The girls (my SDS friend Kristina and her 16 year old daughter Madii) blew into town, quite literally with the wind and rain, and have this morning flown off to Munich where the forecast minimum is 1°C and the maximum a heart warming 2°. Unfortunately the weather meant that the usual highlights of a trip to Naples weren't really ideal so having discounted the Amalfi coast trek and a visit to Pompeii we cruised around the historical centre of Naples, enjoyed a day at a thermal spa and shopped.
It's been a long time since I've enjoyed shopping but I must say that Kristina and Madii are an inspiration. We hit the crowded Christmas markets along Via San Gregorio Armeno where the artisans make the traditional 'presepe' nativity scenes complete with handcrafted figures, animals, furniture and all manner of decorative paraphenalia. Some are even populated with moving figures eg a woman doing the laundry, a pizza guy in front of his wood fired oven, a doctor tending to a sick child, and a boy fishing. Where my shyness often stops me from asking the price or entering shops Madii was unstoppable, approaching every stall and engaging politely and determinedly with anyone. She was a forced to be reckoned with. A chatty, confident teenager with money burning a hole in her wallet is something to watch.
They are, as far as mother and daughter teams are concerned, almost complete opposites. My dear friend Kristina, is, like me, something of a control freak. Her daughter is, perhaps like Gigi at times, off with the fairies. It makes for an interesting chemical combination.
Here's a photographic summary of what we enjoyed:
This is the view of the buildings directly across from our bedroom balcony.
The girls enjoy a real, real pizza.
This apartment and piazza featured in one of Sofia Loren's 1960's movies.
1. Good luck symbols as magnets for the tourists.
2. Stop racscism, sexism and fascism protest poster
1. Busy spaccanapoli street. 2 Abandoned church entrance.
San Gregorio Armeno cloisters.
The cloister gardens.
1. Fountain in the cloister gardens.
2. Stairway into the cloister.
1. A nun on a poster. 2. A nun in disguise.
Inside the Naples Duomo (cathedral).
The front of the duomo reflected in an illegally parked car.
Bust of patron saint St Gennaro. The girls at the front of the duomo.
Kristina and Jenny with the bay & Vesuvio behind.
The Royal Palace.
At Piazza Trieste Trento.
Stufe Terone thermal spa...the quiet zone. 
1. Madii has her compulsory gelato.
2. Then she finds a shop sign that almost matches.
Kristina, ever the scorpio at Galleria Umberto.
1. Side view of the Castel Nuovo.
2. Mother and daughter in Naples.
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