Training for a Belt Buckle

Tonight I went running around Gricignano - the Naval Support Base my daughter and son-in-law live on near Napoli, Italy.  Let me tell you - the humidity really kicked my butt!

My daughter walked with me for a half mile and showed me the apartment they used to live in and we checked out the Greco-Roman burial grounds that were right outside her building (crypts and all). As I ran around the base I found some Roman roads that they rebuilt into sidewalks and some gravel paths.  It is a small base, so I explored almost all of it - even taking in parking lots.

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Trip highlights:  Arrived in Rome on Saturday morning after a long time on planes and in airports. Once I arrived in Roma, the trains and automobiles part of the trip started.  I found my luggage and asked directions (in Italian) to the Fumicello Termini and got on a train just as it was leaving for the Roma Centrale Termini.  Enjoyed the countryside. It is very green and different looking.  Lots of apartment buildings - most look pretty old - with antennas all over the roof and laundry in a lot of windows. (I was informed later that most Italians do not have dryers.  Also, the taxes on the buildings are based upon how nice the building looks.  If the building looks really nice - it is probably Mafioso).

After arriving in Roma Centrale, I found my way to the ticket window and bought a ticket to Napoli Termini.  I even remembered to ask for diretto (direct) so that it wasn't a milk run train. Finally found my daughter in Napoli and we bought tickets for the Asserta Stazione where her husband picked us up.

Good thing Jenn warned me that the bathrooms are either pay toilets or won't have toilet seats or toilet paper in them.  I enjoyed both types in my first few hours there.

Of course, my runs are all posted on the wrong days once I publish them.   This one was from Saturday night. But, I am 8 hours ahead of most of you in Utah.

Tonight I ran around parts of Gricignano again.  My right quad has felt a little 'off' in the last week, so I just worked on running 8 minutes (the last minute fast), walking 2 minutes.  I spent most of my time running around soccer and baseball fields so that I could be on grass and gravel.  The humidity is still kicking my butt.

I only slept from about 1-4:30 last night and so took a couple of naps before noon.  I think I was battling some kind of food poisoning this morning, but felt better after getting everything out of my system and sleeping.

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On Sunday I went to church in Caserta with my daughter and son-in-law.  Their church meets on the second floor of a building.  Jeremy drove us there - enjoying showing how he could get his Mustang over 100 mph on the freeway.  I'm glad he was driving. The streets are very narrow and cars make their own lanes.  Motorbikes don't have to follow any rules at all and a lot of the drivers have helmets strung on the handlebars if they have them at all.  The countryside and cities are very dirty.  People don't like to pay for garbage pickup (when the garbage teams are not on strike), so they just open their car windows as they drive and throw out their bags of garbage.  Some areas appear to be a 'communal dump' and they said that last winter the piles covered some entire roads.

Church was fun. Everyone was very friendly and we visited beforehand.  I impressed people because I bore my testimony in both Italian and English.  The missionaries were relieved because it was one last testimony they did not have to translate.  After church, they had a brunch they call 'breaking the fast' where everyone brings food to share and visits.

Monday, Jennifer and I went shopping on base and converted my money into Euros for the trip.  We also signed up for a couple of tours in the Naples area for Wednesday and Thursday.  Lots of travelling around base.  My son-in-law has got me hooked on Heroes. We watch it together every night.

Tuesday morning I visited with Jeremy before he went off to PT and then work.  It was a short day for him, so in the afternoon, the three of us drove around Naples.  They took me shopping at an Ipercoop.  We bought lots of food items to share and for me to bring home (yum - bufalo mozzarella (makes our mozzarella seem pitiful)).  I also found a bookstore and bought a Sue Grafton, 2 Harry Potters, the first 3 books in the Twilight series, a JA Jance, and a kids Jungle Book and Walt Disney Tarzan all in Italian.  I found that my Italian came back pretty good and I can speak to most people and understand them.

After the shopping, we went touristy and drove around Naples.  Some of those suburbs wound around on teensy one way streets. Again - I'm glad Jeremy was driving.  A one lane road would have cars 3 across at the stoplights.  Did you know that in Italy - a STOP sign is only a suggestion?  It really means yield - and nobody does. We saw an old Greek Temple (the ruins) and took some pretty pictures along the coast.  Hopefully - our tour on Thursday will cover some of the same places because we are taking a bus tour of the Castles of Napoli.

Walked around the base for an hour while my daughter took a nap.  Today is a day to get laundry done and pack for the tour since our day tour of the Caserta Royal Palace was cancelled due to lack of interest.

I will go back later and update my blogs at Leslie's orders. 

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Today is kind of a rest day.  My daughter is suffering pretty badly from allergies and our tour of the Reggio (old palace) of Naples was cancelled because not enough people registered.  We hit the Naval Exchange again and got reimbursed for the cancelled tours and I bought toys for my grandkitties.  They are finally in love with me and won't leave me alone.  We are doing laundry and repacking our bags for the BIG TOUR - we leave early Friday morning to head back to Rome.  Also, Jer's mother and grandmother arrive in Rome on the last day of our tour and we will be bringing them back to Naples with us.

Just did one trip around base this afternoon.  86 degrees and about 80% humidity.  I ran 3.25 miles.  Only got sidetracked once. The navy was doing something on one of the roads I was running on and they told me I had to take a different route.

Tomorrow morning we leave for Rome.  I probably won't be posting again until the 18th or 19th as we tour Northern Italy.

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This morning we took the 'Castles of Naples' tour.

We first went to Castello Sn. Elmo. It used to be St. Erastus' Castle. The tour guide did not know how it got named after a red puppet on Sesame Street.  All the castles we saw today were 'functional' castles - purely for defensive purposes.   The outer walls on this castle were about 10 meters thick.  It is hard to imagine something this big in comparison to buildings in the states.  We got some gorgeous view.  This castle was at the top of the city and is in a roughly 6 pointed star shape - so lots of different angles to take pictures from.

We next drove by Castell'Ovo - The Egg Castle. We just took pictures of this castle - it is not open to the public.  I guess one side is oval - hence the egg name.

The final castle was Castello Nuovo - the New Castle. It was named this because it is newer than the other castles, but still predates when Christopher Columbus left to discover the New World. There were some neat frescoes they had saved in this castle and some marble alterpieces.  There was also a neat room with a floor of glass built over an old Roman excavation they found under the church.

We headed to Rome today and experienced a taxi driver trying to rip us off (but we knew better). Beautiful hotel to stay in for two nights (I wanted to pack it in my suitcase and bring it home with me).  We met our tour group and took a side trip to the Spanish Steps. We also did an authentic Italian dinner with tons of antipasti, pasti, sausages, and tiramisu. It started thundering and lightning and raining (the first rain of the summer) during dinner.  We tried to go to Trevi Fountain and got there in between rainstorms.  About 5 seconds after I threw my coin in, it started pouring. By the time we got back to the bus, we were all soaked.

Vatican City, the Sistine Chapel and St. Peter's Basilica were our first stop of the day today.  It is incredible to see the size and scope of these buildings.   They are amazing.  I could have stayed in the Sistine Chapel all day long.

After lunch, we drove past all the Forums and to the Colliseum.  We bought a neat book about Rome then and now that I read that night to see all the changes in the buildings.

That night I went running along a road near the Appian Way.  Lots of hills and no need to turn much, so my legs were very happy.  Most of the sidewalks are paved with marble curbs, so I could stay on the sidewalk and not get killed by the drivers.