Baby Jesus's Pet Rabbits and other Adventures

On our first visit to Naples, we made the mistake of thinking we'd go to the Museum of Archaeology to see the treasures of Pompeii and Herculaneum.  Luckily, a tourist information guide was able to tell us we'd come on the one day it was closed!  No matter, we decided to explore Naples on foot.  I've said it was a bit of a 'hairy' experience, simply because crossing Piazza Garibaldi was hair raising, also we walked through some rough looking streets (and we're pretty well seasoned travellers!).

Anyway, on the pretty side - here's the covered arcade, similar to the famous one in Milan...

A photo made using Dave's autostitch app to show you the impressive dome:

This was my favourite street in Naples, Via San Gregorio Armeno.  I went up to what looked like a tourist shop from a distance.

Curiouser and curiouser, lots of little dollshouse things like a pair of pet rabbits in a cage eating carrots?

It appears these delicate items are not intended for dollshouses, but this street specialises in nativity scenes.  Baby Jesus not only has a manger and the usual suspects, but also waterfalls, pizza makers, lamp posts and .....pet rabbits.

Here is the Nativity scene B&Q (or Mitre Ten if you're a Kiwi).  All the hardware, masonry and trimmings you could need in miniature.

I also scuttled past a Pasta shop.  The man inside is about to come out and welcome me in, but I'm too wary of having the hard sell and having to carry heavy pasta around in my handbag all day!

The lively streets remind me of Barcelona.

 The Civic Museum, Castel Nuovo.  The nice man behind the ticket desk waved at me and beckoned for us to come inside, but we were too hot and hungry to go into the museum.

Naples's version of the Parthenon, and a rare shot of Dave.

 Mount Vesuvius from the marina.  We were amazed at the scale of the cruise ships.  They're floating cities.

Ercolano Scavi

Lesser known, Herculaneum is only about 5km away and was struck by the eruption of Vesuvius earlier than 

Pompeii.  Because of the higher heat, more wooden articles were preserved.  You just get off the Circumvesuviana train at 'Ercolano Scavi', ignore the shuttle bus to Herculaneum signs at the bus station, and walk 500m straight down the road to the excavation site.  Unlike Pompeii, a modern town has grown around and likely above the ancient one.  Only about a quarter of Herculaneum has been excavated.

A shop full of amphorae.

You can still see the fresco artwork on the walls, and remarkable details.

The main street, which lead down towards the boathouses and the sea. The ancient coastline was much closer to Herculaneum than it is today.

 A wooden screen was preserved, showing perhaps how these cavernous Roman houses were screened off to create more intimate spaces.

At first, archaeologists thought that there were few victims in the eruption, as not many bodies were found in the town.  They later excavated the boatsheds and found that many people had sheltered here.

The plaques, mosaics and frescoes here seem more intact than those in Pompeii, though of course a lot were taken to the Naples Archaeological Museum.  What is still in place helps with visualising how the people lived in the town.

 Beautiful, intricate mosaics in the bath house.

Pompeii Birthday

No time to mope about turning a year older, it was straight on the train to see Pompeii the day after walking around Sorrento.  My new sunhat turned out to be a great investment, though one water bottle is all you need for even a hot day, as you can refill it at lots of water fountains throughout the ancient city.

We bypassed the tour groups and the audioguide and bought the excellent guidebook at the bookshop near the ticket office, for some independence from the crowds.  It turned out to be a good idea as we passed quite a few people arguing about which house was which, and what they had or hadn't seen yet!

The Suburban Baths.  There are lots of public bath houses in Pompeii, but they say not all of them were operational at the time of the eruption as the town had experienced a series of earthquakes.

There's a grim fascination in knowing that these casts are of real people who died in 79 AD.  You can see their expressions and the outlines of their clothes, sometimes the bones are exposed.  The strange position of this cast is due to the high temperatures the body was exposed to, from the pyroclastic flow.

Allegedly Pompeiians were actually a bit taller than modern day Neapolitans.

A beautifully decorated bath house, with alcoves for storing belongings.

 The calderium.

I wished that there was a working thermopolia (ancient Roman hot food shop) as an alternative to the conventional on-site restaurant.  They look a bit like hobs for putting a wok on top?  This one below had a particularly beautiful countertop.

Mills for grinding flour...

Stepping stones would have been useful on days when the sewage system wasn't effective.

A beautiful big house with atrium.

The famous Villa of Mysteries.  

 Here is one of the last stops of the day, the big theatre.  I had a rest here while Dave climbed to the top. We finished our day back in Sant Agnello at Moonlight restaurant, where I had a Mediterranea pizza (tuna, olives, tomato, cheese) and Dave had one topped with french fries, cheese and sausage.  Really!

It was an intriguing visit, I'm now reading Mary Beard's book 'Pompeii' which talks through some of the myths and mysteries.  We're also hoping to go to the exhibition at the British Museum, as we missed some of the star exhibits while we were in Italy as they are on tour in London!

Sweet Sorrento

 We deliberated for a long time about where to go for our summer holiday, as we have not been overseas for a year since we started the project of doing up our house.  It seems a long time for us as we love to travel.  My brief was that I would like to eat lots of gelato, go for walks, have guaranteed sunshine and a bit of 'ciao' a la Eddie Izzard.  I think I got all of that and more than I expected.  All of our days were filled with bright sunshine based in Sorrento, a great place to go on action packed day trips.  My guess is that we walked about 10km every day.

We stayed in Sant Agnello, a little town very close to Sorrento, at Hotel Angelina.  We couldn't fault the hotel, although simple it was exactly what we needed - a lovely quiet location overlooking a lemon and orange grove, delicious fresh breakfasts and friendly hosts who went out of their way to make us feel welcome.  In Sant Agnello, there are cliffside paths leading down to the sea and the beaches.

 Mount Vesuvius is often in the background.

 Looks like a long way down!

The Sorrentine coast has a lot of cliffs, and is rocky rather than sandy.

We walked to the Marina Piccola on our first day, to see the boats.

I fell in love with the beautiful painted tiles which were used everywhere.

 Here's one of the main tourist shop stretches - the main attractions are limoncello (lemon flavoured alcohol, delicious when served as cold as possible!), lemon products, and ceramic tiles.  We predictably ended up with one very similar to this:

'Watch out for the rabbit!'

For the mansion of our favourite bad habit rabbit.

We made the climb up to the hill to watch the sun go down.

Very satisfying.

What's happening at the big build?

You might have noticed our blog has gone very quiet of late. Especially on the subject of the building project.

This is largely a result of  my having to get involved directly in the process which is quite a challenge while working full time as well!

Partly this was planned - I was hoping to save money by fitting the kitchen myself. Unfortunately the builder has been a lot slower in this phase than expected, and has proved a rather poor project manager. He has also injured his back about a month ago so hasn't been on site at all in that period.

So although we were originally told it would take about 3 months, we are now entering month 8!!!

Still, I have pressed on and got lots of things achieved. Our kitchen has come on nicely, and now looks like this:

The flooring obviously needs attention and the side out of shot is still a builder's dumping ground, but this is an enormous improvement on living on ready meals and washing up in the bath!

I have also been busy in the bathrooms, here is our en-suite all finished up and functional:

There has been a lot of sweat and even blood in the makings of these 2 rooms, and a lot of learning too (including a lot more plumbing than I expected to need!). But it is very satisfying to have done pretty much all the work in these 2 rooms. We are now about to start on the family bathroom as well, but that is much less daunting after having done one bathroom already!

Progress has also occurred outside, with a huge heap of rubbish gone from the front and back of the house, and a brand new driveway! This is what caused the poor builder's back problem...

We ended up getting a group of travellers in to finish it instead... Probably not a brilliant idea but it seems ok so far!

Springtime

It's Spring at last in Britain, on fast-forward.  It seemed like it was just a few weeks ago there were daffodils, and now it's bluebell season in the woods.  We ventured down to Cowleaze Wood not far away from the village where I work, for brisk walk in the blue carpeted woods and got caught in some dramatic weather.

The good news is that we're heading back to New Zealand in late August, early September. I'll be in for another dose of Spring, my favourite season.  Very exciting to think of seeing my family again!  The house is coming on well, and I'm enjoying the delights of our new kitchen.  We're not quite finished yet, but the sink, oven, hob, and dishwasher are all useable now.  Dave is working on our ensuite bathroom, which is a dream.  Hopefully pictures soon as we finish up.  I have to say I have an amazing husband who has learnt some impressive DIY skills.