We've been planning a trip there since March but we've never gotten round to it. After a last minute dinner on Tuesday night, Kristine and I realized we didn't have any plans for the weekend anyway and thought it to be the perfect opportunity to go down to Naples and tick it off the list.
Joining us for the trip was Cristina and her visiting friend, Joana (who reminds me a lot like you, Kari. The way of thinking and speaking is very KARI. I miss you Kari and I can't wait to see you in a MONTH!)
The drive from Rome to Naples is at least 200kms (give or take) which made the drive roughly 3 hours long. We left Rome at 11am briefly stopping by Mcdonalds for a snack! The 3 hours passed quite quickly especially since Cristina regaled us of her adventures (although, I'm sure she wasn't as amused regarding the situation).
Kristine's friend, Angelo had called as we were entering Naples and said he'd join us for lunch. Kristine's navigator kept falling out of the socket as we were going through the coblestones. My first 20 minutes of Naples confirmed that it was just an awful, awful city.
We finally got to Da Michele to find a HUGE crowd of people waiting outside. I dropped Cristina and Joana off to queue up while Kristine and I looked for parking. When we all finally met up, Cristina had showed us that we were holding a green ticket, with the number 38 on it.
Apparently, the restaurant was still going through its YELLOW tickets and was on number 70 or something. We got to the restaurant around 2.15pm and Angelo joined us shortly before 3. He's really, really nice. He was so sweet to wait with us. He spoke english much better than a typical Italian. He was telling us about himself, being a criminal lawyer and professor at University. Cristina even got a free consultation!
We didn't get seated until 4.30pm! The pizza came round at 4.50pm and we devoured it mercilessly. As I was saying earlier, they only had two kinds of pizzas. Margherita and Marinara. Margherita is tomato paste and Mozzarella di Buffala (*yum*). Marinara was tomato paste, oregano and garlic. Both were really, really good. Since we were five, four got Margherita double (twice the normal amount of Mozzarella cheese as toppings) and Kristine being the team-player that she was, got the Marinara, so we could all try a little bit of it. Just the thought now of the pizzas is making me drool *slurp*slurp*.
Angelo earlier on had proposed to go to see the Duomo since it was the feast of San Genaro. Since we got to eat so late and there was a football match at 6pm, he couldn't stay very long. He compromised by offering coffee near the castle. Kristine was with him on the scotter as we followed behind. She had mentioned to him that I've never been on a scotter before and he graciously gave me a quick spin of the city on the back of his bike.
Yes, I was very scared and I wasn't holding on to him. I opted to hold onto the bike. He was laughing because he could tell I was scared. When he took me through the streets of Naples, I saw the most beautiful buildings, momuments and other interesting structures. I take it back. Naples is one of the most charming cities I've ever seen.
The Napolitans boast of having the best coffee in Italy. Mind you, every region in Italy makes this claim. Angelo took us to a nice bar that had coffee with Hazelnut or Coffee brazilian style. I got the brazilian coffee and loved, loved, LOVED it. Kristine and Joana were satisfied with their Hazelnutty coffee choice.
It was past 6pm and Angelo was desperate to go. We said our good bye's and thanked him for being such a great tour guide! The four of us trooped back to Rome. On our way, we saw lightning shows that were slightly alarming. The rain itself didn't fall until we were in Rome. The trip back is always faster than going. So with about 2 hours and a bit, we made it back (we left around 6.10pm and got to Rome around 8.30pm). But since we didn't have any dessert, we headed to Pompii first for some Tiramisu!
The day ended with us fully stuffed and tired. This trip was mostly food trippin' and I loved every minute of it!
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