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| The Captain saying hello with his staff (he's the one holding the mic) |
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| My adorable solo cabin with elephant towel |
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| Solo cabin sink |
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| Spa heated tile lounge chairs with view to the ocean |
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| Spa water world in the back of the heated chairs |
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| Towel frog left for me on the last night |
Well as you can see we don't always get wifi connection so I'm going to keep these blog entries short. We are now sitting in a lovely pizza cafe in Civitavecchia, Rome at the moment waiting to board the Costa Classica cruise ship that will take us the rest of the way on the trip. The seaside town is lovely and the weather is glorious. Also, do check out the last entry I did for Barcelona, I just added 24 new pictures to the end. Some are really nice near the marina.
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| View from the huge window at the new pier where we docked |
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| Fabulous bushes with unique flowers |
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| Our cruise ship reflected in the windows of the new pier building |
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We loved the tile work and this old building near the old piers is under construction but hopefully
they'll find a way to save this tower. I love the weeds growing out of it. Naples is known
for these roof tiles. |
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| Maschio Angioino |
We had a very nice and relaxing day at sea on day number 6 and then an amazing day in Naples, Italy yesterday. It's only about 45 minutes south of where our families home town of Mirabella is and also the place where my grandfather close to a hundred years ago first crossed to the states by boat from. We saw the port building that is no longer in use but still standing with the sculpture of Mary who protects the seas on top. It was incredible to walk the streets with mom and go places my grandparents, my uncles and aunts (their brothers and sisters) as well as my uncle Pat who came over with his mother, my grandmother from this very port when he was just a little boy.
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| View of Mount Vesuvius in the distance across the water |
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| Militant Hop-on-hop-off worker telling us to sit down until the bus was fully stopped |
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Galleria Umberto (a gorgeous shopping center) mom and my uncle, my grandfathers brother
Alberto came here. He apparently loved this place |
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| Mom in front of a tour bus from the tour company "Sorrentino" - Such a great name!!! |
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Crazy traffic jam at intersection with horns honking and a car just pushing it's way in at an angle.
Yes, driving is as crazy as you would imagine in this city |
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Beautiful old palace which are now apartments despite
that it looks run down. |
Naples is kind of what you'd expect, loud, crazy with lots of traffic and car horns blaring but it's also filled with a passion for food, music and fun as well as a genuine devotion to family and their Italian culture.
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I loved the massive doors (this picture is deceiving it was so tall) and then the little
doors at the bottom that you actually use to enter. I think they were so high to let in horse and
buggies because I saw parking garages in some of the open ones. |
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I got a new hat with a string to hold it on. It's cute
but more importantly useful with the wind |
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| More examples of that amazing Naples tile work |
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Beautiful hill top cathedral with the catacombs
of San Gennaro next door |
I watched from the back deck where the spa was as we pulled away and tried to imagine what it must have been like for my grandparents to leave on a ship to go to a place they knew very little of and to a life that could have held more hardship than joy but they found the courage and because of that my cousins, my sister and I are here and very blessed to have been born in America with all it's opportunities.
So as you can imagine the cruise has been wonderful so far and mom is truly enjoying herself and loving every moment. We said goodbye to the Norwegian Epic but I know mom hopes to return to their decks in the fall if possible when they return to do the North American routes for the winter as she adores these solo cabins and is so happy to even travel alone although going with family and friends would be great too.
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Old Naples with it's crazy street layout and overlapping homes. A bit of a mess but still beautiful and although
mom wasn't too impressed since it was so dirty and confusing. I kid of loved that about it but admit
I probably wouldn't want to live there. |
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Another pretty class enclosed shopping center
near the museum of anthropology |
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Mom in front of the
old port where Nonnie, Grandpa and Uncle Pat, as well
as Uncle Joe, Zizi, etc. all left for America from |
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| The old port |
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| Me and mom in front of the old port |
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| From the ship spa to the old port |
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The excavations being done of the most ancient port they've found
Most likely over a thousand years old |
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| Old port |
