"Hey Steve, did you see any dogs while you were traveling?"
YOU BETTER BELIEVE I DID
Dog Update: Winter Edition
Christmas Travels, Part 4: Naples and Rome
Naples is not generally thought of as a prime destination in Europe (or even Italy for that matter), and I can see why. It's a little rough around the edges, part of it smell like sulfur, and it's heavily controlled by the mafia (not a joke). However, Naples did manage to leave a good (maybe even great?) impression on me. A lot of that had to do with the amazing food. I ate pizza six days in a row (my only regret is that I had but one stomach to give), but we had many non-pizza foodstuffs that were also quite excellent. The city became more and more interesting the further we explored, the rough edges revealing themselves to simply be the mark of a well-worn, well-loved, and long-lived (but yes, still very dirty) city.
Of course, we wouldn't have had nearly the same experience without our wonderful host and tour-guide, Derek. He has totally drank the cool-aide in terms of falling in love with Naples and its' people, and this curious obsession rubbed off on Jessica and I.
We made a trip to Herculaneum, the lesser known, but by all accounts, better preserved, companion site to Pompeii. I love a good museum as much as the next person, but nothing beats standing in an ancient bath house to really bring history's great moments in hygiene to life.
An unexpected highlight of the trip was our New Year's celebration. Naples apparently has a reputation for loving fireworks and it turns out that it is a reputation that is well earned. At midnight on New Years, the entire surrounding area turned into a miles-long firework show. Derek's balcony gave us an incredible view, and for what couldn't have been less than an hour, we were engulfed in explosives. Across the city (or at least, the side we were facing) and out to the nearby island of Capri, was a sight like nothing I could have imagined.
Ok, enough of me blabbing, here's some pictures:
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| Nice looking place, right? |
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| Pizza! Pizza! PIZZA! |
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| Aren't we just the biggest idiots you've ever seen? |
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| Fried seafood delights |
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| The line for pizza (also, not a joke) |
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| Ancient city selfie |
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| Ancient streets |
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| Ancient bench-sitting |
FIREWORKS!
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| They were quite close to our heads |
We also spent half a day in Rome, at gelato and saw the pope.
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| [I spend 20 minutes starring at the screen trying to think of a joke] This neighborhood has really been...ruined? Oh geez, that was horrible. |
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| BENNY!! BENNNNNY! (That white spot in the window is his arm) |
Christmas Travels, Part 3: Prague
Prague was probably my favorite city that we visited during our trip. Although maybe it's not fair to pick a favorite, because they were all awesome, but considering the excessive amount of meat and beer I consumed on this leg of the trip, I do feel comfortable giving Prague the top spot. I suppose it perhaps doesn't reflect well on me to rank cities solely based on meat and beer, but listen: this is my vacation, I do what I want.
At this point in our trip, we were starting to get really tired, so we started planning naps into our day. Kind of like how they used to do in daycare for children, but for adults. Don't judge. Anyway, during one of these nap times in Prague, I couldn't sleep, so I made some more music. It's a bit sparse, but I think it turned out pretty good, especially for something that I pumped out in about 2 hours. So, while you're scrolling through these images, please enjoy some more of my awful music.
Ok, here are the pictures:
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| View out our apartment window |
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| What's going on here now? |
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| !!COOL CHURCH ALERT!! |
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| Extreeeeme close-up |
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| A statue of two men peeing on the Czech Republic. SYMBOLISM! |
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| You can climb up inside this thing to experience what it's like to be born. Sadly, I did not fit |
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| Magical snow portrait |
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| Not-so-magical snow portrait |
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| Cool city |
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| Some of that famous Czech beer. If you think there is a lot of foam, just keep in mind that this is the least foamy option. There is another option with over half the glass filled with foam and another option that is only foam. The waitress even had a chart to show me all the options. I am a visual learner, so I definitely appreciated the graphic, but come on now, I just want some dang beer! Get out of here with that foam! |
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| Gluttony overload: there are street wagons in the center of town selling all manner of sausages (the "Old Prague Sausage" was great, even if the name was a little off-putting) and a heavenly cheese sandwich. We went twice in two days |
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| This restaurant, U Fleku, was gigantic, with something like 7 different rooms each with their own theme and room for about 100 people each. They only have one beer on the menu, which they brew themselves (apparently they have been brewing it since 1499). You don't order beer, there is simply a man perpetually walking around with a tray of beer and you just wave him down and he puts a tick mark on your tab. |
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| Also at U Fleku, we ordered waaaaay to much food. Stinky beer cheese, potato patties of some sort, and the wonderfully named pig knuckle. |
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| Blacksmith! |
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| The Czechs have their own Budweiser, I guess it's older than ours? Probably older than the US, too... |
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| Jessica making new friends |
