Our New Home

So here are pictures of our long awaited apartment. It is my favorite apartment thus far in Drake's European career. I know that I appreciate it so much more because we were waiting for it for so long (4 1/2 weeks to be precise). We are a bit tucked back near the mountains so the views are great. Another thing I love is the balcony, which practically wraps around our entire place. It is a relatively new gated apartment complex, which we were pleasantly surprised to have a new place in Europe. It has 3 bedrooms (lots of room for visitors!) and 2 bathrooms.

Here are different shots from our different balconies:

We are the third floor up

A night shot...

and a day shot

A view towards the street

Our kitchen

Our living room

Our bedroom

Drake in our hallway



Bathroom

Bathroom with washer

Credit to Sara for the nice pictures!

Pompeii

Drake had a day off last week so we took a trip to Pompeii, about 45 minutes from Avellino. In 79 A.D., a volcanic eruption caused the entire city to be covered with ash and lava. About 20,000 people were buried with the city. After a while, people forgot that Pompeii had ever existed, until the 1800's when it was discovered and excavated. It is definitely a trip I would like to take again. There is a lot to see.

A picture from inside Pompeii with the volcano, Mt. Vesuvius, in the background.

An ancient speedbump. I know it sounds like I'm joking, but thats really what this was.




These bumps were for people to cross the street when the streets were filled with rain.

These were some of the actual bodies that were discovered in Pompeii. Because of the lava, they were preserved exactly the way that they died. When the volcano erupted, the people were blinded and suffocated by the all the ash, then the lava eventually covered them and the city.

Around Avellino

We are happy to have Drake's parents here visiting. Unfortunately, we don't have a place for them to stay. So for the last week they have been here with us at Hotel Green Park Titino. The weather hasn't been the greatest but we did get a chance on a somewhat dry afternoon to show them around Avellino. Here are some shots of us walking around the town.

Drake and I in front of a old run down building we thought looked interesting.

The same building from the opposite direction.

Trying to get our bearings on a city map.

A pretty church on the main "drag" of Avellino.



Main "drag"

Sculpture of a very close knit family in downtown Avellino.

Some old ruins left probably pre World War II. The area around here got pretty wiped out after the war, from what I've been told.

Blood and Games

Last night in the game, Drake got an elbow in the head. A ref noticed it was bleeding about 5 minutes later, and made him leave the game (Some rule states you can't be on the court when bleeding, or something like that). Anyways, at half time he got 3 stitches without numbing it or anything. He is so tough. Oh and they had to shave his head, which they seemed to be pretty liberal about. This makes the mohawk haircut much worse.