Crowne Plaza Caserta

... just got that. Does it?) Anyway, that's my favorite kind of mozzarella. And it said it had pomodorini -- little tomatoes. I was psyched. This was for sure going to be the best pizza yet. But then it arived. And it didn't have any sauce. I was so bummed. I kept swearing. Out loud. The waiter told me a side of pizza sauce would be cold so I just sucked it up. <br><br>Until.<br><br>I took a moment.<br><br>I said to myself, "Josie, a margherita pizza is 3 euro. You love pizza. This is ...

... time I've ever experienced! Anyway, at 7:55 I went to check out the menu of the vegetarian restaurant. While it looked delicious I thought to myself, "Josie, you love pizza. You are in Naples. You had some pretty amazing pizza for lunch. Shouldn't you just go back and have it again for dinner?"<br><br>And so I did.<br><br>Ironically they seated me at the exact same table as before. I, again, was paired with another group at ...

... they actually used olive oil AND butter. And the knife they provided was fantastic. That's sometimes a challenge with Italian-style pizza. Because they don't pre-slice it you have to cut it yourself and often it just becomes a mess. But this knife was perfect... so perfect in fact it's now in my suitcase. :)<br><br>The only negative was this incredibly annoying guy dressed up like the Napolean clown person and going from table to table slamming ...

Sorry, I had to keep the lyric-titles going. That's one of my favorite Italian songs, "Mambo Italiano" which unfortunately is NOT on my iPod. Bums me out. And yes, you could say, well just download it. But I can't figure out how to connect my iPod to the travelin' PC so that means no syncing and also no photo transfers. Which is a right shame for you folks because I have some GREAT photos on that thing. Okay, maybe that's an oversell ...

... umbrella and raincoat got soaked through to our underwear! Next day it rained hard too but did not mind a lazy day with no sightseeing. The city of Naples has a few nice areas but is a really dirty city and one day of sightseeing was plenty. Seeing Naples and Mt. Vesuvius from a distance is the best way to see them but south of Naples and the Almafi coast is not to be missed.

... we entered a small grocer and purchased some wine to take back and enjoy in our cabin. We found that a bottle of wine cost 2 to 7 euros, which was a lot cheaper than a bottle of Italian Chianti or French Bordeaux at $35-40 USD in the dining room. Although they were good, they weren't unique! As a practice, we've always enjoyed drinking locally made wines wherever we've traveled. <br><br ...

Our day started out with a great tour of Herculaneum. It's the town that was located directly on the coast when Mt Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD. Herculaneum itself was somewhat of a resort town for wealthy Romans. The excavation process found the homes and buildings are still intact, since the eruption destroyed the town via pyroclastic flows. Where in Pompeii, it's more famous neighbor, was crushed by ...

... the park digging. It was pretty funny because they were friendly and playful. Janie fed one. But we did get into some back alleys there and saw some incredible sights. We were fortunate to have great weather, great light, and a good sense of humor. We found our tour group at one point, then we quickly ditched them again. I think we took about 500 pictures there, and we'll post them later. We had kind of a scare because the tour guide repeated the name of the gate we were to ...

Holy Moly do some people know how to live the high life. Two train rides totalling 40 minutes from Napoli brought me to the quaint town that is Caserta. Far from quaint however, is the Reggia Vanvitelliana...the Palace of Caserta, which can most aptly be described as colossal. (I want to say palatial, but I suppose that's a given!) So just to spit some facts at you...the ...

... fit, I have no idea, the pollution must have got to me) and Kate went up the lift, smart girl. We checked in with an afternoon to spare so headed out to look at some castles and walk along the coast. The town is certainly not as beautiful as some we have been to but it was a nice walk along the coast and Naples is a convenient place to see Pompeii from, which is why we went there. That night we ran into a guy we had met in the small bar in ...