Festa della Tammorra

The Panorama, the base newspaper, listed the Festa della Tammorra as a local festival this weekend.  Since we knew we would be in the area this weekend, we thought it sounded like fun.  There was no time listed on the flyer.  I even looked on-line.  The festival was Saturday and Sunday.  The website side there was local crafts as well as music.  So we planned to go on Sunday afternoon.  I was facebooking with a friend and we decided to go to the festival together.  We drove to the next town at about 11 AM.  We saw signs for the festival but they were pointing up a street that was gated at the top.  We were a bit confused but decided to go back and park in the piazza and walk towards the signs.  Well we followed the signs up the road to this walled area and noticed a large gate open on the right.  We walked in and saw many woman slicing melanzana  (eggplant).  They all stared at us as we entered.  A man approached us and in broken English, he told us the festival was in the afternoon.  We laughed that we were early, but the Italians were quick to make us feel welcomed.  They asked if the children wanted to see the goose.  So they led us through the kitchen that said private, out the back door to the goose pen.  They opened the gate and let the kids enter the pen.  It was so funny.  They were talking and we had no idea what most of the people were saying.  The one man in the red shirt told us this was the festival of the tambourine.  He told us it was traditional music with dance.  He told us to come back in the afternoon, around 6 PM.  We laughed we were 7 hours early.  I told him, we read about it in the paper but it did not mention a time.  He quickly went over to the PR lady and told her that we were early because there was no time.  She admitted there was no time, I guess all Italians know when festas start.  We met another Italian who worked at the JFC in Naples.  He spoke English as well.  So they gave us a tour of this country house.  The group took us to the oven that was heating up to cook the bread.  One of the men even told us that he likes to cook his chicken in it.  It was so much fun.  The Italians were so generous to us even though we were too early.  They showed us the garden and then made us some café.  We probably learned more about this festa because we were early and they were all trying to make us feel welcome.  They then offered us some of their wine.  It was really yummy.  Then they went and found some musicians.  We had a man playing the accordion and another playing the tambourine.  Then one of the men sang.  The Italians then got some women to come and show us the traditional dance.  We had our own private showing.  It was really neat.  The kids starting dancing around, as the musicians played.  As the woman dance, they used castanets.  When they were finished, the man who spoke the best English told us about the castanets.  Who knew there was a female and a male castanet?  The male is on the left and the female is on the right.  He said this is how it is in Latin and most Roman things when it comes to male and female.  Then he let us all try them out.  I got scolded because I started using it like Spanish castanets and using my thumb.  Italians use their middle and ring fingers with their whole hand and wrist.  It was a wonderful learning experience.  We all agreed that if we had been on time, we would have missed out on all this valuable information.  The man who worked at the JFC told Howard they had wanted the Navy band to come and play.  So now Howard has to ask the Navy band to come and play with them in the future.  They took his name and number so he is on the hook to at least ask.  They just like music and wanted to preserve the ways of the past and share it with other musicians.  If we didn’t have school tomorrow, we would have come back this evening like they wanted.  We were just afraid that if we went we would never be able to leave and get the kid up for school in the morning. On the way out, we were given festival posters and a bootleg copy ( their term) of their music.  I believe they were selling it tonight, but for us, the crazy Americans who showed up early, we got it for free.  It could have easily been a busted trip, but it turned out to be such a fun experience!  

  *Warning*

Delaney took this video, it is a bit jumpy!

Oops!  I forgot to mention they also let off fireworks for us!  

Carney Park!

Yesterday we ventured to Carney Park.  This is a huge American recreation area in the middle of a volcanic crater.  The girls spent two week at Camp Adventure here.  We watched the Family mud run.  We were not quite adventurous enough to try it this year.  We promised the girls we would do it next year.  Although, it was more like running through a large puddle than running through mud.  They had some fun activities set up for the children after the run.  The girls got to try archery.  They used real bows and arrows.  They thought it was so cool.  Howard even got to try his hand at it as well.  Then the girls got to climb a rock wall. Blythe made it all the way to the top on her second try.  We were really proud of her because she didn’t give up!  We then went over to the driving range and hit some golf balls.  After golf, we had lunch at the golf restaurant.  Nothing special for food, but the view looking around the crater was pretty neat.  Carney park has a lot of fun activities for families.  I am sure we will spend a lot of time here in the next three years!

Lunch out in the country!

The world is such a small place!  Today we spend the day with a friend of a friend.  My very dear friend, Becki (who lives in NH), emailed me about her friend Chiara.  She told me Chiara was Italian and just happened to be in Italy for the summer.  Well it turns out, Chiara is from Naples.  Her family lives in Posillippo (just outside of downtown Naples) and they also have a country house in the mountains in Castelpoto.  They invited us up for Sunday lunch to their house in the mountains.  It was an hour drive east with the most spectacular views.  The mountains and the buildings built into the side of them were just breath taking.  Their house was such a quaint Italian home on the side the mountain.  Blythe and Delaney had so much fun running round playing with Chiara’s two children, Matthew and Sophia.  Howard and I enjoyed talking with Chiara and her parents.  Chiara’s mother is from Australia and her dad speaks perfect English so it was a wonderful afternoon.  They gave us tips on living in Italy and answered Howard’s question about the meaning of fai date on the gas station signs. (It means self-serve)  Chiara has been coming to this area since she was little.  Her grandfather was born here, and her grandmother built a house here so that her children would come and remember where their father was from.  She said the area was not so pretty when she was little since it was all tobacco farms along the hills.  Now they have gotten rid of that crop and are growing grapes and making wine.  It is starting to be a tourist area.  Anthea, Chiara’s mom, told us they are calling this the “new Tuscany”.  I feel so privileged that we got invited to go to such a neat spot.  To connect us all even more, Anthea’s best friend Beryl lives in Parco Nocce where we will be moving!  She and her husband are retired and they both speak English as well.  She spoke with them and told them we would be moving to the Parco.  They told her we could ring them if we needed anything.  So now we have another family in the neighborhood who can look out for us.  Plus, Anthea told me her friend was not well.  So I can make diner for them from time to time since Alex, the husband, is doing all the work caring for his wife.  Anthea seemed to think Alex would love the distraction of having us around.  It sounds like it will be a win/win for both our families.  Not to mention, Alex and Beryl have a son who owns a bar in Naples.  Chiara told me he speaks English and it would be a fun place to go sometime.  So not only did we eat a fabulous meal today, we made connections that are going to last a very long time.  We have already been invited back and been told to contact them when they are back in Naples and they will give us tours around the city.  I feel so fortunate.  Italians really are the most open and giving people.  I feel like we extended our family today!

Thank you so much Becki for the introduction!  

Cratere degli Astroni World Wildlife Fund Oasis, Agnano

The Cratere deglie Astroni is an extinct volcanic crater.  You can hike all through this park full of lush forest.  Throughout the forest, there were old stone walls and arches.  It was steep climb down into the crater.  Then it was an easy walk around the base.  It was a hot day but the path was shaded by the trees that had grown up in the crater.  There was a large lake in the middle of the crater.  The WWF had set up an observatory to watch the lake.  We saw some really interesting ducks playing in the water.  The lily pads growing in the water were huge.  Along the hike we also found a frog bog.  As we approached, frogs were hoping in and out of the water.  We have never seen so many frogs at one time.  If you look closely at the picture, you can see some sitting on the log and peeking out of the murky water.  As we were coming down one of the smaller craters on the inside of the larger crater, we heard a lot of leaves moving.  It sounded like something big was in the woods.  It turned out to be horses.  I was nervous because I saw one on one side of the path and then noticed two on the opposite side.  The girls and I were a bit afraid they might charge or something.  But they didn’t seem bothered by us and just continued eating the grass.  It was a harder climb out of the crater but we all made it and felt really good afterwards.  This was such hidden jewel in the middle of such a crowded and dirty city.

Sunday drive to Pozzuoli and Baia

We took a drive past the bay of Naples to Pozzuoli.  It is a busy town with beautiful views of the islands of Capri, Ischia, and Procida.  We went to the Pozzuoli Anfiteatro Flavio e Serapeo.  It was an ancient Amphitheater, similar to the Coliseum in Rome, but this Today we took a drive down past the bay of Naples.  We went to the town of one was older.  This one also allowed you to tour the entire amphitheater.  We were able to walk through the middle of it and feel what it would be like to be on stage, if it was used for a play.  But we also got to go underneath the stage to where they had rooms that housed more gladiators, lions, and stuff for stage productions.  The theater had holes in the ground where they must have had elevators of some sort to bring things up from the bottom.  We decided that it certainly made the coolest place to play hide and seek!!

We took a drive into Baia.  This is a wealthy beach community.  It would be a neat place to live except the traffic is bad since there really is only one road in and out.  It was a beautiful drive up the rocky coast.  Gorgeous views from the top.  We stopped and had a seafood lunch overlooking the sea.  Delaney was in heaven eating mussles, shrimp, clams, octopus, and even some fried fish!  She is one adventurous eater.  Even Howard wouldn’t touch the fish, since they were fried bones and all.  She LOVED it!

On our way home we found this neat little building, on an island all its own.  A picture of it is hanging in the elevator we take to our room every day.  It was fun to see it in person.  We noticed that room on top echoed.  I am sure the Italians down stairs wondered what the crazy Americans were doing.  We were hooting and hollering enjoying the echoing and feeling the breeze come off the water! 

Reggio de Caserta

We went to Reggio de Caserta.  It is the Royal Palace of Caserta, the biggest Palace in Italy.  It is modeled after the Palace of Versailles.  It was huge.  The girls could not stop snapping pictures.  We walked through the Palace out the back to its enormous gardens.  They make Norfolk Botanical Gardens look small.  We walled all the way to the end of the gardens where there was a towering waterfall.  There were two big statues at the end of the waterfall.  There was a god who was taking a bath given by her servants.  The other was a hunter, who saw the god bathing, and was turned into a deer.  Being turned into a deer, made his dogs attack.  The girls really liked the story.  Their other favorite was of the sea dragons.  We took a bus back to the Palace since it was so hot, so we could look around the inside.  The marble in this place was just amazing.  The colors and textures in the stones were like nothing we had ever seen.  The staircase to get inside the apartment, as it was called, was so grand.  The girls thought it was fun because the marble was so smooth they could slip and slide in their shoes.  The girls had such fun taking pictures as we explored each of the rooms.  They could not believe anyone could have so much money to have such a big house.  The detail in each room was just incredible.  We had a great time searching the ground.  Our friends told us later, that the lions that greeted us on the staircase, to the apartments, were used in one of the newer Star Wars Movies.

The waterfall in the distance.

Seadragons

Close up of Waterfall.

View of the ceiling

Country House

Water spigot in the backyard.

View from the front porch.

Funky light in the dinning room.

So we bought the car this afternoon and took a drive.  We managed to buy gas and drive to the house we saw yesterday without a GPS.  (we have to get one, they give coordinates for every address)  We drove to the house and the landlord and his son were there.  The house is the son's house but he will not live there until he is married.  So they rent it out in the mean time.  Thye let us come and take pictures while they were working.  They were painting the shutters, putting rock facing on the garage and they started to build and outdoor bar-b-q.  They were happy to see us because the son asked us where we wanted the grill.  I told him it was his house, he should decide.  But he took Howard over to the spot and showed him what they were planning.  They wanted to make sure we were happy.  Their hospitality is like non other.  The father then asked us to come back to his house.  We went back to his house, met his wife and we had drinks on his patio.  He wanted us to know where he lived so that if we needed anything we could ask him.  He even told us we could use the pool in his yard.  We sat outside chatting for a while.  They spoke in broken English and we tried to throw out Italian.  It was really so much fun.  To think we have been in this country two weeks and we have already met a family showering us with kindness.  The father showed us his fruit trees.  He has cherry trees and grapefruit.  We had trouble understanding the word for grapefruit so they cut it open so we could eat it.  It was delicious, certainly not as sour as a Florida one.  Howard even ate a slice and enjoyed it.  We had such a nice time chatting with this family.  So this time we left with a grapefruit for the girls and basil.  He told us he plants it around his pool to help with the mosquitoes.  Who knew!  I was so proud of us that we drove to the house and just dropped in.  It was so much fun. We both feel really comfortable with this house. We can hardly wait to move in!  We are hoping to be able to move in by the beginning of September!

What an experience?!

Okay so this actually happened on Friday and I didn't mention it to anyone.  But since I am now blogging, I think it bears sharing.  Friday Howard and I were heading on a guided tour of downtown Naples.  We took the bus to the train station and the leader was going to show us how to purchase a ticket and how to get around the city.  The girls were in camp so it was going to be a fun day.  The bus took us to the Joint Forces Command base and we walked to the train station.  We bought our tickets, easy enough.  We got on the train, and it had limited seats so we stood.  If you have ever been in Boston, it was like riding the green line.  We started out outside and ended up underground.  We were chatting with an army man on our tour.  I noticed the window was opened and mentioned that seemed strange since we were going underground.  I was thinking fumes would be bad.  But the guys didn't seem phased.  Now I must state, that I get motion sick and I took my sea bands off during our walk and forgot to put them back on for the train.  We were almost at our stop and I started to feel strange.  Howard started talking to me and I told him to stop talking I do not feel well.  I wasn't really sure what was wrong, I just didn't feel normal.  The next thing I know I am waking up and Howard is shaking me and I see the train behind him.  At that point, I realized I must have passed out!  I have no idea why but I went down and Howard and another gentleman had to carry me to a seat outside the train.  Everyone was nervous and when I came around, I walked to the outside.  I felt like I needed air.  Although walking made me feel dizzy and nauseous, I made it outside to a little piazza.  The train workers were frantic to get me to sit.  They wanted to take me to the hospital.  I just wanted to sit and try to calm down, I was sweating like a pig and felt tingly inside.  It truly was a strange experience.  The workers called an ambulance to come and check on me.  They were concerned about my pulse.  Two or three different people kept trying to take my pulse.  The ambulance came and a little old lady doctor came to check on me.  She just kept touching me.  I know Italians are a touchy culture, but it was really odd.  She kept telling me I was going to be okay.  I guess I kept closing me eyes, I really just wanted to sleep and she wanted me to stay awake so she kept rubbing my face.  And for some reason, I just kept noticing all the chin hairs on this poor woman.  I mean here I am passing out and Howard is freaking out and I am laughing on the inside about this woman's chin hair.  It really was such a strange experience.  They made me get up and walk to the ambulance.  I got sick along the way.  When all my vitals came out okay, the doctor told me I needed a shot.  We have no idea what she gave me but I got closed up in an Italian ambulance and the man nurse gave me a shot in the bottom.  It was nuts.  And again I am noticing the not so important things,  the gurney had a big black spot on the sheet!  The doctor told me I would be fine, that I should go home and go to sleep.  So they called us a cab and we took it back to the JFC base.  From there our sponsor,Keith, picked us up and took us back to the hotel.  I went right to bed and slept for the better part of the day.  I woke up to eat dinner and that was it.  I have no idea if it was motion sickness, allergies (the girls are really bad), fumes from being underground or what.  All I know is that it is an experience Howard and I will not soon forget.

It is settled!

Howard and Blythe made fresh lemomade from the lemons.  These are the biggest lemons you have ever seens.  They did not have any seeds in them.  It was delicious.  Now the girls want to set up a stand.  Then for dinner we made bruschette with the tomatoes, onions and oil.  We also sauted the eggplant with onions and put that over past witht he cut up tomatoes.  It was all so fresh and yummy!  We were all in heaven.  This dinner sealed the deal, we want to live in the country house!  Keep your fingers crossed that we can talking to the housing office tomorrow and get this house!

Which house is for us?

This is the big question of the day.  I am itching to get off the base.  It is nice and all but it is not Italy.  I want to be out and about trying to use my Italian.  We went out house hunting again today.  We figured one last look before we took the pink house.  We had been out for two hours and saw two houses.  I was not happy and wanting to get back.  But Francesca had one last house for us to see.  It was a country house close to shops.  It was in a parco, which means it was in a gated community.  We walked through the gate past two houses and saw this house in the middle of the orchard.  It was oragane with blue shutters.  We walked through the gate that surrounds the house into a quaint yard.  There were lemon trees lining the driveway.  We followed the trees to the back to find a beautiful garden in the back of the house full of vegetables.  There was a tiled roof porch on the back with a build in bench.  It was so charming.  We entered the house through the back door into the kitchen.  It was a typical country kitchen with pretty blue cabinets.  It even had a cute wood paneled door into a pantry.  We walked to the front of the house and found a big dinning room/ living room combination.  The room had huge floor to ceiling windows that opened to a lovely front tiled porch.  There was a nice fireplace in the room as well.  The full bath on the floor was big and had room for a washer and dryer.  The upstairs was just as nice.  The bathrooms were huge and the bedroom were large.  There was even a walk in master closet, which is unheard of in Italy.  They do not have closets in bedrooms.  There is no ocean view but the house over looks orchards all around.  It was hot and the landlord brought us water as we walked around.  He even gave us a huge bag of vegetables to take home.  We were hooked!  The bus stop is just up the street and we can walk to restaurants.  But who needs restaurants when we have such lovely vegetables!  We are going to go to housing to put a hold on this one!