Mimi's House-Hunting Trip

Doesn't it just figure that when you have something planned and you're hoping for good weather, it's raining the night before? Sherman, our dog, woke me up at 4:30 in the morning, licking my hand and waiting for some kind of movement from me. Once he saw that I was awake, he was off toward the door - his signal for, "I have to go potty real bad!" It was still raining! :-(

We went back bed quietly, so as not to wake Papa, with hopes of nice weather for our house-hunting morning. ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ! The alarm goes off and what do you think we see? Beautiful, puffy white clouds on a crisp sunny day. Hurray! Happiness for Mimi and Papa!

Francesca came to pick us up right on time - exactly 9:30. She was born in Naples, Italy, so she speaks perfect Italian. She is married to a Navy sailor also who works on the staff of Sixth Fleet. That means they're in charge of any Navy ships that come into the Mediterranean Sea.

The first house we were going to see, she said, has a breathtaking view and we might not want to look at any other houses after we see that house. So, it's funny. We turn on the road up to the house and it turns out to be the same road we were on this past Sunday with our new found friends who took to this amazing restaurant at the top of hill. To get to this restaurant there is only what "seems " like single lane Roman road where drivers have to pull off to one side of the road to let cars going the other direction go by. And then only when there's enough room for a turnout. Otherwise . . . someone has to BACK UP!!! It's good to have a little car on this road!

On our way back down this steep road from the restaurant on Sunday, our friends said there was a house up there that we might be interested in renting and that maybe we should check it out. We didn't follow through with this for some reason, but here we were again going back up this road - huh, go figure!



From the moment we saw it, we loved it! The neighbors have 4 young children and they asked us, "Do you like children?" So cute!I said that we love children and we have 4 grandchildren of our own and that I was going to be writing to them today about this house-hunting trip. But, I said to them, I do have a dog!! They were really happy about that! They said that at least if we didn't have kids, second best would be having a dog!






There's a nice little wall and fenced in front yard with grass and fruit trees leading up the marble walkway and steps to the front door.





Once you're inside there are beautiful Italian white tile floors with a marble staircase leading up to rooms with shuddered windows opening up to the fresh air outside and a view of the Bay of Naples from each one. Downstairs is one large living room with a fireplace









and a kitchen and bathroom in the back of the house. When you walk out of the kitchen, you experience the first of three large terraces - one from the front yard, one just out side of the kitchen in the back, and one on the very top of the house that has the spectacular view you see in the picture.


Just behind us is the town of Bacoli and there are two little islands behind that. The biggest one is Ischia and Procida is there as well.
The panorama is of the entire Gulf of Napoli with Capri on the other side. (Why didn't I take a picture of Capri?)





Then the landlord took us down to the garage!! What a shock! It was at least three times the size of our garage in America, with places for storage, cars, games, and there's even a third bathroom down there! It was amazing! Very secure. We took a stroll down the street to look at the surrounding neighborhood and saw the roads and vineyards - so very lovely! How could we not say yes to this house?!















Ciao, Bella! ~ Mimi