Navy orientation (safety, environment, housing, car, driving, cultural relations etc.) with a field trip out in town. During our free time from the group Jake and I walked up the major ritzy shopping street of Naples. We found my favorite Italian handbag store Coccinelle and Jake bought me a beautiful black leather wallet. The other highlight of the day was stopping for lunch and having a broccoli rabe and smoked mozzarella panino. So tasty!

On Saturday we drove ourselves into the city for the first time (aided by our lovely gps TomTom) to meet with a landlord and look at an apartment. The realtor set up the appointment and all we knew was that we were meeting an older man in a hat in front of a coffee shop at 11am. We were warned to be punctual. Well, 11 rolled around and we had not yet been approached. Jake started boldly approaching old men in hats (probably about 10) to no avail. Meanwhile, I made eye contact and smiled at passing gentlemen. Finally, we called the realtor who said that our guy had missed his train and would be 30minutes late. It worked out in the end because we saw a lovely newly renovated and very safe feeling apartment. We celebrated by going out to lunch to a place that had been recommended by a friend, and had the best meal thus far. It was a tiny place with 6 tables, mismatched wine pitchers, and shelves and shelves of wine. From my position I was able to see into the kitchen and watch as the chef slowly began peeling eggplants for our appetizer (a ball of fried mozzarella, a ball of fried potato, and a thin eggplant rolled around some kind of ham). We both ordered pasta. When mine arrived, I was startled to see that my shrimp still had their heads! AH! They still had their entire shell! Not being a huge seafood eater, I had never shelled a shrimp (or whatever that process is called). I did my best to get the little guys out of their shells without attracting attention...

On Sunday, I was resolved to buy new shoes. The 8hr day or walking on Saturday nearly killed me. All Italian women wear boots. So far, we have seen only one or two ladies in sneakers and for all we know they could very well not be Italian. When we set out on Saturday morning I wore my black boots with medium heels. By the end of the day I was holding back tears- my feet were roadkill and my boots were destroyed. Ladies, when you come to visit make sure your shoes have a chunky heel. Otherwise, you will slip between the cobblestones and totally scrape of the leather on your boot heel. Plus, it is hard climbing up quaint little streets with boots with no treads! On Sunday Jake and I drove to "Shoe Alley," an open air market with hundreds of booths selling shoes, purses, and clothing. It was crowded, pushy, and loud, but I did find a pair of nice brown boots for 10euros.

In other news, we found that Italian wine magnums are 2l instead of our 1.5. On Saturday we bought a 2l bottle for 2euro and it was actually drinkable!