Ever since we boarded the plane back in Nuremberg I started singing “In Napoli,…when the moon hits your eyes like a big pizza pie that’s amore!” It has always been a dream to go to Italy, but before moving to Europe I never thought I would actually get there so I have been so excited about this trip. We started our trip by flying from Nuremberg to Rome leaving at 8:30 in the morning the day after Christmas. We are so blessed to have some amazing friends here that work up bright and early and drove us to the airport. We had originally planned to take the train from Vilseck but apparently in Germany the 26th is also a holiday so the trains were operating on a later schedule. So we woke up nice an early and hit the road! Our flight was quick and easy and we made it to Rome by 10:00. After getting off the plane we went to get our luggage, which took about 45 minutes but then we were on our way. I was looking forward to getting my 2nd stamp on my passport but traveling within the EU they didn’t even look at it! So then we got our a train from the airport to the main train station and then from there headed to Naples. We ended up taking a train that only took an hour (instead of 2 which most of the other ones take) and before we knew it we were there. My husband is a lot luckier than I am and was able to sleep on both the plane and the train. I was not so lucky so after playing lots of games on the cell phones during all of our transportation adventures, I was pretty tired. But I was not about to let that stop us from seeing as much of Naples as possible in our few days there. Our first driving experience was taking a cab from the train station to our hotel. We had originally thought about driving to Italy from Germany and I am so happy that we decided to fly instead. Italians are CRAZY drivers! Now I thought Boston was bad, but Italians make Boston look like the world’s best drivers! With all of the vespas flying by and people in the street I honestly thought that we were either going to be in an accident or he was going to hit someone. It became very obvious early on that our taxi driver had no idea where our hotel was, even though I had told him the street address, because he kept calling people and saying the name of our hotel and the street I had told him. We made it there fairly quickly though and finally got there. We stayed at Hotel Neapolis. It was pretty neat because one part of the building was the hotel and the rest of it was all people’s apartments. The hotel was very nice. We had seen that it had “wired internet” which to us meant that we needed to hook our laptop up to the cord. In actuality it turned out that there was a desktop computer in the room for us to use, which was something I had never seen before. The main part of the room had a nice sized (hard as a rock) bed, a desk with the computer on it, and a couch. Then there were a few stairs up to the huge bathroom. The bathroom from the looks of it looked incredible, until you take a closer look at the bathtub, which had no shower, except for the little nozzle that you can pull out to use. The first time I used it I ended up completely soaking the floor.
After checking into the hotel we decided to go to the National Archeological Museum, which had a lot of artifacts from Pompeii, where we were not going to be able to go due to the time we had there so if was neat to see things there. We spent almost 2 hours there walking around and looking at all of the different artwork. The mosaics were the most incredible to see because the detail that was put into them was just incredible.
The largest one depicted a battle of Alexander the Great. 
That one had been a floor in a home in Pompeii. I couldn’t believe that something so incredible would have been used as a floor! We also were able to see a lot of statues of different gods and goddesses as well as different historical figures.
That one had been a floor in a home in Pompeii. I couldn’t believe that something so incredible would have been used as a floor! We also were able to see a lot of statues of different gods and goddesses as well as different historical figures. 
After we left there we headed to San Gregorio Armeno which was like a Christmas market in Germany, except it was all different nativity scenes that could be bought. I wanted to buy one very badly but unfortunately transporting it back was impossible. The streets were packed with wall to wall people (much like a Christmas market). We kept walking down the main street in search of some food because it was nearing 6pm and I was starving! Everything seemed to be closed. I knew prior to the trip that Italians tend to eat much later than Americans do so I was unsure if that was the reason nothing was open or because it was the day after Christmas. We ended up find a beautiful church that we were able to walk around in and even hear part of a mass in Italian. It was absolutely gorgeous, but it seemed like no one was taking pictures in there so I refrained as well. After we left there we headed back to the hotel and asked the front desk what time the restaurants opened and found out it wasn’t until 7-7:30! So we headed back up to our room for a little bit. We found a recommended restaurant that was right next door to our hotel and headed there around 7:30. We got a bottle of wine for 8 euro (about 10 dollars) that was wonderful, an appetizer sampler platter that was INCREDIBLE, and 2 pizzas which were also wonderful! The sampler platter had prosciutto, buffalo mozzarella, grilled eggplant, eggplant parm, salami, some hard cheese, and different fried things. They had also brought us a basket of bread so after finishing the appetizer and only sharing one piece of bread we were already full! I should have listened to my husband when he suggested we share one pizza but when they were only 6 euro each I thought we should each get our own. I had one with mozzarella cheese, ricotta cheese, and zucchinis, and Shayne had prosciutto and mozzarella cheese. They were both very good and we enjoyed the left overs the next morning!
Our only full day in Naples we spent visiting some of the ruins. We got a bit of a late start due to some trouble with the train, but ended up getting to Ercolano around 12:30. Now everyone has heard of Pompeii, but during my research before we left for Italy I found out about Herculaneum, which is located in a small town called Ercolano. Herculaneum was also destroyed by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, but since it was much closer to the volcano and the lava (magma?) was so hot and there were so many layers of it, the area was much better preserved than Pompeii. We started by going to Mt. Vesuvius.
We found a little trip company right outside of the train station that had been recommended on tripadvisor.com (my favorite site for planning our trips!) so we went there to get a shuttle up to Mt. Vesuvius. It took about 30 minutes to get up there through winding streets with barely enough room for 2 cars. We had to stop a bit further down than they usually go because the hill was very icy so we began our walk up the icy hill! Having not really packed the right shoes for this adventure it was quite interesting getting up it (and not looking forward to having to go back down it!). We made it up the hill and realized that we had to buy tickets to go up to the top. After scraping together enough change to buy the tickets (because atms were nearly impossible to find in Naples) we were able to begin our trip up. We only had about an hour and 10 minutes before we needed to be back at the shuttle and we were told that it took an hour to hike up and down the mountain. Now, for anyone who has hiked with my husband, they know that he likes to pretty much run up the mountain. We ended up making it up there in about 20 minutes so we had time to take lots of pictures and enjoy the beautiful view.
For me, I practically run down the mountain because I have a difficult time controlling myself when it’s so steep! After we made it back to the road we had to go back down the icy part, but luckily neither of us fell!
And we made it back with 15 minutes to spare! After we made it back down from Mt. Vesuvius we went to Herculaneum. Unfortunately they stop allowing people in at 3:30 and we got there at 3:45, but we were able to look at it from above and see how incredible it looked. The town of Ercolano is built on part of the ruins so they are only able to uncover so much.
We then returned to Naples and went to dinner at Sorbillo, which is known for having some of the best pizza in the world. They opened at 7 and we got there around 7:15 and got the 2nd to last open table. The only thing on the menu was pizza. Shayne had a white pizza with mozzarella cheese, ham, and mushrooms and I had a pizza with red sauce, mozzarella, ham and mushrooms.
The dough was so thin so you really had to eat it with a fork and a knife (like the Italians do). It was pretty good! The reviews online said that people felt they had to return to Naples again to have this pizza. I wouldn’t go that far (especially since I can have a great Bertucci’s pizza back in the states!), but it was definitely worth it (and they were only 6 euro each!). For 2 pizzas, a beer, a glass of wine, and a bottle of water we only paid 19 euro! When we left there had to be at least 50-75 people waiting outside to get in! We then tried to go get some gelato but unfortunately it was already closed so we went to a bakery and got 2 cannolis. They also had struffole which made me really miss home since my aunt always made it every Christmas.
After that we went towards the Piazza del Plebiscito which was a large open area with some beautiful architecture.
It was right across from the Royal Palace and the Teatro di San Carlo. All of the buildings were so beautiful.
I had really hoped to go into the Teatro since it’s a world renowned opera house, but it was closed. We walked around and then headed back towards our hotel. We stopped in a small used book store and found a great map of Naples that we bought. After we headed back to a store where I had seen a beautiful oil painting and bought that as well. We walked by Sorbillo and at around 12:30 there were over a hundred people waiting outside to get in for lunch! Our cab ride back to the train station was quite difficult since the streets were so packed with people (especially ouside Sorbillo) that it took us a while to get there but luckily we made it! Now we are on a 2 hour train ride to Rome! Naples had some incredible sites but I am very excited to get to Rome. We have some great things planned and I cannot wait to finally have some pasta! I never thought I wouldn’t want pizza, but when that’s pretty much all you can get you get over it real fast!
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