Naples : National Archeological Museum & Grappa!

Naples : National Archaeological Museum & Grappa!
Thursday (20th December) got off to an interesting start. Firstly, by waking up in complete darkness due to our balcony insulation and then having my shoulder spasm up and completely paralyse my left side while in the bathroom! *chuckles* Yeah I know, it could only happen to me... no matter. Steve and I got dressed and headed out in search of breakfast. Well breakfast ended up being brunch/lunch because by the time we dragged ourselves out of bed and got going the morning seemed to fly away. We went looking around for something to have and ended up being called telepathically to the Golden Arches again..and promptly found a seat at the McDonald's at the central station. Steve actually sat down and minded a table because it was fairly busy and I went to order our meal since I was the most competent in language for the both of us. While seated a guy cleaning the tables around him tried to relocate Steve because he wasn't actively munching on anything that constituted a meal... I wish I was there because I would have like to have seen Steve try and explain to the guy that I was purchasing a meal at the counter!

A few minutes later, I arrived with our burgers and sat down to join Steve. Remember how I mentioned that while trying to have our breakfast at Roma Termini the previous day we had been bothered several times by begging women trying to get a few Euro's from customers sitting at tables? That morning in Naples, Steve and I noticed a woman sitting in a wheelchair next to the McDonald's probably in the busiest walkway around the station with a sign saying she was poor..and wanted money. There she sat ALL DAY...without a word, out in the freezing cold. She never moved and in fact was there everyday for our entire stay in Naples.

So, finally with our tums full of food Steve and I set out to have a good look around this chaotic city. We took a stroll down Corso Garibaldi north and when swung a left and headed towards the archaeological museum. Along the way, we came across Orto Botanico Di Napoli which was almost a sanctuary and haven to escape from the madness that had surrounded us since we had arrived in Naples. The garden is run by Botany students from the University Of Naples. We thought actually the park was open to the public, but strictly speaking it is a research facility for the University. However, the nice guard out the front said it was OK to have a look around and politely gave us a time limit of approximately an hour. After walking for a while, my shoulder was bothering me badly so I welcomed the short break to sit down and relax as well as enjoy the tranquility of the garden.

That day we were actually really fortunate where the weather was concerned. The sun eventually started to peek through the dreary clouds and slowly warmed up the chilly air and earth. The leaves on the trees (the evergreen ones!) began to glisten in the sun..and almost come to life. Steve and I sucked up the ambient atmosphere for about an hour as designated by our friendly neighbourhood guard and then moved onto the Archaeological Museum further down the road.

Steve and I reached the museum around 2pm and my stomach as usual was starting to rumble but I sucked it up and persisted through the museum. Personally, I still enjoy Museums as such. Steve probably appreciates them more than I just because he has the patience to read all the plaques with facts and history. I only the other hand do not. In both Rome and Naples, many of those little informative tid-bits were written in Italian with very few of them in English so it made the museum visit considerably shorter. The content of this particular museum (at least the section we managed the get through before it closed) were some artifacts excavated from the times of Pompeii and Herculaneum. Other were portrayals - an artists impression of what times may have been like in that period.

A couple of hours later, Steve and I emerged hungry and went in search of food. Our walk that afternoon took us down towards the port again to make sure that the madness we had encountered the previous evening wasn't an illusion... satisfied we hadn't been dreaming Steve and I returned to our hotel room for a quick afternoon rest and to decide where to have our dinner that evening. The night before we had been at De Michele's and although we had enjoyed being rushed through our meal, we were looking for somewhere a little quieter, more relaxed and with a wider menu. The restaurant over the road La Trianon provided such an environment. We grabbed our Neapolitan style PIZZA dinner again.. LOL and considered retiring back to our room afterwards, but something prompted me to explore the hotel a little more. We thought that they had a bar and we could have a glass of wine or something before bed. I noticed a sign saying " Billiardo" and pointing downstairs so we followed it to discover an entire lounge area with television and just hiding around the corner a POOL table! Steve and I hadn't played pool since we left Australia where we played a t Ruby's often. After trying to figure out where to put the coins into the table to release our balls, puzzled I went back upstairs to the barman who had served up our "vino rosso della casa" to find out how much the billiards were. I politely said to him "Scusi Signore, Quanto costa Il Billiardo per favore?" to which he replied "Niente" . Feeling a bit embarrassed I went downstairs and on further examination of the table realised the balls were in fact released and easily accessible. *DUH*.

Steve and I relaxed a bit and became reacquainted with our old game of pool...and realised we still could play a half decent game. I, of course have never been able to beat Steve and so it seemed I wasn't going to be lucky enough to accomplish that even in ITALY! With the wine finished, Steve and I climbed upstairs again to see what else that kind old barman could offer us..when suddenly I had a light bulb moment! I remember, the Italians being famous for grappa so I asked the barman if he had any? To which he replied "Si"... and so I edged Steve to try it with me. To be honest, I expected it to be just as harsh as the Schnapps we had both tried at the Oktoberfest back home. Surprisingly it was the complete opposite. Okay, well it had some bite..but somewhat lovingly smooth and seemed to just slip down the throat. *cough* Strong, but nice! Steve and I finished our grappa and feeling mellow retired to our room finally for a good nights sleep!


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