Sunny Bologna, Snowy Venice

After 2 days in Rome (more on that soon) we headed to Venice to catch the end of Carnival.  However since this is one of the busiest times of the year for this island city, and since Laurika and I are notorious procrastinators, we found ourselves boarding the train with no place to stay that night!  So, completely on a whim, we jumped off in Bologna in order to spend the weekend in this city we knew literally nothing about.  Luckily, Bologna, like most cities in Italy, turned out to be a fascinating place.  

Bologna's Native Son, Pope Gregory XIII.  He initiated the calender we still use today...THE GREGORIAN CALENDAR.

We ate pork sandwiches cut right from this pig!

Bologna’s Piazza Maggiore was full of pedestrians, street musicians and little kids in costumes for Carnival. 

The 900-year old Asinelli Tower which was built more or less because the Asinelli family could afford it.  Naturally, we decided to climb the 500 steps to the top.

Laurika takes in the views…and catches her breath.

I found a stone set of furniture…turns out real couches are more comfortable.

Since we are very cultured people, we took in some art like Giuseppe Crespi’s Winter.  Pretty grim…

With the weekend rush over, we finally were able to find a B&B in Venice.  But as we stepped off the train we were greeted immediately by…a snowstorm!  The snow kept falling all afternoon and evening, eventually accumulating 3-4 inches.   However, by the next morning it was all gone since that night’s high tide brought one of Venice’s famous floods with the water rising 4.5 feet above sea level!  This of course is a problem for a city that is basically built at elevation = 0 or below.

Oh no, our vacations are ruined!

Even in a blizzard, this city doesn’t lose much of its charm.

This family decided they were going to get the full Venetian experience, regardless of whether or not they enjoyed it!

Laurika is not really able to comprehend what is going on around us.

Basilica di San Marco

Piazza San Marco

Ice flows in the flooded alleyway below us.  Our building, like most in Venice, had a significant amount of water enter its first floor and had to be cleaned the next morning.   

But on day 2 we got the Carnival experience we were hoping for.  By the afternoon, the sun was peeking out its head and Piazza San Marco was FULL of people in wild costumes and tourists taking their photos.  

 

So many tourists!

Blue skies!

 

Now THAT'S more like it.  We would have taken one, but they cost about €100 :(

Last but not least, how could you go to Venice without taking some time to think about one if its most famous visitors...James Bond?

Naples = The wild wild west

After 2.5 weeks of peace and tranquility on the San Cassiano farm we headed for the most opposite environment we could possibly find, aka Naples. The best way I can think of to describe the city is "gritty," but with Italian style. Think beautiful monuments that are centuries old covered in crude graffiti. The kindest people you could ever meet with zero regard for things like personal space or traffic lights. The most delicious custom made panini sandwiches being served from a tiny deli in a back alley that kinda smells like pee. You get the idea.

Case in point

A portion of a Nativity scene. This traditional art has been hand crafted in Naples for hundreds of years and the scenes are quite beautiful and intricate.

Castello Nuovo - one of several castles in Naples

The inside of Galleria Umberto I - the prettiest shopping mall you've ever seen

The view from our box in the Teatro di San Carlo opera house in Naples. We saw their orchestra perform Sostakovic and Rachmaninov

Squeezing through passageways during our tour of the Naples Sotterranea (underground tunnels)

While in Naples we decided to try out some couch surfing, and it was a great experience! We stayed with John, an American who's been living in Naples for the past year. He came exploring with us and we had a blast!

John, Brice (another awesome French couchsurfer) and me on the Amalfi coast, which runs south of Naples...

...where we got to see beautiful views like this!

On our way to see Pompeii we met Fabio, an awesome Italian who also used to live in Spain (this seems to be a theme). He introduced us to Sfogliatella (a delicious Italian pastry) and reminded us that "la vita è bella!" Amazing guy -hopefully our paths will cross again in the future!

Awesome jars for holding food at one of the restaurants in Herculaneum (sister city to Pompeii)

One of the main roads in Pompeii. See the two indents that run down the street? Carriage tracks!

The view from the top of the city wall of Pompeii. One guard was posted at each end of the major roads and they could monitor the whole city that way. Note Mt. Vesuvius in the background

We climbed it! It's still smoking because it's an active volcano.... Um, dangerous? We like living on the edge!

John also took us to watch the Super Bowl at a pub on a NATO base (Naples is the headquarters for NATO in the Mediterranean) and we instantly felt like we were transported back to the USA. This is probably the only place in Naples you will see a Budweiser sign.

We had a great time exploring Napoli, and I personally don't think the city deserves the bad rep that it usually gets. If you make peace with the fact that you're stepping into Italy's version of the wild west, there's a good time to be had and a lot of cool things to see.

San Cassiano Farm #2

Our second week at the San Cassiano farm was marked by superior weather than the first. 

Blue skies...at last!

Laurika gets right to work.

Our jobs included adding compost and planting in the vegetable garden, tying and pruning grape vines, and removing a giant, rotted palm tree that had been killed by an invasive beetle.  Over the weekend, Laurika, Dylan, Katlyn and I were able to sneak away for a day hike into the nearby Parco San Matese.

We hiked through mountain towns, like San Gregorio Matese, as seen from the farm.

Took in the views

And soon found ourselves in the snow!

Deep in Parco San Matese....it makes me want to ski!

As the afternoon sun began to wane, we still hadn’t reached our destination: the elusive Lake Matese.  Also there was the minor problem of not having any way to get back to the farm since we had left on foot many hours before.  Here once again, we lucked out and were saved by the kindness of strangers.  We befriended the only other hikers we saw all day—Pasquale and Ellio who happened to be taking their dogs up the same route as us.

Elio and Pasquale with their intrepid dogs.

Not only did they help us find the lake, but they ended up giving us a lift all the way back to the farm!  Pasquale runs a flower shop in town so we decided to visit him later to buy a bouquet for our host family. 

Che Bella!

There we learned that one of Pasquale’s passions is “aquascaping.”  He creates art in the form of underwater scenery in aquariums.  Then he submits his photos to international competitions.  His shop was full of intricate aquariums like this:

This photo is from Pasquale's aquascaping blog.  This one earned him the rank of #22 in the world!  What a cool hobby.

Another day, as we were planting trees, Andrea brought 3 men over to the nearby pig pen.  They chatted a while and soon returned in full body suits and rubber boots.  We watched as they chased down pig after pig, lassoed them and then killed them instantly with a cartridge gun.  Next the throats were slit and the males were castrated (apparently if you leave the testicles on, the meat sours…interesting).  I will spare you the photos of the bloody pigs but below you can see what it looked like during and after the skinning process.

These guys have done this before.

Don’t overlook the wheelbarrow of guts.

Over the next few days, the vast majority of the meat was cut up and frozen while we ate the most perishable parts (like the organs, we think).  We never got names for which part of the pig we were eating at any time; suffice to say the textures were…unique. 

Laurika demonstrates how best to eat a Neapolitan specialty called pizza frita--fried dough topped with tomato sauce and  mozzarella cubes.  No pig parts involved here.

This painting can be found on the wall in the small town of San Potito Sannitico.  It was done by Tono Cruz, the boyfriend of Andrea and Vittorio’s cousin, and the same man who did the beautiful work on our farm in the first post. 

Dylan makes new friends…

Wish I had as many friends as Dylan…

 

Vittorio is professionally trained in art restoration and carpentry—he has worked all over Italy.  I contracted him to make me a sweet gift for my Dad’s 70th birthday (can’t say what thought!)

I couldn’t resist but take a creepy photo of me with this night sky…

Countryside in the evening fog.

The four friends…Dylan and Katlyn...we hope to see you again!

Goodbye San Cassiano!  It has been an remarkable experience.

As a final note, I must add how sad it is that violence has once again become commonplace in Cairo and other parts of Egypt.  It seems that my family squeaked in a visit just before a new round of protests began.  The tourism industry, struggling but on the rise during our trip, is sure to take another hit as Egypt’s perception as a dangerous place persists.   But just as my family encourages people to visit Mexico in spite of the drug violence in the North, we will continue to encourage the same for Egypt. Regardless of the political situation and regardless of what we see on TV, a country is defined by its people, people who we can attest are just as kind and welcoming as ever.