Naples (2 For 1 Trenitalia Saturdays)

Trenitalia is running a special 2 tickets for the price of 1 on Saturdays, so D and I took advantage of this and bought Frecciarossa (the express train) tickets to go to Naples for the day.  It's an hour each way.  I've been to Naples before, but the first time was a few years ago with SYA and it was a tour in Italian and I didn't understand a thing. The second and third times were just pass throughs to see Herculaneum/Pompeii/Vesuvius and Capri.  This time, we got there around 1015 in the morning and walked around the ENTIRE part of central Naples and I really felt like I got a sense of the city.  Just like everyone says, its loud, raucous and CROWDED, but I felt safe and comfortable.

To understand Naples, one has to understand that the city and the famed soccer player, Maradona are one.  He played here and brought them two championships  Shrines to him are everywhere.

 

 

 

Our goal was to walk the city and then end up a the world famous Naples Archeological Museum, but we didn't make it.  However, we did go into the small, but quite prominent Cappella Sansevero.  It's "capolavori" are this "Veiled Christ" (its marble)

"Disillusion"  Both are amazing!

 

We walked the famous Spaccanapoli (Naples splitter) which divides central Naples into North and South.  Here at the western end is the Piazza Gesu Nuovo and the church of the same name.  I love the texture of the facade (pyramids).

This ornate tower is baroque monument to the counter-reformation.

Naples City Hall....part of the Facebook revolution

Castel Nuovo.  I like how they filled in the area between those two turrets with a Roman Empire style arch.

Central Naples is flat down by the sea.  There are hills surrounding the city (there are many funiculars) like the one shown here. That building is a monastery.

 

 

Occupy Naples?  The line "Noi sappiamo..." translates to "We know where to get the money!"

Naples...high quality and quantity graffiti.  "Berlusconi and the rich cry"  The 2, stands for the 2 "scudetti", or soccer championships that Maradona brought to Naples.

Piazza del Plebescito.  "Do not lose hope Naples"

Here's the Naples we know from the movies.  The Spanish quarter with the tall buildings all so close together.  The laundry hanging everywhere.  Two of our favorite moments of the day happened when just walking around.  The first was a man on a Vespa which zipped by us, then he circled around, whistled, parked and then looked up to be greeted by his family on the balcony.  The second was seeing an older Neapolitan woman open up her window and sell gum out of her front window.  Running a store right from her living room.

Turning around from looking west to the Spanish Quarter, on the other side of the road, just a slew of fascist architecture, which I like because its just so.....simple in its message.

Umm, what's a windmill doing in the middle of Naples.  And look at the panels on the apartment building behind it.  "Labor is GOOD!"

Along the way....lunch.  Of course, Neapolitan pizza!  This is a "famous" pizzeria.  Lots of locals and tourists, like us.

It's for purists.  Margherita and Marinara only.

The obligatory food shot before the chow down!

The weird thing about Naples for me was that I was lost during the day....TWICE.  That NEVER happens.  I could get my bearings but I didn't know where we were and it didn't help that we didn't have a physical map, only the map on the Kindle.  As D has learned, when I am lost, I internally FREAK OUT.  I'm going haywire inside.  Then, when I figure out where I am, I instantly calm down inside.  Turns out, guidebooks are BETTER when actual books because it's just easier to look at maps when they are on paper..  Lesson learned.

Brussels, Belgium

Belgian Flag (backwards, I know)

After stopping in at my second AirBnB lodging (another awesome one, I'm SOLD), I headed over to this location.  Being the geek that I am, these buildings are the European Parliament buildings.

The reason for the visit was to see the new European Parliament Visitors Center, the Parliamentarium.  It's free and a good history of the genesis of the EU and the many functions it plays.  What is most interesting is I call it the first "iPhone" museum.  The visitor guide was like an iPhone where there was lots of scrolling and flipping through screens.  The coolest gadget (although not necessarily coolest information) were these carts, that you rolled around a giant map and everytime found a sensor, it told you a story.

Grote Markt, the heart of Brussels.

Brussels....with Anch!  He invited me to join him for the weekend of Christmas Market Shopping!  And, to boot, he won us VIP tickets to Carmina Burana.

Turns out it was Carmen, as a ballet and then Carmina Burana, with ballet.  I liked the former better.

Belgium is the home of TinTin.  Throughout Brussels, on the sides of buildings are large cartoon murals.  There is also a cartoon museum, but I didn't make it.

I particularly liked the self-reference of this mural!

Yes, Belgian Waffles were consumed.  AND fries, with MAYO.

The culinary highlight, as suggested by my awesome host, was at a food market.  She called it a Moroccan pancake.  It was a crepe, filled with goat cheese, olives, figs, peppers and then drizzled with honey.

YUM!

Final stop, the Atomium which was built for the 1958 World's Fair.

View from the base, looking up.

After a 45 minute wait for the elevator, Anch and I were at the observation level in the top atom.  At this point, I wasn't so impressed with the experience and certainly expected MUCH more talk about chemistry.

But then came this cool part, where we got to take the stairs down from one "atom" to another through a "bond"

In one of the atoms, apparently, you can get into another "atom" pod and lounge around, maybe even sleep for the night?  Plus, the pods can be suspended in the air.

Going down....

Ok, so the Belgians are STILL all about the 1958 World's Fair.  The VERY cute guy with glasses in the picture with Sinatra is King Baudoin (in 1958) of Belgium.  I'm strategically blocking on the woman in the picture, who must be his wife.  Thanks Anch for playing along to get this photo!