Naples - Part 3 - Europe Trip

This time I'm going to talk about my mid week in Naples.  I met soooo many people by this time, and I was getting used to walking around by myself, but also meeting people on the way.  Everyone who was traveling like me was so friendly.  So were the English speaking Italians that I got to meet through my friend Enrico, who set this whole thing up in Naples.  I love the architechture and the views of the Mediterranean you can see in a lot of my pictures.  I was on the Mediterranean for the most part of the 6 weeks I was in Europe.  This is what made me understand that I may be a Wisconsinite, but I've lived through snow too many years that I appreciate the weather, the cloudless skys, no humidity with 85 degrees.

Picture from one of my walks the first week.  

This is from Sorbillo's pizza off Tribunali.
4 Euro for this size fresh marinara pizza with fresh herbs!

I went to Sorbillo's with a new German and a guy from Switzerland, so there were a lot of stories about their cultures, music, entertainment, economics, etc.  And then the drinking...ooh the drinking!  Wine is less than water in Europe.  

The main Piazza with the bars that the locals go to,
part of my personal tour from my new Italian friends.
It's filled with hundreds of people drinking at the bars or on the streets

The island of Ischia, I got off on the wrong Italian island.
This is one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen.    

On Saturday I tried to meet up with Enrico's friends on the island of Procida and ended up taking the water ferry to Ischia.  They are by Capri, but I'm told less touristy.  They both connect, but since it's in Italian on the speaker phone, I got to see both islands.  If you were to get old, and retire in the perfect place, it would be on these islands.  

Procida, the right Italian island!  Look at the buildings.  

Procida again.  

I believe it was right here, this sunset, that changed my life.

I believe that it was right here, this sunset, this moment of clarity that helped change my life.  It got me to thinking.  If this is the most beautiful thing I've ever seen, then does my life just go down after this moment?  Am I stuck in a place where there are absolutely zero tourists coming to?  I didn't just quickly make my mind up, it turns out 6 weeks is a LONG fucking time.  After this, for the rest of my trip, I was planning my escape from Cincinnati.  I just don't belong here, and I'm not afraid anymore.  That's the best part of my trip, is that I realized I have been holding onto nothing, because I had no where to go, because I was waiting to go somewhere, with someone.  And what happens if that someone never comes?  I don't have to fight against this current.  I am young, single, have very little bills, and make an excellent living in the career I'm trying to escape.  I have a month to month lease and few large belongings.  I can make new friends anywhere, I only have to get through school just a bit longer.  

That is a Julia Roberts poster in Da Michele, the best pizza in the world, with a brick oven shown.  

Naples - Part 2 - Europe Trip

I'm not sure exactly why I haven't written anything lately.  I've had ideas I wanted to share and then, nothing came of them.  I keep thinking back to this silly self help article where a guy wrote about why he flosses his teeth every day.  He said that he could probably get away with only flossing once a week and his teeth wouldn't fall out, but it wasn't about that.  He said that like everyone else on the planet, his motivation to floss his teeth with every day that he doesn't do it.  So he says he'll floss them once a week, but then he puts it off for two then three and soon he's forgotten all about flossing...I think that's where I am.  I felt bad about not writing, about not sharing my Europe and life experiences, but I keep thinking I'll get to it later, then I feel bad about forgetting and it's a self perpetuating cycle of procrastinating forever.  But, I choose to be done with that now, so I'm back!

Mt. Vesuvius the volcano that covered Pompeii, you know...it's cool,
 just hanging out within blast distance of where I slept all week.  

Ah-hem, now where did we leave off last?  Oh, right.  My crazy got me onto a flight to Europe and then I posted about the best pizza in the world...does that sound about right?  Turns out I've been going out for the most part every day I can with grad school and work since I came back.  My social life has just skyrocketed as I found new venues to make new friends.  :)  It's funny, I had to leave the country to learn new ways to meet people in my own city...like a tourist.  I'm finding more and more that I am not alone in my thinking that something is wrong here, for me at least.  I don't feel an iota of guilt for that feeling.  It's just who I am.  I'm not willing to settle because life's just too short to not want to go out and experience the world.

Castel Nuovo - my first real castle on 6-6-12

So onto what I did in Naples, Italy.  I have pictures now, so when I say I've been somewhere you'll understand.  The first thing you notice when you fly overhead is that all of the roofs are a red brick and there are palm trees.  Everyone is skinny, short and well tanned.  The shops are so dense it's hard to know what is where because they don't have signs like we have here.  You basically have to walk up the block to know what's on that block.  I was a giant everywhere I went, which played out very well on me making friends, short friends that is.  The first 2 nights I couldn't sleep because I was 6 hours off.  JET LAG is a BITCH!  So, since I was the only one in my B&B I stayed up on my computer all night, then slept til 2, missed my breakfast part of my B&B, and was pissed I didn't wake up.  After my first day of walking around...I stumbled upon 2 girls looking to be in an argument, half in French and half in English, with an Italian speaking ticket seller at Castel Nuovo, that I helped out with my one word I knew at that point, ticket.  After hanging out a few hours, I told them I didn't want at my B&B because it was expensive and I no one was there.  So, they took me to their hostel and I booked a room...yes it took all of one day for Europe to really like me.  I took them to a cool restaurant that was recommended by my Italian friend.  When I walked into the Hostel of the Sun, one of Italy's best, I saw attractive, young, people socializing out in a living room setting with bean bags, dvds, with a huge kitchen, and they sold alcohol.  This is how I fell in love with hostels!  :)  Also, Palazzo Reale was the first bad ass square that I hung out in and it just very very social there.  I can't say that we have places like that here with soooo many people hanging out not doing anything important.

Fresh seafood anyone?   You can literally scrap mussels of the rocks.  

Just hanging out on the Amalfi coast!
It's is so awesome, people go on their honeymoon if they're lucky.  

So through these girls I got to travel the Amalfi Coast.  It's just beautiful there.  They have fresh lemon trees, beaches, clear warm water and sunshine all day long.  There is no humidity either, which is what makes you sweat so much in Cincinnati.  The Mediterranean sea is clear, but has no fishy smell like Lake Michigan.  The mountains in the Amalfi are so tall that houses and gardens are cut into the mountain.  I have some great panini with buffalo mozzarella made specialty in Naples, red tomato, prosciutto, and cabatta bread.  Surprisingly there isn't sand in the Mediterranean so that will dissuade tourists from America.  We ended up in the city of Positano, with one cool beach with beautiful people everywhere.  I was surprised by how salty the sea water was.  Oh and one of my new friends got stung by a jelly fish. I had trouble getting back to Naples, since this was an hour out, but ended up meeting my friend's friends very late night and had homemade Italian food that YP's eat there.

Limoncello from fresh lemons.

Museum di San Martino