Finally saw ITALY

I'll admit that I was just a little frustrated that by Friday afternoon the only part of Italy I could see from the confines of the USN Support Site was the run down apartment buildings that line the fence by the back gate.  The picturesque images in my head had eluded me thus far and I was beginning to wonder if this was just one more horrible joke and I was still trapped in Virginia.  


But no, my friends.


Breathe in, for that is the smell of Italia.


And yes, I realize there is a pungent odor from the eternal hot springs of Sulfatara that smells of rotten eggs early in the morning, and I also realize that the humidity mixed with trash in the streets is a less than appetizing scent, but here I am, in a foreign country.  And I live here.


Friday afternoon, I was sprung from this joint by William's best friend David.  He picked me up, and I immediately bombarded him with questions and much needed answers due to the confusing briefings I had been forced to attend.  After we had been driving for a bit, he stopped me and said Maura, Look!  And I looked out of the window and had to catch my breath.  The brightly painted stucco houses lined the hills of Vesuvius and palm tree lined streets of Naples took my breath away.  David and his wife Courtney live in a little town on the outskirts of the city of Naples proper called Pozzuoli.  As we pulled up to their building I was just amazed that the Sophia Loren movies were true.


The Italians are masters at placing things where ever there happens to be room.  The apartment buildings are built in the shape of the ground below them, hence many buildings with 5 or even 6 sides.  If there is a spot of soil, vines of grapes are growing.  If there is a spot of pavement, 2 cars are parked there.  They don't care if someone else was there first.  As we toured downtown Pozzuoli, and it sunk in that I was walking down the cobblestones that were placed there in before Christ, and the ruins that are everywhere are centuries older than monument in America.


We toured Montecassino on Saturday and I had to pry my eyes away from the views to appreciate the beauty of the hand laid marble and tiles.  The mosaics, the icons, the paintings, all the images in history books and in religious books from my childhood and high school...all of these I got to see in their original form.  


Mass in Italian, thankfully, just like Mass in English.  Without Courtney by my side though, the homily and gospel would have been a bit of a beast.  Thank goodness for non-Catholic friends who love you enough to sit with you at Catholic Mass and explain when the priest is telling you about the pope.  I was looking a little glazed over when Courtney saved me.


I will write about my Sunday in downtown Naples more later, now is time for day two of orientation.  So. freaking. pumped.  


Not.