4am, crack of dawn. No. Wait. There was no crack. or dawn for that matter. It was the middle of the friggin' night and Scott and I couldn't sleep beyond 1am due to the Saturday night hoo-ha and ruckus and whatnot in our seemingly quaint, little neighborhood. I think I heard screaming or gunfire at one point. They sound the same. Suffice it to say, we got maybe 2 or 3 hours of shut eye before we were up and getting ready for the cab that would take us to the airport to catch a flight to Milan and then Naples, Italy (where we then rent a car, drive like really slow maniacs to the Amalfi Coast, near Sorrento). Not complaining. Just a lot of verbs.
We get to the Brussels airport. Kids are really excited to see an entirely different country and we drop 29euros on just 2 croissants, 2 cups of coffee and a water and a juice. That's nearly $35. Shiite.
But we board the 7am flight, we leave orderly, mannerly, well-behaved Brussels and arrive into Milan in good order. Malpensa airport.
Malpensa. Built to serve 10,000 when actually 100,000 fly through. Hordes of people. And I could not stop staring. All sorts of very physical, loud people. You would think we'd feel like we could fit right in but it was such a dramatic change from our little Northern European corner. Kids were oblivious although at one point Maia said with sort of a snittish tone, "how come that lady keeps speaking Italian, it's not like everyone's Italian here?!" Ah. but they very nearly are.
And we get on our flight to Naples. And we arrive. And Naples is hot. And the airport is small. And I swear to god I saw maybe 10 Carmella and Tony Sopranos and then this whole collection of "Growing Up Gotti" characters. Again - I could not stop staring. There were a couple of Uncle June's in the wheelchairs. Pushed by some 'goomah' (I don't even know if I spelled that right). At one point I caught Scott laughing at me and he said, "they are going to eat you alive". So many crazy Southern Italian stereotypes. All for me to see.
We get to the Brussels airport. Kids are really excited to see an entirely different country and we drop 29euros on just 2 croissants, 2 cups of coffee and a water and a juice. That's nearly $35. Shiite.
But we board the 7am flight, we leave orderly, mannerly, well-behaved Brussels and arrive into Milan in good order. Malpensa airport.
Malpensa. Built to serve 10,000 when actually 100,000 fly through. Hordes of people. And I could not stop staring. All sorts of very physical, loud people. You would think we'd feel like we could fit right in but it was such a dramatic change from our little Northern European corner. Kids were oblivious although at one point Maia said with sort of a snittish tone, "how come that lady keeps speaking Italian, it's not like everyone's Italian here?!" Ah. but they very nearly are.
And we get on our flight to Naples. And we arrive. And Naples is hot. And the airport is small. And I swear to god I saw maybe 10 Carmella and Tony Sopranos and then this whole collection of "Growing Up Gotti" characters. Again - I could not stop staring. There were a couple of Uncle June's in the wheelchairs. Pushed by some 'goomah' (I don't even know if I spelled that right). At one point I caught Scott laughing at me and he said, "they are going to eat you alive". So many crazy Southern Italian stereotypes. All for me to see.And we wait in line to wait in line to get our rental car. We get the car. We get on the road and we head to Massa Lubresense - just spitting distance from Sorrento. 37 miles but a good hour's drive. And quite an adventure it was but I'm saving that for tomorrow's post. I will say that our hotel is awesome, sort of South Beach meets LA meets some 3rd world thrown in for good measure. Right on the coast. We had an incredible spin at the pool and a nice dinner out. Not sure if I can download any photos as the internet connection is through the hotel and I don't have my software....but I'll try.
la notte buona a lei-
(good night to you all)
(and for the free translation website that I go to, check out: http://www.freetranslation.com/)
1 comment:
I'm living vicariously. Keep it coming!
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