Morning at La Columbina

I don't know how long we slept. With the shutters to the only window closed I wasn't even sure what time of day it was. Time doesn't seem to matter at La Columbina because there isn't a clock in the room. I guess I should have checked my watch, but I've just started wearing it again after years of it resting in my desk drawer. To be honest, I'm still not convinced it remembers how to tell time and I am constantly checking it against reliable sources. Our room is a little box attached to the side of the main house, it's back dug into a hill with lemon and mandarin trees growing on it. It opens up directly onto the patio/driveway which is an all in one deal. As I opened up the door I went blind for the few seconds it took my eyes to adjust to the light. It was morning, and I managed to catch the sunrise shining over the Bay of Pozzuoli and onto Monte Nuovo.
-Cris

The Adventure Begins

As we start our journey on January 27th 2009 in YYZ to Pozzuoli, Napoli, Italia. We try to leave gracefully by saying our good-byes to our families, slowly detaching ourselves, and head towards the check-in. Cris starts shedding tears like a school girl that scraped her knee during recess at the sight of his nephew Adriano waving and blowing kisses. We enter the airplane and head to our seats. Keep in mind that Cris and I are sitting apart due to a mishap with the online seat selection, but in the end we thought everything worked. I got the bulkhead seat by the window and Cris was a few isles back. Because of a malfunction with the built in screens, the stewardess offered to upgrade those of us in the bulkhead seats to business class. As a good girlfriend I decided to stay back and Cris came and sat with me. In the end, it was a horrible decision, not only did we not have video/audio, but in the seats across the isle there were crying children. At some point Cris wished the plane would go down just to end the miserable brats’ lives. So it was a long flight that was stacked upon a 12 hour lay-over in London’s Gatwick airport. Oh boy, never again will I listen to myself when it comes to saving money on a flight by adding a long lay-over. I’d rather give up my soul than wait for hours on end in a cold, noisy airport when I’m dead tired and jet-lagged. We looked liked 2 rotting zombies as we tried to get some rest in between flights. But then that angel named Cris found us a nice hole that was decently quiet. We opened up my sleeping bag and cuddled up as best we could, keeping one open eye on our knapsacks. I also had my purse strap wrapped around my wrist so I could get some ample sleep. The flight from London to Napoli couldn't come soon enough, and thank Got it did and was a short one.

Finally we arrive at Aeroporto Internazionale di Napoli and try to figure out how on earth we'll find a taxi that can take us, our 4, 50lb bags and knapsacks to our bed and breakfast. But, as we exit the airport we find Pietro, a colleague from the CNR where Cris will work, who came to pick us up at 22:30 to chauffeur our asses around in an attempt to find our bed and breakfast, La Columbina. Thus it was that we were introduced to the hospitality of the people of Napoli and the chaos of its streets.

-The Bean