This weekend was sunny and mild, and we had a fun time just strolling the city, making our typical Saturday shopping trip, and relaxing together.
On Saturday, we decided to venture to a new mall, called Campania, that we had heard was nicer than the other one we had been driving to when we needed to shop for diapers, groceries etc. Only about 25 minutes away, we found the mall no problem. The first thing you do at the mall, is get your sideways driving shopping cart from the parking lot. It costs one euro, which you slide in a slot attached to the 'handle bar', and that will release it from the other carts it is chained to. My friend Janine told me a trick though. Instead of a Euro, insert a quarter, and that will also cause it to release, and when you return your cart, the quarter gets pushed back out of the slot. Since we will never spend the quarter in Italy, it's convenient to just keep it in my wallet, so i'll never be without the proper fitting coin whenever I go to the mall. Yeah..that was a good time Janine!
At the mall, we found most of the things we needed (except index cards for me to use for flash cards to study--according to my friend Rosa, they don't sell those here), including a gelato cone w/ whipped cream on top:) Can't go without the whipped cream on top of an icecream cone..love it! After the mall, we had planned to check out some Roman ruins that are in our tour book, but since they were an hour away, we decided to save that excursion for another day.
On Sunday, the sun was shining and everyone was out and about enjoying the great weather. Josh had to do some work from the hotel room, so I decided to finally check out Castel dell'Ovo which is across from the hotel. The site of the Castel has quite a history, initially existing as part of a 5th century estate of a General, then an order of monks founded a monestary there, and then the Normans built the first Castel at the site. Succeeding dynasties modified it after that, and it acheived its present form in the 16th century. Legend has it that its name derives from a magic egg (uovo)hidden inside and placed there by a Roman poet named Virgil. The Castel is now open for free to the public to stroll through and is also used for cultural events. While I walked through it, with Evan in the Baby Bjorn, (or mucipial as Neopolitans call it) there were a bunch of temporary art galleries set up in several of the rooms of the Castel, so it was fun to not only take in the amazing views from various windows throughout the Castel, but also wander amongst some original art--from classic to very modern (and strange) pieces. You definitely get a sense of old history as you pass through the walkways of the castle, and I was so glad to finally explore it.
Later on Sunday we walked to a late lunch to check out Donna Marguerita, a restaurant that had been recommended to me. It was about a mile walk, and it was so peaceful. Sundays are the quietest day on the streets, with stores all closed, the locals usually stay at home and prepare and indulge in huge Sunday dinners. If only every day was quiet like that!
Pictures (bottom to top): Evan and I enjoying the sunny day on our hotel roof terrace; Walking up into the Castel dell'Ovo, Inside the Castel--huge archways; Vesuvius from castel window, our hotel (farthest on the right) from the barred window of the Castel.
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