a walk in the park

Yesterday we met Mr. Mano over at the apartment to do some measuring.  Apparently our household goods can be delivered by crane – which is great because the stairs to the third floor are quite narrow.  I expect that the living room furniture might be delivered in this manner since they will occupy the fourth floor space – and there is a roof-like patio off the kitchen on that floor that would accommodate the craning of furniture quite nicely. 

The major appliances, however, will be delivered by the SS – they have European style appliances, and we have been told that they must be able to navigate the stairs and doorways since the SS workers will need access to the appliances in case they break.  Ok. Fine. 

Watching my husband attempt to clarify all of this, with his meager Italian language skills, to our new landlord, who speaks no English, is pretty entertaining.

We decide upon a walk in our new neighborhood.  There is a park down the street that looks promising.  

Attempting to rescue Smalls from encroaching shaken baby syndrome, we recently dropped some ducats on a new ride for her.  This baby rider features 16 inch air-filled, individually suspended wheels.  And - a key selling point for Major – the nifty gadget folds in half by grabbing a handle in the seat.  I anticipate that the stroller’s wide behind might be a challenge to navigate on the narrow streets of the city.  It’s time for a test drive.  Major whips the new stroller out of the CRV one-handed, and, Smalls-on-board, we amble down the street.

The town of Pozzuoli is quite a hodgepodge.  Ancient ruins are all around - sticking out in abstract forms,

then ducking in and out of the landscape...

Makes for some incredibly contrasting images.

To my delight, the sidewalks are surprisingly navigable, despite the layers that belie their age.

And their width is shockingly almost adequate for our not-so-tiny high roller… 

most of the time…

But then there are a few obstacles…

And parking habits of the locals might have inhibited our walk just a tad…

I am also happy to report that the hand brake is actually quite useful.

My shopping appetite was whetted as we passed a few enticing shops along the way.

And we discovered a possible destination for a date night - that is - as soon as we hire our bilingual nanny...

Then we stopped briefly for a TRAIN!

And got scolded by a security-looking dude when I took a picture of this crazy looking building.

In retrospect, that might have been a jail?  Probably will avoid that road in the future...

Deciding to head back towards the apartment where we parked up the hill, we noted that in the future we may have to plan out return routes that avoid the stairs…

Because there are a LOT of stairs…

Did I mention the stairs?

We finally make it over to the park, which is basically a grassy area in front of some ruins.  It looks cool from a distance, but there is broken glass everywhere.  Not so good for air filled tires.  Ah well.  Will just have to keep strolling.