Those Trevi Fountain coins turned out to be a terrific investment – I’m on my way back to Italy!

A few things have changed.  I’m married to Mike from Toledo –  hitchhiking companion for much of the summer following my year at the consulate-naples-italy-smlUniversity of Grenoble.  He’s a newly sworn-in Foreign Service Officer assigned to the U.S. Consulate General in Naples.  I can hardly believe I have another shot at Italy.

 

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The U.S. still has regular trans-Atlantic crossings and we can choose between airplanes and ocean liners.  Not a hard decision.  We travel on the U.S. Export Lines    SS Independence.  Food service is non-stop and dinners are many courses.  Our table mates are intent on getting their money’s worth and order all of them.  Normally this would not be a problem, but I’m a bit queasy.  Hmm.  Could pregnancy be the cause?

We climb the rock of Gibralter among the monkeys that call it home.  We stop in Majorca and I endure my first and only bullfight.  We have a day  in Tangier.   Very exotic.  But I can hardly wait to dock in Naples.

It’s hard to imagine a more beautiful setting.  The multi-hued city rises, layer upon layer, up its hills from the blue of the Bay of Naples, naples panoramic viewwith the 12th century Castel d’Ovo to welcome arriving boats.  The mirage-like cone of Vesuvius hovers in the near distance.

 

Naples, ItalyOnce off the boat, reality sets in.  The city engulfs us with noise, smells and a chaos that tests all the senses, more of a shock after  serene days on the ocean liner.

 

Naples is  home for the next two years.  And  I have a lot to learn.