Italy, Part 1: Naples
Walking in my Grandfather’s Footsteps
I have one thing to say to my grandfather, Domenico Troisi: Thank you so much for leaving Naples!
A few hours spent around Via Cesare Rossaroll in Naples, Italy, where Domenic lived as a child before immigrating to the United States in 1907, has made me eternally grateful that he came to the United States. This impoverished, filthy, decaying pesthole of a neighborhood, teeming with loud people and louder cars, narrow streets and narrower alleys, ancient buildings with paint peeling off, blowing litter and dog shit everywhere, is beyond depressing.
The Memory Book |
Domenic described this neighborhood in his 50th Anniversary Memory Book, published in 1970. But his optimistic style does not capture the over-stimulating, exhausting reality of his Neapolitan living situation. Fortunately, my cousin Janice Carapellucci and sister Julie Holm both spent considerable hours and effort researching and digging to locate the home where he lived and the chapels and other landmarks he referenced in his memoir, so that a small group of Troisi cousins could make a pilgrimage to Italy and back to the place from whence we came.
Naples
Life off Via Cesar Rosaroll
Domenic’s alley |
After his mother died in 1906, this Spartan lifestyle deteriorated, according to Domenic: “My father gave up the apartment and put what furniture he could salvage (in) back of the store, dividing the room with a curtain across the entire width. He felt that by so doing he could take better care of his three boys. Many of the meals consisted of pans of spaghetti, or paste e faggioli, which were supplied by a restaurant in Porta Capuana in exchange for tailoring and clothes my father made for the family of the restaurant owner. I cooked most of the meals on a small kerosene stove in back of the store.”
Transported Back in Time
Domenic’s door |
People still live in the same squalid conditions, with the addition of indoor plumbing. Clotheslines with sheets, socks and pants still flutter in the wind from balconies above the alleyways. Homemade Roman Catholic shrines to the Virgin Mary and assorted saints can be found in every alcove, with some large ones dominating street corners, festooned with plastic flowers and Holy Water, better maintained than any of the nearby homes. People still live their lives in public with their doors wide open. You can look in as you walk by and see an extended family sharing one small, dark living space, a small kitchen behind, people hanging outside the door, smoking.
Where We Came From and What It Means
Domenic, Donato and Dante (L-R) |
No wonder Domenic was so driven to get ahead, to get educated, to learn English, to improve his living situations, to build that glorious house on Vernon Avenue in Williamsport, PA, where my mother and her nine brothers and sisters grew up.
London, Part 3: Running & Other Activities
Running in Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park
The most wonderful surprise for Bob and me was the quality of the running in London. Truly magnificent! Kensington Gardens was a block and a half away from the flat we rented, and it is glorious. We were running along, talking about how it reminded us of Central Park, when we realized we were in the back yard of the Royal residences, separated by just a polo field. We speculated about which “cottage” (really, mansions) belonged to Wills and Kate, and which housed Harry and Meghan. Next thing you knew we were at Kensington Palace! Its gardens were beautful and it is actually open to visitors, though we never got there to see the Princess Diana Fashion Exhibit.
Kensington Palace |
And right beside Kensington Gardens was Hyde Park, not quite as Frederick Olmstead-like, but still large and lovely, with a huge grassy green in the center which doubtless hosts loads of picnickers and probably outdoor concerts in the summertime.
We agreed we would probably get in fantastic running shape if we lived in London, as Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park are only one example of London’s abundance of green spaces.
Other Highlights
38,000-pound silverplate set at Harrods |
Metal art at the V&A |
- We visited the Church of St. Martin in the Fields, near Leicester Square, where we attended a Mozart concert in the evening in tribute to my parents, who when they lived outside of London in the late 1980s used to attend classical concerts there.
- We discovered the London Film Festival was going on and went to see the hysterically funny documentary “I Used to be Normal: A Boy Band Fangirl Story,” in a far-flung London neighborhood (ethnic, not touristy, sort of Queens-like) after an unusual and unexpectedly delicious meal at a Turkish restaurant.
- We visited the Victoria and Albert Museum, aka the V&A, which focuses on design and saw a new history of photography exhibition that had been dedicated by Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge (just Kate to us commoners), just a few days before. I loved the museum’s display of metal art, and we mostly passed on the paintings of dead people.
- We spent a couple of hours in the world-famous, over-the-top luxurious Harrods’s Department store, where we perused 2000-pound ($2,600 US) coffeemakers, 38,000-pound ($50,000) silver-plate cutlery sets, 3050-pound ($4000) purses, swords, wine glasses (some only 45 pounds each – $$60) and so much more, each item more decadent, expensive and unnecessary than the next. We bought nothing but bought picnic food in the surprisingly reasonable little deli in the chocolate section and picnicked out in a courtyard by the Tube station.
- On our last day, we visited the Tower of London, enjoying a tour by a very British Yeoman something-or-other, taking in the Crown Jewels, watching a video of Queen Elizabeth’s coronation in 1953 (poor girl looked terrified, in my opinion), and seeing the extreme excess and ostentatiousness of the soup tureens and salt containers for royal banquets hundreds of years past. We learned about the checkered and grisly past of the royal family, especially Henry IIX, and wondered if Meghan knows what she got herself into.
A beheading about to happen at the Tower of London |
London, Part 2: Harry Potter & the HOHO
Warner Brothers Studio Tour
For me, the highlight of the trip to London was actually more than an hour away: the set where they made the Harry Potter movies.
You could push your cart of luggage through into the wall at Platform 9 ¾ at Kings Cross Station, walk down Diagon Alley, sit in a booth in the Hogwarts Express, drink Butterbeer, peer into the cupboard under the stairs at 67 Privet Drive, manipulate a CGI Dobby, learn to ride a broom
Dumbledore’s Office |
Harry’s bed in Gryffindor Dorm |
Wands |
Hop On Hop Off Bus
View from the HoSo |
While I was experiencing all things Harry Potter, Bob and Lexie experienced the Hop On Hop Off bus, which Bob calls the HOHO. Because their feet were extremely tired by then, they deemed it the HOSO, for Hop On Stay On, and planted their buts in the front row upstairs, under the glass cover.
For the record, although we have become fans of the HOHO concept when in a new city, we would NOT recommend the Big Bus, because the driver abruptly threw Bob and Lexie (and all other riders) off the bus without warning at 5 PM, saying they were closed. They were not even near a Tube station, and they had given no warning that the tour would end so early. Aryk and I took the Original Tour a year and a half ago and it was much better.
Spain, Part 3: Reus
We spent the last three days in Reus, a small city about 75 kilometers from Barcelona, where Laia and her family live. It turns out that Reus is a very compelling destination of its own right! Gaudi was born in Reus, and there’s a Gaudi Center there, as well as a Modernist Tour. (You can’t get away from him in Catalonia!)
Cambrils
Cambrils welcomes visitors |
The beach |
Human castles |
Montserrat
We also visited Montserrat, a glorious mountain near Barcelona with a monastery atop, including a famous Black Madonna statue. It has some amazing rock formations, which we couldn’t see because of the unusual blanket of fog.
The mountain behind the monastery |
Reus
Time in Spain
Food in Spain
Spain, Part 2: Barcelona
It’s easy to see why the Spanish government would put separatist leaders in jail rather than be parted from this gem. Bob and I both fell in love, and added it to our bucket list of places to live when we get to Europe. Located in one of Spain’s wealthiest regions in the Pyrenees, Barcelona, a city of 1.6 million people, is right on the Mediterranean Sea, and is quite hilly.
The beach in Barcelona |
The Gothic Quarter at night |
We visited Casa Mila/La Padrera, a masterpiece home on a grand boulevard designed by the visionary Spanish architect Antonin Gaudi, whose modernist influences can be found all over the city (and in fact the region.)
Casa Mila/ La Padrera |
The rooftop of Casa Mila/ La Padrera |
A door in La Padrera inspired by butterfly wings |
We saw the famous Sagrada Familia Cathedral (designed by Gaudi and still unfinished), passed popular FC Barcelona’s football (soccer) stadium. We even ate at a retro-themed American hamburger diner/restaurant called Peggy Sue’s when Lexie expressed the desire for a little “normal” food.
View of Sagrada Familia from the bus |
We only had two days in Barcelona, so we will definitely be back to visit Park Guell (more Gaudi), see a flamenco show, spend an evening at Casa Battlo (more Gaudi), eat more tapas, and so much more!
Spain, Part 1: Or is it Catalonia?
We spent several days in Barcelona on our way to Reus to visit the family of our exchange student, Laia.
Well … I know I said we were in Spain, but Laia’s family would tell you we were in Catalonia.
They are separatists, like many in this province in the northeast corner of the country who are seeking independence from Spain. Since I’m not a historian, I will refer you to a nice article from the BBC explaining this political crisis “in 300 words.” (We are of course on the CatalanTeam.)
Spanish National Day celebrants near Placa de Catalunya |
The weather
The weather, mid-60s to mid-70s in mid-October, was balmy compared to frigid Iceland, though we did need to keep jackets on hand for the occasional rain showers.
We will share a few tidbits about our days in Barcelona and Reus in the next couple of blogs.
Next … Part 2: Barcelona
Germany
Pinneberg
Hamburg
German Food
Iceland, last day: Reykjavik!
Despite cold weather and biting winds (Iceland is a COOOOLD place), we explored the waterfront of the capital city, Reykjavik.
We also visited the Harpa Concert Hall and saw an amazing 3D film called Iceland in a Box …
and the Hallgrímskirkja Lutheran Church.
We also walked through the old city.