Through the eyes of a Neapolitan

 Naples, yes this is where I live! I know ridiculously fortunate and blessed! May I never take it for granted! This trip to down town naples was a little different than the ones I have taken recently. This one was guided by Anna, My professoressa. She is a native Neapolitan so it was great to hear what she had to say and see what she wanted to share with our classe. (excuse the intermittent added Italian words, its how my brain works since I have been taking these lezioni)

MT Vesuvius was on one side of our boat

 We took a boat ride on a small boat with a driver (Sailor?) who's name translates to "Chunky little Man" It was his nick name of course, but that is what he gave us for a name.

The Bay of Naples was on the other side of our boat

 We specifically took the metro in order to be able to see this stazione . It is the Metro stop "Taledo" When you get off the metro you are in dark blue tile and as you ascend the tile gets light in color and if you look up on the escalator it appears as tough you are swimming towards the surface. It was pretty dang cool!

A Gentle man stopped us while we were out and wanted to be sure that we were learning how to feel Naples and not just see it. These old castles who are still visited by the spirits who died there, and the richness of the air because it is so old. Older than Rome even. He was a very nice man and it helped us to realize how much these people love their home country!

Mia Classe (except the dude at the top of the escalator.

This is the plaza of the queen Margherita (yes like the pizza- it was named after her)

She was not nice, she had many slaves and did not treat them well. If they made her mad and she was going to cut off their head she gave them one opportunity to save them selves. They could walk across this plaza in a straight line with their eyes closed. If they made it directly across in a straight line, they could live to be her slave longer. According to my Professoressa it can not be done. So I of course volunteered to try. She was right, I couldn't do it. 

 This is from her favorite pastry shop in Naples. I honestly didn't expect it to me a ton different than other pastry shops, but OH YES! It was amazing!

sfogliatelle 

I have eaten this pastry before, in NY italian deli's and even here and in Sicily, but I have never eaten anything like this before. It was SO FLAKEY it fell to pieces in my mouth. It was still steamy hot and the ricotta was so rich and sweet. It was like something out of a dream.

This is the shop we got them from- Heaven help me find it again!

 The shop is very small, what you see right here is what it tis. They have such small ovens that they bake in small batches and so EVERYTHING IS ALWAYS FRESH - right out of the oven fresh!
I am drooling just reliving it right now!

This mural spans the entire with of the Metro station and is made of 1/2 inch tiles. It tells the story and customs of Naples. From the famoso San Genario who's blood (they still have in a vile in the cathedral of San Genario) is supposed to liquify every September or it will be a bad year in Naples, to the two gangsters carrying pizza. In the middle a city map. It is a pretty incredible mural on the wall in a metro stop.

While we were walking we saw some construction (I didn't take a picture) Our Profesoressa told us that they are building a nuovo stazione , but it is taking 3 years longer than they expected because they keep un burying ancient Roman ruins. Each time they come across this, they stop and call in experts and re- draw plans to be able to incorporate the ruins into the plans of the Metro stop. Some day you will be able to take the Metro and see Roman ruins on your right side and a brand new wall on your left.

Naples is pretty amazing!