Tuesday 29 January 2013

The Peeps

This was the first get together of the afore mentioned "peeps" here in Napoli.
Massive shoutout to Alyssa Bracken for chronicling our shenanigans throughout the city.
 Above we have what appears to be Ryan and Austin chillin' on the train ride into Napoli.
 
Shortly after leaving Amadeo Station we
 happened upon some stairs which I later discovered were a much faster way to our appartment. These were the best stairs for sliding on.
 We made short work of the trek back to the appartment and hen proceeded to rock out on the ol' Ovation for a while. I played, Austin played some and so did Alyssa. Here at base camp we figured out what exactly we were going to do with the day and once that had been decided we were off.
First stop, the wall along Via Partenope. We cut through the park across the street to get here at breakneck speed.

A lovely shot of the rocky coastline of Via Partenope.

A ground level shot of a rooftop plaza near Castel Dell'Ovo.

 This was about halfway up the Castel where it was windy in much excess and my hair was being quite unruly.
 Here we have Ryan very near the highest point we could attain by legal measures with the beautiful coast in tow.
The tumult of the sea crashing against the Castel walls far below.

This would be all of us studs atop the Castel.
 Fun fact, we were all, with the exception of Alyssa, discussing in great detail, Mario cart and other such nintendo titles.
Lastly we have a very over used bottle of prosecca a the bar we stopped at on our way back to the appartment.

Tuesday 22 January 2013

Motociclette II

Second installment in the motor-bike series.

Triumph Scrambler, this a fairly common sight in the warmer months, they are very distinguishable, much like  Moto Guzzis, because of how much louder and more thunderous they are than everything else.

Another Triumph that we see on a
 fairly regular basis, the Speed Triple and yes there are a couple green ones similar to this one that we have seen.
Probably one of the coolest adventure style bikes I've ever seen, a Ducati Multistrada. These are slightly more commonly seen than the Hypermotards.

BMW R1200r, one of the sportier  
bikes we see here in Napoli and it's difficult to see here, but they have a shock in the front and the rear.
Lastly there is the TDM. These come in several engine sizes and are spotted about as often as Multistradas. For a short period we considered purchasing a TDM 750 for our time here, but it was going to be too difficult to get it.

Saturday 19 January 2013

Motociclette I

This is a first look at the more common street bikes that we see here in Italia. As you can see, they are  far superior to all the Harleys we get at home.

This, is the Honda TransAlp, a terrific adventure bike that is unfortunately not imported to the US. These are fairly common in the Napoli and surrounding areas.

 Here we have the Vespa PX200, this is the 
 largest cc Vespa that I am aware of. They also come in a 150, 125 and 50. These scooters are everywhere in Napoli and you can always hear them because they idle like a CR500.
Next up is the Kawasaki er6-n. A very good looking street-bike and these are considerably less common than the TransAlp, but they are still more frequently spotted than 1198s.

 Now this bike is probably one of the coolest Beamer adventure I've seen, the F800-GS. These bikes are slightly less rare than the er6-n, but still not as common as a TransAlp or a Vespa.
Lastly on this list we have my personal favorite, the Ducati Hypermotard. Some of the coolest bikes that ride around here even with the fact that they're air cooled. We see these maybe once or twice a week depending on where we go walking.

This is only the first of possibly several more motocicletta blogs to come, let me know if you want me to change anything and I will be sure to not change anything anyways.

Thursday 17 January 2013

Blackeye's Vase

The Story of The Barnacle Pot
There's a story behind how this vase came to be in our living room and I'm going to share it with you.

It all started like any good story does, on a dark, stormy night on the high seas. Captain Blackeye's ship was being tossed about through the tumultuous waters, like a rubber ducky in a jacuzzi. The crew worked tirelessly to keep the ship afloat, lashing and tying things, so as to keep them from toppling into the waters below. Whilst this went on, the captain sank below decks to make certain that their plunder went unharmed, but little did the crew know, Blackeye had a secret compartment hidden behind the bulk of the spoils. Blackeye scrambled his way to the far corner of the treasure room where his secret compartment lay, he rotated the hidden switch and released the trap door to his bounty and therein lay his vases. 

These vases were of unimaginable value to the right people and luckily, Blackeye was one of those few. Shortly after checking that his newfound belongings were safe Blackeye heard one of his crew coming below decks for some unbeknownst purpose. Blackeye quickly secured the vases and locked the trapdoor and the crewman, while wanting to know the reason behind why his captain was below decks in such a storm, knew better than to question his captain and went about his business. Blackeye returned to the upper deck to find the scene to be very much the same as he had left it and without appearing as though he had left at all, he continued to bark out orders to his crew.

Not an hour later, the man in the crows-nest yelled out to his captain that he had spotted another ship not far off. Blackeye ordered his men to prepare for battle. As the other ship neared, Blackeye's crew turned the ship for a better firing position. The other ship still appeared not to have seen Blackeye and his ship, but Blackeye had no qualms in firing upon an unsuspecting enemy. Blackeye opened fire on the opposing ship, ripping the sails and hull to pieces and the battle seemed to already be over even though it had scarcely even begun. Blackeye and his crew cheered through the rain! In the midst of the celebrating Blackeye noticed that the other boat, while greatly wounded, was still coming towards his own ship at a rather alarming pace, he quickly put an end to celebration of victory and commanded his crew to turn the ship away from the tattered galleon barreling towards them. The crew worked furiously, but to no avail, the waters and winds were much too powerful. Blackeye, noticing this, ordered his crew to brace for impact and not long after the final crew member lashed himself to the deck, the impact came. Both ships melded together in a flurry of splinters and pieces of shrapnel. The ships, having no way to stay afloat any longer, began crumbling away into the sea. Plunder from both ships poured into the murky depths, members of each ship scrambled to locate any chunk of wood large enough to support them, some unluckier than others were swallowed up by the gaping maw that is the sea.

A number of the days later, the storm subsided and revealed that the two ships had sank not a mile from shore and one of the first sights that the crew saw was the mighty Vesuvius. Sadly, Blackeye was not amongst the survivors that night, but his tale will live on through the ages by the art of spoken word.

The vases were, many years later, found on one of many diving excursions to locate the treasures lost by both sides of the conflict. One of the lesser vases was sold at auction where one of the previous owners of this apartment purchased it at a steal of of buy for a mere 2.3 million dollars at which point he placed it in his living room for all to loom upon with envy.

That, is the story of how this vase, came to be the centerpiece of our living room.

Monday 14 January 2013

Fresh Move

After almost a full four months of moving from place to place we are finally moved in to the last of our housing facilities in Chiaia.
This is the view out of the westernmost wind- 
ow in the apartment (mine/Dante's). As you can see, it was a scosch rainy today.
Pan 90° left and you come to the TV which I will be using for epic nights of Halo 4.

Another rotation of 90° brings you to the hallway of nations. It goes in forever and has light years of storage in closets lining it.

Directly above the hallway hangs Juliann's loft room. The ceilings are too low for everyone else in the family, but it works for her.
One last quarter turn faces you towards Deetle's
and my beds. They are currently garbed in epilepsy inducing, candy cane bedding. Now that we have moved here all kinds of crazy clubbin' is gonna go down, fo sho.

Wednesday 9 January 2013

Capua Venture II

As I'm sure most of you have figured out, this was our second outing to the colloseum in Capua and contrary to popular belief it is actually the largest colloseum in Italy. Most people would tell you that the Roma colloseum is the largest, but that would be incorrect information. Also the Capua colloseum has a far more complete underground system than its fellow, Roma, does.
^
^
This is one of the two remaining, complete arches in this amphitheatre.
This is part of the outskirts of the colloseum. As you can see it is not exactly in prestine condition, but it was still a spectacle to behold.

In this photograph we see the native LeClair
 enjoying an apple of the green variety.
This picture may or may not have been in what most people would call a 'safe' or 'allowed' location and that is all I will say about it.