Last weekend I was in Naples - last blog describes one exciting night there - but this is concerning the rest of the weekend.
Friday's pizza making was fantastic! We cooked in his wood-fired oven (pronounced 'hoven') and he showed me how to make a 'mass' from the 110-year-old yeast that has been passed down from pizza maker to pizza maker (and now in my possession as well!). He showed me how to make a simple pizza and I followed suit. The hoven was 500 degrees celsius so the pizzas cooked quite quickly - like... 1 minute quick. I think at some point, I might need a wood-fired hoven like that in my home.
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| me and my pizza |
Saturday I woke up and put on my walkin' shoes because I was going to Pompeii! (not to be confused with 'Pompei' which is the new town, not the ancient city) Found a train and went forth. Once in the new town, I randomly walked until I located the ruins (with the help of a nice old Italian man). Walked in and the first thing I saw was a coliseum. Was pretty neat though obviously more 'ruined' than that of Verona and not as big etc, but still neat. A guy my age asked for a photo and he turned out to be from the states also so we chatted a bit until he pointed me in the direction of the 'bodies' and we parted ways. It's always nice to talk with nice U.S.-ians when overseas.
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| Pompeii and Vesuvius |
Walked over to the bodies which are a group of 6 or 7 in a glass partitioned area. It's crazy to think how little time they had from the moment they were aware of their imminent death and then the occurrence thereof. The volcano of Vesuvius was always looming in the distance and I can see why people wouldn't think that the eruption would reach them.
Walked around to other houses, baths, and buildings that had paintings and colorful remains from 79 AD. And we Americans think our 'historical' monuments are old. ha! The weather was beautiful and the sights amazing. I inconspicuously joined a few english-speaking tour groups and learned a few things of the buildings I was randomly looking at including which buildings were the brothels and that in the spa, men and women were in completely separated areas. #factsforthewin
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| Me and some colorful Pompeii-ian walls |
After Pompeii, I hurried back to Naples to get ready for a symphony concert at Teatro San Carlo. Checked my email and blast! A 'disagreement with the symphony workers has resulted in a cancellation of tonight's performance'. Boo. Well, I have experienced my first Italian strike. Congrats to me. I had eaten a delicious pizza lunch the day before so I went back there for dinner (which was aaammmazing), wrote a few postcards, and enjoyed my time. Heading home I met a few American navy guys stationed in Naples and so hung out with a big group of them for a bit. It was fun to speak US english to US citizens. *the things we miss abroad.
Sunday I took it easy and walked around a park on the western part of Naples, ate a good lunch by Castel dell'ovo (the egg castle), and flew back home. The rest of the week I got a tad bit sick, missed my cello, and baked cookies.
Oh, and Wednesday Meghann and I went to Venice for a field trip for our Performing Arts Workshop class. Besides the fact that our train was delayed for an hour due to someone jumping in the tracks... it was a good day! We walked around, listened to a few speakers including one from Director of Communication of the company that helps put on the Festival at Venice, and also from the Artistic Director of La Fenice. It was a great day!
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| Joanna, Meghann, and me at La Fenice |
I was trying to 'live in the moment' and 'take it all in'. So the best part of the weekend was when walking around Pompeii along the ancient streets and I just exclaimed to myself, "Wow! This is so cool! I'm walking on such ooold dirt!" achem. well.. yes, Elizabeth. all dirt is old.
~Elizabeth
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