Sun and Snow!

Happy President's Day!

which equals...

Happy 96, again! Yay!

We have two weddings coming up back home, one in MD and one in FL, so we are cutting back the spending and trying to make use of the local and more cheap resources this area has to offer, so that we won't have to worry about money while home.
Soooo... with that, this is what the long weekend had in store;

FRIDAY we simply relaxed. Gotta love Friday nights!

SATURDAY we headed to the Corso Malta market, known to the local American's as "Shoe Alley," because it's like 50% shoes (which is 50% wonderful btw). At the markets you can find really good deals on everything, and they sell pretty much everything. Produce, fish, shoes, cosmetics, clothes, under garments, sewing stuff... it's crazy, and way cheaper than in stores. I bought two kilos (2.2 lbs) of apples and 1 kilo of bananas for 3 Euro (which is roughly $4). Oh and a cute mid-thigh length jacket with a hood for 10 Euro. I'm pretty much LOVIN' the markets! Pics and a market blog are sure to come!

My goal at the market this time was really to find curtain rods. I've seen them at markets before, but of course on the day we went to buy some, I had no such luck. So afterwards we went to Ikea and Leroy Merlin (similar to Home Depot), but wasn't in love with anything in their selections, so we're still in the market (ha... ha...).

Following our curtain rod search, we decided the day was too beautiful to let go to waste, so we hopped on the bus and headed downtown. Driving downtown is rather stressful, so we rarely chose the option of driving ourselves.

Gorgeous!

The bus dropped us off in front of Castello Nuovo, which is by the water, and we walked down and around to the water front. From there we decided that we would go get lunch, then gelato at a popular desserts store. We didn't realize it then, but it would be quite a walk. Whoops.

Kind of funny though- as walked around the castle and followed the main road for a bit, we came to a tunnel that had no crosswalk, so you had to go up the stairs to get past the tunnel... then once we reached the top of the tunnel, we realized we were closer to Castello Nuovo... and thus, walked an unnecessary extra amount, hah, oh well, that's how you learn!

Another castle along our water front walk;

Castel dell'Ovo

Some love from Naples water front...

See the red hearts on some of the rocks, aw!

Finally, Gran Bar Riviera


But, we past it up to get some lunch first. We ate pizza (of course), at a random restaurant we found. Fantastic as usual.
Now, back to the goodies! Mmmmm!


After our stereotypical Italian food intake, we made the long trek back to the bus stop.
I thought this looked too perfect (and fake), so I had to capture it.


Once back to our car, the sun was setting and the storm clouds were rolling in.
The sunset was pretty pinks, oranges and reds, but the storm clouds were coming in underneath and hiding them.

I though it was picture worthy...

Once home, we had dinner with some friends and called it a night.

SUNDAY and MONDAY we had church (Sunday), cleaned, hung out, James' did homework and we had friends over for dinner (Monday). Margherita chicken, yum!

Finally, on TUESDAY, we visited Pozzuoli.


This is another costal town not too far away. Here you can find the third largest amphitheater in Italy (Amphitheatrum Flavium), Solfatara (volcanic crater with active fumaroles), and he Macellum or Temple of Serapis (not really sure of the significance).

Pozzuoli is also where it's said that Paul landed on his way to Rome (Poteoli in the Bible).
There's a church there that honors this.


Marble piece on the side of the church which talks about Paul:

At the shore port where the apostle Paul, the successor of Peter and Bishop of Rome
John Paul II
In the pastoral town pausing
November 12, 1990
Pozzuoli event includes one of the glories of its ancient history and the municipality with this marble it handed down the memory.

and

Paul of Tarsus
Apostle of the Gentiles
great champion of truth
arrived at the shores Puteolana
and here he spent seven days
with his brothers in faith

Bishop
and citizens Puteolana
this patriotic remembrance
rely on posterity
auspices of new pure glory
the year 1918


Paul of Tarsus
Year 2000

After three months we sailed (with mortar)
on a ship of Alexandria
who had wintered on the island,
bearing the insignia of the Dioscuri.
Landed at Syracuse,
where we stayed three days
and here, going along,
came to the palace,
The next day
There arose the sirocco (Mediterranean wind)
and so the next day
we arrived at pozzzuoli
Here we are brothers,
Whom invites us to stay
with them a week.
We set then
to Rome.


Seeing this church was the main reason we went to Pozzuoli that day. We had recently heard about it and were excited to check it out. And it's a good thing that the church was our purpose because the amphitheater is closed on Tuesday, (go figure) and we walked around and around and could not seem to find the entrance to the Temple of Serapis!
So this is the best I got of the temple;


Another cool thing was walking through this little (graffiti covered) tunnel. The first time we came to it, we just walked around it because it looked intimidating, but on the way back, we were just ready to get to the car!

Pretty sure this wouldn't be legal in the states...

...but it was fun in Pozzuoli!

That was it for our "96!"

However, February continues...

To bring February (and winter) to a strong finish, we chased down a cold front and hopped on some snowboards!

It was snowing like crazy on the mountain- awesome! It gave me the real feel of winter that Naples has been lacking. James and I have never been skiing or snowboarding, but we've been wanting to, so when our friends invited us, told us the details (price, distance, etc), it was hard to resist!


We both absolutely loved it- there will SO be more of it in our future! We had to borrow or rent all our gear for this trip, so wea re going to work on getting our own stuff during the summer, (hopefully we can find some sales) and then hit the slopes a lot more next winter.
During winter you don't want to be out in the cold site seeing, so why not pick up a winter sport!


The day started out great, it wasn't too hard to pick up on, it was just a little rough on the muscles. Not saying I didn't fall, just that it made sense and we slowly learned how to steer and stop without seriously damaging our bodies! After about my third time down we realized my boots weren't tight enough, so I was working a little extra and making way for blisters! No fun!


After lunch we finally headed for the blue slope, which was just on the other side of the lift from the bunny slope. OH yeah! That slope was steeper and not too long, so once we did that one, we decided to head for the longer, but less steep run.

The ride to the top was long, cold, and actually kind of Eerie...

The higher we went up the mountain, the less the visibility! Eek!

When we reached the top, we were a little nervous about the lack of visibility, and the fact that there was no one else around except the guy manning the lift. Hmm. But we buddied up, locked in our boots, took some pics (on the ground), and were off...


The visibility came back pretty quickly on our way down, and by the time we reached the bottom I was beat!!! However, we decided to power through one last slope before it was time to go... Buuut... it just so happened we got on the wrong lift, and there were only Red slopes... whoops. Needless to say we braked like the whole way down, and I was SO ready to collapse! During the second half of the day, most of my falls were just me taking a break! It's quite a work out... but well worth it!

Boarding was Saturday, then on Sunday- I could barely move! So Sunday was a day filled with Motrin, baths, movies, and being pampered by the worlds greatest husband!
I LOVE MY JAMES!

Happy March!