Big fatty fatty boombahs

Thursday December 3
From the desk of Rusilio

Spent a few hours traveling to Naples today, most of the trip by bus was up and over the mountains then down to the sea, snow capped peaks on either side, and lots of little old villages perched atop various peaks, 6C up in the ranges and less overnight at Introdacqua, get into Naples and it’s a warm 16C.
Found a nice place to stay and worked out how to get to Pompeii in the morning and went for a walk around the old centre of Naples. Very old city with traffic that has to be seen to be believed, and dirty!!! We thought there must have been a market that they hadn’t cleaned up after, but no its just full of rubbish and people trying to sell you stuff, an I phone for 10 dollars, and yes it works just fine…… yeh right.

Will spend the next few days around this area as apart from the noise and rubbish we have good feelings about this area and its people. I found out that Naples is the home of pizza and intend to check it out.
Rusilio

From Linda Boombah
Here I am again…
Nicely tucked up in our little motel room, very cosy and the noise of the traffic slightly reduced. Hard to understand the need for so much car horn tooting. Can’t get the TV to work (bliss)
A very pleasant journey as Russell explained.
We arrived at the Piazza Garibaldi, right near the train station and to get our bearings followed the signs to the nearest McDonalds. You have to admit they are good value when traveling. Good toilets; can get coffee and food and take those few moments to work out the next plan of attack.
I was sitting waiting for Russ to come back to our table with our first slice of Napoli pizza when a nice young lady asked to share our table. She was from Salerna and on her way home and was more than happy to answer all our questions about Naples, Pompeii and then told us about a big Christmas light festival they are having in Salerna for the first time this year. Sounds so good we’ll probably go for a look. There is also a nativity competition on here in Naples at the moment we need to look for as well. She was so lovely, told us about the pizza and also a pastry dessert that is lovely. She took me over to show me what they looked like and then bought us one to share, most insistently. I thanked her and asked “are you always so kind to strangers?” and she thought for a moment and said no, but she thought there was a something special about me sitting there she just knew I was a good person (?)…looks like I had that heart light glowing again! Her name was Allyssa, she found out our names and when she left called out bye bye Linda and Russell from the door of one of the busiest cafes; in the busiest railways stations in the world. Ahhh the simple kindness of a stranger.
PS A couple of things I haven’t mentioned.
Yesterday while we were touring Sulmona Brad & Trish were getting to know some of the neighbours who are concerned we are not ready for the cold yet. It’s so pleasant here it’s hard to imagine how cold it will get. We have plenty of clothes, a huge load of wood and a house that is toasty warm as the heat penetrates the bricks which are 3 foot thick in places. We’ve shaken our colds, tackled the Pharmacia for cold meds and are much better. Thanks for the get well wishes!
On the bus to Sulmona to catch the Naples bus we got to know Italio who travels to Sulmona everyday to see his brother who is 95 years old and in a nursing home. Italio would be close to that age too!!!!. He is the custodian of the villa we are renting and a real sweety. He’s been to Australia before (hence his excellent English) during the war he was captured at Tobruk and taken to Cowra NSW as a prisoner of war. They weren’t sent home straight away when the war ended but had to work to earn their passage home so he was a farm hand near Toowoomba and also a little town with an Italian name near Toowoomba ….“Roma” we suggested…”Si” That was the place. He used to play his trumpet while the farmer’s wife played piano. He returned to Introdacqua; had a family and bought his wife back to Australia in 1997 to visit the places he’d been placed.
As we traveled to town we pointed out the snow capped peaks and he told us that there had been a prisoner of war camp near Sulmona as well and that an English POW had escaped over the snowy peaks mid winter, helped by the young men of Introdacqua. I love how tangled together our histories are. Brilliant.
The other exciting news was that George Clooney had just finished filming in Sulmona and Introdacqua his latest movie “The American” A lot of fabulous provincial locations in our home base.
A busy few days ahead and some new pics as the days unfold. We’re about to rug up and head out for a meal. Just talked to Russ about how scary it is out there. It’s a tough neighborhood, lots of cultures mixed here, gangs of somalians and it’s a wee bit intimidating for this little black duck. I’m reassured by the kindness of our Salerno friend Allyssa …people are mostly good where ever you go. Still I’ll be sticking close to Goochy.
Til tomorrow
Lin X

Ok just a quick add on…
We had our best meal in Italy tonight…
We asked our concierge for his recommendation for a meal and he sent us round a few corners to Franco’s pizza and Ristorante. When we arrived they were expecting us and we were made a bit of a fuss of, as it was still early for the Napolese to be dining. We arrived at about 8pm and with a minimum of fuss we were served the most extraordinarily delicious pizza. Four varieties on a pizza for two followed by Seafood Zuppa (soup) for two. I can’t begin to describe how lovely that food was. The Charcoal tones to the pizza, the base cooked to perfection, the toppings scant by our terms but having enough flavour to carry the dish solo. But the jewel of the evening was the huge platter of seafood soup, in a chowder broth, with warm crusty bread. There was a whole fish, whole lobster, prawns, clams, mussels, pippies, octopus, calamari, plus other shellfish we couldn’t recognize with fried bread tucked all around the outside. And swimming in a seafood brodo (broth) I have to say we lost all dignity…it was indescribable…our praise was enough at the end of the evening for the waiter to send us on our way with a vigorous handshake for Russell and a kiss on the back of the hand for me. Belliissimo!