Sunday, October 25 Naples So Im in Naples since last night and I like it! But to backtrack to Sora first

Thursday, market day was cold and rainy so `i stayed at the farm and made pasta with Mama Maria. Its quite easy really but takes a touch and of course the right flour OO flour, a very fine, almost powdery white flour, and Semolina, yellower and just a little courser. About two cups OO, maybe half a cup of Semlina, mix together on a board, then make a well, a big one for the eggs. Break three eggs into the well of flour and mix well with your hand. It almost reminded me of making my Irish soda bread only with buttermilk instead. After the eggs are well mixed, start turning and kneading with the palm of your hands, adding flour to make the dough pliable more flour Jeanne ! When the flour is the right texture, and dont ask me what texture that is, you put it in a ball and wrap it in saran wrap and stick it in the fridge for a few minutes, then you start to roll it out with a short wooden dowel that looks like it came out of a closet. There was something special to that too, because mine had wrinkles and Marias and Donnas didnt. But Maria said it was ok, so then we folded it, and began to cut it into fettucini width strips. Once it was cut, we had to unfold each strip and lay it on a wooden board until we were going to cook it. Heres where I knew I didnt use enough flour, my pasta wouldnt unroll easily into nice pliable strips, I had to pick it apart where dough stuck to dough. Anyway, while the dough was in the fridge, we worked on the sauce, mixing a little butter with a little olive oil, they make their own here and sauteeing the onion. Then we peeled and chopped pumpkin to add to the mix and then some of Mama Marias home bottled tomatoes. It finished cooking while we finished rolling out and cutting the dough. I guess my errors with the dough didnt affect the taste because it was delicioso! All the meals are accompanied by home made wine and home made olive oil and home made bread. The following day, Friday was a bit nicer so I decided to walk into Sora. A neighbor picked me up and gave me a ride in so I didnt pay much attention to the turnoff into town, which threw me later when I had to pick the right exit from Sora to the farm. I just wandered around, went to the bookstore and used the wifi, then had a lovely lunch of grilled lamb at a local restaurant 11.8 E. Walking back into the farm wasnt as hard as I thought it would be considering it was all uphill. Did I mention I got to see a shepherd make cheese. He spends nearly all his time up in the hills with his sheep and milks them up there and carries the milk down. If Ive done this before please excuse me but he heats the milk, adds rennet, which is produced from a just weaned baby lambs stomach, yes they kill them in the spring. The rennet has an enzyme that helps the protein separate from the whey. The shepherd just pulls chunks of it from the bucket and then puts it into sieved round baskets so he can push the liquid out and maintain a shape as he goes. When it is fairly firm, he sprinkles some salt on it to draw the rest of the liquid out. Some cheese he ages, some he smokes by the fire and some fairly mild ones are sold right away. The rest of the liquid is not wasted, this is how ricotta , recooked it means, cheese is made. Again the liquid is reheated and the much softer lumps he pulls out are now the stuff from which ricotta is made. I had some and it was good. Also drank some of the warm whey and it tasted like warm milk. Anyway, thats my shepherd story. There are only two shepherds left in the region because none of the children want to take up the craft or the work. When Michaela dies, I dont know what they will do for cheese! Now, back to Saturday and my trip to Naples. Antonello, the son, drove me to the bus at 545a.m. but the schedule changed so it didnt come until 640a.m. 8euros to get to Naples by bus and it was a smooth ride in. The sun started to rise as we were driving along the coast in the mountains and it was a beautiful sight! Everyone had cautioned me about Naples, but I found Station Garibaldi very well marked and bright and clean. My hostel, Six Small Rooms, had given me clear directions from the station with the lines and stops to take. The hardest part about reading Italian street signs is that they are carved into the side of the building, there is no metal or wooden sign out by the road, you have to walk past the road and then look back and up at the street corner of the building to see what street it is. As most italian buildings are very old, you also have a lot of wear and graffiti so they arent always legible, plus the names, which can be quite long containing the name of a saint or a soldier or an occupation, get shortened. So your map might say one thing and the building another but still be the right street! Anyway, made it to the hostel and walked up four flights with backpack, would have been much harder with a rolling suitcase as the staircase was curved. Was in pretty early, only 10 a.m., so got in a day at the National Archeological Museum, where all the stuff they dug out of Pompei went. Lots of mosaics, statues, tools and whatnot. three massive floors of things, plus the museum of sexual imagery that they wont let kids into. Pictures of various positions and animals, oh those Romans! Later, I visited the Duomo of Naples, but didnt even take out my camera. The building is huge, with alcoves and altars everywhere, painted within an inch of its life and beautiful marble. I guess Im just churched out. BUT I did get to watch an Italian wedding! I couldnt believe tourists were walking around and taking pictures like it was entertainment, but they did. I just sat and watched and listened. It was lovely. The bride was gorgeous, wearing a beautiful jewel encrusted gown with a long train. The whole street the Duomo is on is full of bridal shops and I have never seen so much glitz as here, designer dresses all. My final coup of the day was to try the world famous pizza from da Michele. 5.5 Eu got me a huge margharetta pizza and a big bottle of fizzy water. I can see why everyone raves. I tried going back for another one today but they are closed on Sundays, as are a lot of stores. Thats why I thought it would be a good day to do one of the tours that came with my Museum ticket. However, friendly train conductor wasnt quite clear enough and I ended up in a remote location with a very interesting ruin to see but not much else. It was the Teatro di something, the third largest colliseum next to Rome and somewhere else. I got to wander around down below and at the ground level but not up in the stands. Some pretty major engineering went into that, with cranes and winches to lift animals and gladiators up into the stadium like something out of a Broadway show. I found out the vomitorium is not about puking but a nickname given to the exits, because after a show, it looked like the building was ejecting its contents rapidly as all the visitors made their way home. I also found out that the gladiators usually were NOT fighting to the death or killed all that often and a lot of them had their own fan clubs.Kinda like soccer. As a result of my mixup, I asked directions at least three times from different people and they all turned out to be Russian! I guess they must look Italian, thats all they spoke anyway. Came back to Naples so I could get a head start on tomorrow, thats when I plan to do Pompei and Herculaneum. I may stay another night here after tomorrow, the hostels ok and I like Naples, there is a lot to see here, even people watching is fun. The city is grittier than the north, but the Allies bombed the hell out of it during WWII and they never got the reconstruction funds that the northern cities got. People are helpful here even if they dont speak as much english as up north, at least they try. More when I get back and if I get another crack at the computer, doing all this waiting to upload some photos, again! Remember to look at my flickr account for the photos www.flickr.com search for supp13 Ciao!