Piedmont part 2

As I write this it's 2 weeks until we get on a plane home to the UK, home, normality, friends and family.

Claire with Virginia, Davide and Corrado at the opening of a wine pub

Since my last post we've spent our time immersed into life here in northern Italy whilst looking after the kids throughout the week. We haven't just been sat around either, we've visited quaint towns, festivals, museums, planetariums, exhibitions, waterparks, opening of a wine pub, birthday parties to name but just a few. We've spent a lot of time at the pool, a lot of time replacing the words to songs with "bum" (Corrado's favourite pastime) and we've spent a lot of time eating amazing homecooked Italian meals. All the while we've both been sorting jobs for our return as well as doing what we can to stay fit -  although having pasta every day makes that harder!

The pool at grandma's (nonna's) house

We've learnt about local history, local customs, local languages (yes they speak their own language here in piedmont alongside Italian, but it's dying out) to which I can say "I'm full", "you're crazy" and "shut up" in Piedmontese - all the basics!

I love some of the quirky things here; like the casualness, like the attitudes between the north and the south, like when it threatens to rain you can hear cannons thundering in many directions, that shoot gas balls into the air to attempt to break up any hail in the clouds as hail can be damaging to the very precious grape vines that are abundant here. The friendliness from people in the town and neighbouring city has also been a great experience as it's made it feel like a delightful world you hear of but never actually see with your own eyes.

I've also fallen in love with the sweet wines here, having not previously been a fan of white wine, I can now say that moscato d'asti is a new firm favourite of mine. Plus there have been so many speciality liquors that I've tried that I couldn't begin to remember them all!

We've had some great times here and have also met some great people other than the family that have been present throughout - such as Evanne, the American au pair that's staying with Virginia's sister in Canale. We've had some great chats with her at the pool and over beers. Her mum came to visit for over a week at one point too and we also met the au pair Virginia has had twice before as she visited with her boyfriend, so there's been lots of new faces and stories shared.

Claire playing war with Corrado

We've learnt some great tricks along the way to keep the kids entertained and also to keep them from bouncing off the walls - especially Corrado! - which I feel is all great stuff to have in the bank for when we one day have kids (which I can say with certainty won't be yet!).

The pizza party

Davide hard at work with Gianpieri "supervising"

Last Saturday in particular was quite special because Davide (the father who is due to open his own pizzeria at some point over the next year) put on a pizza party for us and a whole host of guests. Everything was made from scratch and made in a wood fired oven they had out in the courtyard. The pizza party lasted all evening and in total he made nearly 50 pizzas with more than half being consumed by only just over 20 people - of which the neighbours came out in force for it.

Funnier still was when the neighbour Gianpieri (a lovely old man) was supervising Davide and giving advice - which was funny giving that Davide was an absolute maestro at pizza making and certainly didn't need help!

One he made in particular blew me away - salsicce e gorgonzola (sausage and gorgonzola) and I was able to say that once again, the best pizza I've ever had has once again been surpassed!!
Also amazing was Davide's knowledge of what I said was my previous favourite, I simply mentioned the pizzeria in Naples that's been operating since 1870 and appeared in a film and he said "ah pizzeria Di Michele" - a true master of pizza indeed!

The wine really flowed throughout the night, with Gianpieri gracing us with bottles of Barolo from 1970 & 1965, to which we felt truly honoured! (I think the '65 was on the turn though personally....) and eventually we ate so much pizza that I told Virginia I didn't want to see another pizza for months. Lo and behold though, for breakfast we were offered a portion of sweet pizza with nutella and pear and it was too irresistible to ignore so I was straight back on the wagon again before heading out for a really long run.... before coming home to lunch and more pizza! Ah well, only a few more weeks so as Corrado taught me "cesina frega!" (who cares).

Nearing the end of our great adventure

So with just a couple of weeks left, our thoughts are shifting more and more towards home and what lays in store for us and our future, but it's also seen me take the chance to reminisce about the last 5 or so months of travelling; all the amazing things we've done and places we've been and it's really put things in perspective and shown me how much this has been everything I wanted it to be.

Of course I've had conflicting feelings too - sometimes feeling guilty about being homesick and feeling like I'm just going back to live the same life as before - but upon contemplation and "figuring it out for myself" I see that I have changed throughout these crazy, non stop 5 months and that even if I may not change too much about the way I live my life I will have a new perspective on things, new motivation and more appreciation for what I've got.  And these things are priceless to a persons soul.

Naples, Pompeii and Mount Vesuvius

We arrived from Rome by train in a carriage with booths - first time either of us have travelled in a booth and Claire said Harry potter travelling to Hogwarts instantly sprang to mind.

Naples

Our hotel was a stones throw from the train station, so we left our bags to explore the city before check in. We headed straight towards the water and hit docks first. The sight of docks and everything around it instantly reminded me of Southampton (where I was born and bred) and we walked until we got to one of the castles that adorn the water here - castel nuovo. We couldn't go in as it was a university's graduation ceremony day there so we just headed central into town before heading back to the hotel. In that time we first wandered about, we both felt a little uneasy here; we both felt like we'd received a few unpleasant glances and overall the contrast in the demeanour of people having come from Rome was clear to see.

Even before we came, I'd always heard Naples had a bit of a reputation for crime and being a little rough around the edges in general, but having spent the week there I certainly saw that reputation come to light and then some! In our first night I popped down to reception to find a host of people consoling a tour guide who was distraught - I could tell straight away she'd been robbed and I daren't tell Claire in case she freaked out. The next day we overheard her conversations though and heard it happened just a couple of streets away and that it was commonplace here where they prey on tourists - which put us on edge. Later in the week, the restaurant next to our hotel had a mass of people consoling another girl - clearly it had happened again and this time even closer to us.

I don't like to write that we felt like we weren't safe outside for most of the week but I'd be lying if I said otherwise. As a result we felt we didn't want to explore the city in it's entirety, just a couple of places and we also decided not to go out in the dark (after 9pm).

Other than our day trips, we usually only left the hotel for pizza - the thing that Naples is famous for doing best. Claire found a place nearby that was famous for doing the best margherita and was the setting for a scene in the film that inspired her travel bug 'eat, pray, love'.

We headed to that place in particular - called pizzeria da Michele - expecting to wait as apparently people often queue for up to 2 hours to get a table, but when we arrived (around 6) we luckily only waited 5 minutes. The place had nostalgia all over it's walls and it'd been making pizza since 1870 - a long time to perfect the art! What's more the menu only consist of two items: pizza margherita and pizza marina.

We sat next to photos on the wall of the staff with Julia Roberts and another with Maradona (who is a god to people here) and all these things meant that as I ordered, I suddenly realised I had never in my life been so excited to try a pizza! When it came it was heaven. No anti climax whatsoever. To describe it would do it injustice, but take my word for it - I've had many a pizza and a lot of very good ones, but although this was just margherita, this was the best I'd ever had. I came back to Italy in hope that one bit of food would give me that rare feeling that makes you actually go on thinking about the food even after you've eaten it and I was so glad I found it.

We went to a couple more places for fantastic pizza during our time here - see this piece from Claire's blog - but for me, this place was hands down the best. We went back again one night and I was every bit as satisfied.

The only other thing we did in Naples itself was visit the archeological museum that houses a vast amount of artefacts from Pompeii. We both enjoyed the visit there as they have mosaics, ornaments, statues, household objects etc. from Pompeii that give you a real insight as to how life was there before the tragedy. There was also a particular part that showed us they had a bit of a fixation with genitalia which was certainly interesting to see.. and giggle at!

Pompeii

On our first ever wedding anniversary we decided to visit Pompeii. We both love ancient sites and to visit one where such a unique tragedy occurred had long been on our wish list.
We got off the train at Pompeii Scavi and as we queued for tickets we could see hundreds of grey things filling the air and we were slightly confused.... Ash wasn't still falling right?! It wasn't and it was just falling from a tree but the illusion added to the atmosphere.

Once through the gate and up the hill, you're immediately surrounded by the remains that instantly give you an idea of what life back then. You've ruined temples, rows and rows of houses, a forum, bakeries, public baths etc.

Unlike other ruins, it feels a lot more obvious what things used to look like here, rather than seeing just a room and being told what it was for. For example - the bakeries were obvious as the gardens still had the instruments that made the bread, as well as hole in the wall ovens. All of this adds to the "frozen in time" effect that this place is famous for (well, not frozen but you get my point!).

There are quite a few bodies that still remain on the site and the detail you can see on them is incredible: from their facial expressions, to their clothes, even down to their toenails. Staring at the bodies didn't feel morbid - it just felt fascinating to see this phenomenon and to know that you can see what really happened all that time ago. It really is a unique thing to see with your own eyes.

What we didn't know was that when the tragedy struck, the place was only just recovering from an earthquake that caused devastation a few years earlier. You could see evidence of this where some parts of houses were in the process of being replastered - so on one hand that's very unlucky for them, but these days we would've seen the quake as a precursor to the eruption!

This place was so much bigger than we'd realised and we ended up spending hours strolling the ruined streets with our imaginations flowing. By the end of the day we'd exhausted our legs on the cobblestone streets and headed for home and celebratory prosecco satisfied at a real glance through history.

Mount Vesuvius

People often do this and Pompeii in a day and whilst we decided not to (to stretch out our week), I can certainly see why people do as if you're ready to do some proper walking then you can.

You get off at the same station (Pompeii Scavi) as you do for Pompeii, get a bumpy couple of buses and then walk the last part to the crater. The day we visited was cloudy atop the mountain which meant being in the clouds themselves and therefore very chilly!

The gases still coming out of a small hole in the mountain

I found the crater itself great, but not the awe inspiring sight I thought it might be. The view right inside looked just like a hillside - there was even a few bushes and trees?! The top of the crater was just what you expected, but the inside was a real reminder that its been over 60 years since the last eruption.

That said, there was an area of rock where you could see natural gases still spewing out - at least a reminder that it is still bubbling down there. In fact we heard that scientists believe another eruption may be due in the next 20 years - so for now it really is acting as a sleeping giant. Funny that as on the way up and down the mountain we saw quite a few 60's style hotels - why build them there when the volcano is still active? It's like they haven't heard of Pompeii or anything...

I enjoyed the visit to the crater, mainly just the little things that remind you of the destructive power that lingers below and at some point will surely arise again.

The end of the week in Naples

As mentioned, we didn't exactly love Naples due to the vibes we were getting and the crimes we'd heard happening around us, but we did venture out on one of the last days to visit the museum which houses a lot of Pompeiian artefacts - and we both enjoyed learning more about it. We were particularly impressed at the mosaics that adorned their houses as some were so intricate that they were nothing short of stunning.

Art from the walls of a Pompeiian house

Other than that though, we took the chance to have a couple of days to recharge in the hotel - only popping out for pizza or local confectionery called "sfogliatelle" which I didn't mind but Claire wasn't keen on.

We left Naples knowing that even in a country like Italy that we've always loved visiting, you can't like every place you visit. Naples is at least ticked off the list though! Next stop - Florence!