Napoli: Pizza and Volcanoes

So sorry for the long delay...I have a ton of pictures from our even more recent trips to Paris and Fez, Morocco, but first I'd like to write a little about the trip my roommates Lauren and Katherine and I took to Naples a couple of weekends ago!

We took the regional train from Rome's central train station, Termini, to Naples. It took about two or two and a half hours...which gave us time for a nice nap!  When we got to Naples around 1:30 p.m., we headed out into the city in search of pizza. But not just any pizza- we were headed to a restaurant called Da Michele, a famous Neapolitan pizzeria featured in the recent movie "Eat Pray Love" with Julia Roberts.

Once we found it, we had to figure out how the restaurant worked. Italian restaurants, at least as far as I can tell, have some sort of unwritten code that at least I have yet to figure out. Some places want you to wait, some want you to sit down right away, and some want you to order at the bar- but I have absolutely no idea how to tell what you're supposed to do. So we waited outside (as there was a crowd) and finally figured out that you had to go inside and get a number from the waiter. So we did that. And then we waited. And waited. And finally the man with all the power called our number, and we got to go inside and sit and order the best pizza in Naples. Or so we hear.

The three of us were seated at a table for four with a middle-aged man. Of course I got a creeper pic of him. And Julia Roberts too, of course.

Note the worker putting a pizza into the ovens. (Or perhaps taking it out?) Anyway, yummmm.

The menu at Da Michele is pretty simple: there are two types of pizza, marinara and mozzarella, and you could choose to have double cheese (doppia mozzarella) or extra marinara (maxi). They also serve beer, various types of soda, and water. But that's it. Nothing like simplicity!

We each ordered a doppia mozzarella, and before we knew it, this was in front of us:

Can I just say it again?? Yum.

It was gooey and cheesy and just oh-so-wonderful. You can't go wrong with this!!!  Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately for my waistline...), all good things must come to an end, and we finished the pizzas. In about 5 minutes.

Yep. It was that good.

After we paid, we meandered around in a grease- and cheese-induced stupor until we found the port. And commenced to take pictures of boats. Lots and lots of boats. My grandfather would be proud.

We were headed for some castles further along the coast, so we kept going past all of the boats and walked through a park (with a slightly sketchy carousel) until we reached some really great views of what turned out to be Mount Vesuvius! It was beautiful- especially with the sun setting and the dark sky. We may or may not have spent an extraordinarily long amount of time taking pictures of everything.....

We eventually headed back to the train station (and actually just made it on time...), slept on the train home, and caught the H back to Trastevere. Great day. Pretty sure we were still full from that pizza for several days after! :)

Next up (and this time I really do mean next- I'm going to sit here until it's written!): A grand and glorious post about our weekend trip to Paris, which was quite the grand and glorious adventure.