Wow, the last week and half has been a busy one! Here is a little snapshot of what I have been up to!.

Case and I hopped on a train Saturday morning, and arrived in Naples by late morning. Naples, next to Rome, is probably one of my favorite cities in the world. When you hear about Naples in the guidebooks, they seem to be more focused on the crime, mafia, and lack of cleanliness in the city. What the guidebooks fail to elaborate on, is the amazing history, food, sites, and people this city holds. Last weekend was my second time in Naples, and I already can’t wait to go back, it’s safe to say I love Naples. Anyway, Case and I started our adventure the second we stepped off the train, with our luggage in hand, we wandered the streets of Naples. Our first stop(before our B&B) was to eat a pizza portofolio (basically the most amazing pizza bread with marinara, folded into a “wallet”) and a fresh sfoggliatella. Unfortunately I did not grab a picture of the pizza, but I do have a picture of a sfoggliatella (there is no way I would be able to explain this heavenly pastry to you).

Let me try and explain what the picture shows, the outside of the pastry is an amazing thin/flaky stacked leaf-like dough and filled with a very sweet ricotta filling. Sfoggliatelle have quickly become my favorite Italian pastry, but sadly are hard to find outside of Naples…quality sfogliatella that is.

Once we had finished our pizza portofolio and sfoggliatella we decided we should probably go find our B&B and put our luggage down. Our B&B was perfect, situated in the historic center of Naples, and right around the corner from the best Mozzerella Di Bufula cheese shop. If it’s not apparent, that was our next stop. We walked into the tiny deli, and instantly knew we were in the perfect spot. The lady behind the counter let us try a piece of the cheese before buying..it was amazing. When we committed to buying a ball of mozz, she then put into a little foil bowl for us, and we sat at a tiny little table next to the cheese counter and ate the most amazing cheese in the world. Before heading to our next destination, we decided it would wise to order 1kg of Mozzerella to take home with us the next day. Sidenote on buff mozz–the Campania region of Italy makes the BEST buff mozz (hands down), usually its hard to get unless you are in that region, however (!!!) Case found a delivery service for Buff mozz…and we can get it delivered weekly! You bet we will be signing up for that 🙂

After eating all of our favorites of Naples, we decided to wander off and be tourists. We took a fanicular up to a top of a hill to see an amazing castle overlooking the city–Castel St. Elmo. Before going into the castle, Case really wanted to fill our water bottle (it was yet another hot day). If you don’t know, a lot of places in Italy, especially Rome, have public water fountains EVERYWHERE, which is amazing. We were hoping the same would be true in Naples, so Case asked the guy selling tickets if he knew where the closest one was… and the man pointed us in the direction of a small vespa and the castle wall. We wandered over to where the man pointed, and all we could find was a hose…nothing more then a standard garden hose. After a few more minutes of looking, we decided the man was referring to the hose as a fountain…so with a bit of hesitation we filled our water bottle. For everyone cringing out there, its been over a  one week…and neither of us had any negative effects from the water. Once we had our water, we wandered into the castle. The Castle was built high above the city, so back during times of war It could protect the Castles lower down and the rest of the city, so the views were absolutely remarkable.

(The pictures show us with the city, Mt. Vesuvius, and the Sea in the background)

After we had had enough of the castle, we wandered down and across the street to a bar, where we had a glass of wine on the patio overlooking the same view–it wasn’t awful. For the rest of the day we wandered around the city, stopped to listen to a group of men singing opera in the street, Case bought a painting from a local artist, and just took in our surroundings. Once we were completely exhausted, we wandered back to the B&B for a siesta before dinner.

For dinner, we decided we didn’t want a plan, we just wanted to walk and stop at a place that looked good. An hour or so later, we found the perfect spot. The tables were situated on a small cobblestone road on a semi-busy street,  perfect for people watching, and taking in crazy Naples. We ordered some a typical seafood dish of Naples, having no idea what to expect…and this is what we got, well technically what Case got (see picture below).

The food was absolutely incredible, and so so so cheap! After dinner it literally took all the energy we had to get back to our B&B, somehow we still had a little energy to take a few pit stops at some piazzas where there was live music playing (music was everywhere).

The next morning we woke up to fresh pastries from our innkeeper (yes there was sfoggliatelle) and coffee, and then wandered out to buy some souvenirs and wander the shops of Naples. We also wandered by a wine bar where we tried some amazing Greco Di Tufo (typical white wine of Naples area) and sat on the cobblestone road and did some people watching. Oh ya, I was also representing the Seahawks in Naples. GO HAWKS!

That evening we were to take the train back to Roma, so we decided to have a big lunch (big mistake). Why a mistake you ask, I will explain. We both ordered a pizza (with buff mozz of course), and my goodness some of the BEST pizza I have had–so naturally we each ate our whole pizza. To explain the location of our dining experience, Case summed it up perfectly by saying “only in Naples can you smell [urine], be eaten alive by flies, and have the best pizza in the world!” I soon discovered why I avoid large lunches in Italy…because all we wanted to do afterward was Sleep..hence the big mistake. Here is Case trying to fight off the siesta in the middle of the restaurant (below).

Notice how every table is empty behind us, the restaurant closed at 1530 for siesta…sadly we had nowhere to go nap, and we had 2 hours until our train. We would have taken an earlier train, but there was a train strike and that was not even an option! So we trucked on…and found the nearest bar for a caffe…and may have picked up another sfoggliatella for me (somehow I managed to eat after my pizza). Until our train we wandered around Naples half asleep, saw a beautiful church ( I was too exhausted to take pictures…sorry), and picked up some sfoggliatella for home—finally it was time to get on our train (yay)! After a three hour, packed to the brim freezing cold (over air conditioned) train, we arrived in Rome at approx 2200. For dinner that night (our parents would be so proud) we had a ball of Buff Mozz each and split a sfoggliatella…very nutritious! Below: Case holding our bag (1.2kg) of Mozzarella Di Bifula.

Sadly another weekend had come to an end and technically my holiday was over… because my first day of school was Monday!

School, also known as my intensive Italian class, has  been amazing!

My class is filled with people from all over the world. I have one Russian guy, two people from Swedish, a Nun from Chile, a Canadian, another American, and there was a German, but she was only in class for the first week. Now we have a total of seven people in the class. My teacher is young and energetic, and speaks maybe three words of English to us throughout the class. The amount I have learned in one week however is overwhelming! After class I am completely exhausted, and then I have the privilege of taking the Roman Bus (I will NEVER complain about Seattle buses again) to the train to go back to Aprilia.  The best part of learning Italian in Italy…is I get to practice all day! Sometimes I am cranky (poor Case) and don’t want to, but Case is wonderful teacher and helps me with my learning. Hopefully I will come back the USA with some Italian knowledge! Below: The picture shows how I study some days!

For this last weekend, Case and I decided to stay in Roma again. On friday we just laid low, went out to dinner, wandered to a Piazza where a bunch of young people hang out, and had a few drinks before calling it a night. Saturday we woke up, and decided it was a perfect day to rent bikes and ride around Roma! We rode around  the city of Rome a bit, then wandered out to the Ancient road (Appia Antica), and out to the Catacombs–our ultimate goal was to find the Aquaduct Park, but sadly did not make it. Below are some pictures from our ride:

The first picture shows the Italian Supreme court. Next you have me in front of the pyramid in Rome.

Below: The Appia Antica–The ancient road which dates back as far as 312BC!

The next two pictures show one of the entrances to the city! I think Seattle needs an entrance like this!

After riding for what felt like forever, we headed home, but first I had to get a picture of Hospital Island! Fellow Nurse friends maybe we should work here…with our Dr. Stethoscopes (I had to).

On Sunday we decided the best way to spend it was to go to my first Roma game!!! Forza Roma! In the morning we bought some Roma gear and some tickets and then wandered over to the stadium. Roma played Sassuolo, which is a small town in Italy, and near the area from where Case’s family is from! The game ended in a 2-2 tie (the one part I really dislike about soccer…a tie). The game was quite educational for me, I learned a large amount of Italian profanities from the fans around me…sadly Case discourages me from practicing those in public 🙂  Here are some pictures from the game (below).

(FYI the above picture is taken from one of the balconies from the apartment in Rome–Look at the view!)

From the game we took a bus to the Trestevere, walked around, had apertivo, and then wandered home made some dinner, and yet another weekend was over!

It’s crazy to me how fast time is going by, I can’t believe I have been here for almost a month now! I am already worried 3 months is not enough time, good thing Italy is not going anywhere! Well that is all for now, I have some homework to do for Italian…so until next time…Ciao Ciao Ciao.