Saturday's Adventures

 April 11

Where to begin...There hasn't even been time to write each day so I will try to catch you up.

Friday was a beautiful day in Nice; the kind I'd been waiting for; an outdoor, coffee on the patio kind of day. 

Tuesday walk after I surprised them

Friday in the sun. 

I still feel like I have no control over this format so I'll just keep writing.

Thursday was a quiet recovering day. Friday was errands and packing day. 

Saturday was up at 2:00 day for Karen and Charlie as she had to drive him to a train station inside Italy to take the dog. He went up to Rome, then down to Naples, where he met up with us. We had left, after Karen returned, at 6:30 by bus to tram to airport and flown to Naples(Napoli). Just a 1.5 hour flight for us. We landed and made our way to buy tickets for a shuttle to Napoli center train station. Once there we had over 3 hours to wait for Charlie and depart on our train.

We got our bearings at the station and looked for a locker to stow our bags but all we found was a place to check them for 5€ EACH. We had each a large backpack, 2 other bags which were mine and Karen's "purses" and a shopping bag with snacks and lunch. So, we decided to keep carrying them. On her phone, Karen found what looked like a park so we decided to walk there and have our lunch. It took us almost half an hour, me being the slowest. It was more like a plaza with tile instead of grass, some big sculptures/buildings, but mainly places to sit. No cars and their noise was nice, but there were little electric cars driving within all the time. Security.

 We got out our food and Karen left us there to go searching for water as we had nothing to drink. After a very long( or it seemed so to the kids) she returned with a case of 6 - 2 l.  bottles, much appreciated.  We had finished eating and the kids were playing. She had her lunch, and then we made our way back to the train by a somewhat different route. If you only have 3 hours in Napoli you certainly want to see more than one street. We got back just as Charlie's train was arriving so Tedy and I sat with all the bags, 

while she and Joanna went looking. He was also looking for them and they quickly met. Then, they left the dog and went looking for a bathroom. Joanna came dashing back because they needed money to get in. When all that was taken care of, we kept waiting for our gate to be posted and Karen took the dog out for a little 'walk'. Our time was running out by the time she returned and trains wait for no one. We went the full length of gate looking for somewhere to go in, and finally she said to one 'gatekeeper' , we HAVE to get in; our train is leaving. We found our train and started to run for our car but thankfully decided to hop on and seek our seats. Fortunately we did that as the train closed and pulled out before we were seated. Phew! That's done. Now just one more change. 

Another great story from the park was...Karen had seen a little cafe on her walk and we opted to get a coffee while the kids ran around some more. She got espresso and I got Americano, which seems to be the same thing with a little pitcher of hot water to add. It was so cute, I said I'm going to ask to buy it. When I went in to pay, I asked, "can I buy this?" and there happened to be a man there who knew English and translated to the owner. The owner said (through translation), "It's a gift!" I said, "it's my first day."The English speaker said, "enjoy Napoli."

Saturday 19:13 was our last train. We stood on platform 7, and then Karen spied a car farther up on the same track and went up to inquire. Sure enough it was our train. We got on and found seats and then I got off to take pictures because we were lots early. This one took us the rest of the way to Crotone, with a lot of stops, but it was now too dark to see. 

David came running up to greet us and introduced us to Ciccio, another coach. Because it would take 2 cars to transport us, his wife, Tanya, had come with her car too. We loaded up. I was in Ciccio's car. He tried very hard to make conversation with his limited English, but I got that it was beautiful in the morning with the blue water and David's B&B is on the water. We arrived and unloaded. He left his car parked here as he would return in the morning for a practice with flag team, and then, come and get us with someone else, for 'lunch' at his house.

This is not a B&B  as we know it, but like an apartment with 3 bedrooms(bathrooms included) and a communal kitchen.

It is very nice and because the other room has another coach from Canada, it feels like a home. He is Greek, Dimos, 1st generation Canadian, but after several seasons has a good grasp of Italian.

We stowed ourselves and very shortly Charlie retired to bed. He wasn't even interested in going on a walkabout with us to get pizza.

The rest of us, including Ribsy, got a bit of the tour of the street along the water, which was buzzing with pedestrians enjoying their Saturday evening. 

We stopped and said hi to a former president and player whose restaurant/ bar is Giorgio's. Then we went on another street to find this amazing pizza that we were given samples of while he boxed the 3 different kinds, 6X6 in. that David had selected. Oh, my, delicioso! We stopped for Karen to get a Poki bowl as she's gluten intolerant. It was a long wait, and now getting cold,  because they were very busy. We came home to eat, and then sorted out the beds. I was last in so took the last spot that was left.

Sunday is a story unto itself so I will finish this and begin again at some point. Everyone is up now so my concentration had waned.