What is she thinking about?

Published on PhotoVogue

A wedding scene in Naples

View of the church of San Francesco di Paola (Naples)

Published on PhotoVogue

1946
KCOR, owned by Raoul Cortez, becomes the first full-time Spanish language radio station in the United States.

1950
The City Public Service Board approved plans for Municipal Auditorium air conditioning drawn for the city by Engineer Martin E. Staley.

April 24, 2012 – Today was a long day. First, Thomas, a few buddies, and I went to lunch did a little exploring in downtown Napoli (I went for the sightseeing, they came for the kebab). Remember, this is after Thomas worked a 12 hour watch. It was a beautiful day–near 70 degrees. The restaurant wasn’t open yet when we arrived so we took a walk down Via Partenope, near the port. Also in the area is Castelnuovo, which Thomas and I visited last August before we boarded the ferry to Ischia (where he proposed!):

A ways down Via Partenope is another castle called Castel dell’Ovo (The Egg Castle haha). It’s located on the former island of Megaride, but now it’s a peninsula on the gulf of Naples. The name comes from a legend of the Roman poet Virgil. In medieval times he had a reputation as a great sorcerer, and he hid a magic egg in a cage somewhere in the castle. If the egg was broken, the castle and the city were doomed to destruction. Others think it’s because of the castle’s shape, but it doesn’t look the least bit like an egg if you ask me:

 (a photo I took on April 24, 2012)

 (photo from grandhotelduegolfi.com)

The castle sits atop a couple huge rocks connected by a 100-meter long walkway. Now, Castel dell’Ovo is used for various conventions, conferences, exhibitions, etc. (I think there was an art show going on while we were there, but we didn’t go–we stayed in the free part haha). It’s also a popular place for newlyweds to get their pictures taken (sources: 1, 2, 3). Here’s some more of our pictures from Castel dell’Ovo (the first two are from our walk to the castle on Via Partenope):

After we visited the castle, we made our way back to the kebab restaurant, which was finally open. I’d never had a kebab, but it was awesome. Right next door is the largest square in Naples, the Piazza del Plebiscito, which is enclosed on one side by the Palazzo Reale di Napoli (Royal Palace of Naples, also a museum) and San Francesco di Paola (a big ass church) on the other. We just walked by, but I will return and explore inside both buildings, so I’ll save you the history lesson until then Here’s some pictures:

Finally, we got some gelato at the Galleria della Vittoria. I tried to find some info about the Galleria, but no luck. It’s a really beautiful building, and it has a bunch of stores inside. I’ll go back, so hopefully I can find some stuff about it by then. Here’s a couple pictures:

We went back to Capo where the boys played catch and Frisbee while I ran from wasps in the BBQ area. Then they decided they wanted to play tennis so we made a run to Decathlon and bought some tennis rackets. Have you ever spend a little bit of time in a sporting goods store? Endless entertainment! We played ping pong, badminton, rolled around on skateboards and bikes, fondled harpoon guns, hula hooped…that is until an angry employee yelled at us in Italian. Well she didn’t really yell, but we could tell she wasn’t pleased with our shenanigans. But yeah, there’s some pretty cool stuff in there.

By now, Thomas and I had been awake for about 20 hours. I was about to fall asleep on the tennis court. When I thought it was finally time to head home, one of Thomas’ buddies told him there were a couple command softball games happening at Carney Park in a couple hours. He immediately decided he wanted to play. Then he saw me give him the glare of death. I’m not one to stop him from doing something he loves, and I’ve been wanting to watch him play ever since I got here, so we went. And I’m glad. It was fun to watch him play, even though his team lost both games. Here’s a picture I took of Thomas before he hit a double:

At the end of the night (after being awake for like 24 hours), we were both exhausted and hungry, so we grabbed some pizza, went back to the house, finished season 1 of Game of Thrones (can’t wait for season 2!!), and crashed. And now, I’m doing one of my favorite things that I can only do over here: eating authentic Italian pizza leftovers. Mmmmmmm.

Watch for a new post next week! We’re going somewhere fun this weekend

You can skip to 2:25.

1946
KCOR, owned by Raoul Cortez, becomes the first full-time Spanish language radio station in the United States.

Prometto di essere più presente in un prossimo futuro e di aggiornare piu spesso il mio blog.Nel Frattempo che spulcio e post-produco i lavori fatti in estate vi descrivo con mie fotografie chiese e ville da me frequentate con l’aiuto ovviamente delle risorse in rete e soprattutto di wikipedia.Iniziamo con la maestosa Basilica di San Francesco di Paola situata a Napoli in Piazza del Pebliscito.

Nel 1809 Gioacchino Murat ordinò la demolizione degli antichi conventi del “Largo di Palazzo”, attuale piazza del Plebiscito, e bandì un pubblico concorso per la realizzazione di una nuova piazza. All’architetto Leopoldo Laperuta fu affidata la costruzione dell’ ampio portico a emiciclo sorretto da 38 colonne giganti di ordine dorico; esso doveva fronteggiare Palazzo Reale e rifarsi alla tradizione antica delle piazze porticate, luogo delle attività politiche, economiche, sociali e culturali della città.

Nel 1815 il re Ferdinando I delle Due Sicilie decise l’edificazione della basilica come ringraziamento a san Francesco di Paola per la riconquista del regno: nel 1817 fu indetto un nuovo concorso, che fu vinto dall’architetto svizzero Pietro Bianchi, il quale mostrò nella realizzazione della nuova chiesa grandi qualità ingegneristiche, attestate dalla solidità dell’opera e dall’intelligenza delle soluzioni tecniche ^[1].

I lavori furono ultimati nel 1824, ma solo nel 1836 la chiesa venne inaugurata da papa Gregorio XVI, che le conferì il titolo di basilica, la rese indipendente dalla curia arcivescovile di Napoli e concesse il privilegio ai suoi ministri di officiare con l’altare rivolto verso i fedeli.