Day 1 and 2 - Arrival/99 Cent Store/Defeat of the Italian Cork

We have arrived. There is much to say in one post so I will do my best to get it all down (considering most if you won't be reading this for a few hours, I believe it's around 1 a.m. in The States).

I woke up at 8 a.m. this morning in my double bed. Mom has the full. The room is FREEZING. We have one radiator to keep this cement room warm (and warm is an understatement, consider yourselves lucky my fellow LexisNexis-ers). My landlord for the month of January, Silvia, was wearing a scarf around her head last night when I went down to ask for more blankets. I have yet to mention that we are on the fourth floor of a little cove-type building you could walk right past if you did not know where to find it. The street numbers are tiles on the side of the buildings. They started from 120-60 to 22 to 6. Normally this wouldn't seem odd except all the numbers between 60 and 22 are non-existent and the street is probably only about 3 blocks long. Do the math...

We unpacked our stuff last night. Our room is quaint, cold, but it feels like Italy. My computer is next to the window so I can look out to see the other buildings behind us. As the add mentioned we can see the "peaceful garden" which turned out the be a dirt patch. In all fairness, it is only January.

We learned that Silvia only wants us to turn the heat on when we are here and "we agreed" off when we're not (Sorry, Silvia, but I'll have my eye out for a space heater today to keep on when I'm home and off when I'm not : ) ).We found the washing machine in the kitchen, only to discover there was no dryer. We located the 3-foot tank that we use for the hot water above the sink the in bathroom. Which, as most of you guessed, is the type of bathroom where you shower over the toilet. No surprises there. Also, Mom solved the mystery of drying my soon to be wet clothes from the dryer: the clothes line outside my window. Good thing I brought my Calvin Klein-ies. He was Italian, right? Should be fine... 

Last night we walked from our room to the center of town, Piazza della Repubblica, which was a straight shot down Borgo delgi Albizi/Via del Corso/Via d. Spezialli. Lucky for us it was only a 10 minute walk and we found A LOT of helpful shops along the way. As Americans, of course we stopped in the 99 cent shop (I heard George Harrison's I've Got My Mind Set On You which made me feel right at home). We found a major department store, plenty of wine and coffee cafes. However, we had the most difficult time finding a place to get something to eat. But it was around 5:30 and I don't think Italians typically dine until around 8 or 9. However, by the time we made it to the center of town, we found a place to get some really good za and have some wine.

When we headed back to the room, I dropped a very tired Mom off and took a stroll to find some wine. Just around the corner from our room, were plenty of shops, most with very reasonably priced wine. I stopped into one, grabbed two bottles of Chianti and paid the man at the counter. It can be very difficult to determine how much money they want to items (seeing as we don't speak very good Italian), so I try to tally up the items before we get to the counter. The man, however, was very nice and as I was putting my change away, he looked me in the eye and said, "Grazie." I am most apparently foreign and he, as well as everyone else in this country, knew.

So, I returned home, with my purchase, and stumbled across one problem. An opener/corkscrew! Thankfully, Mom always comes prepared (One reason I love traveling with My Mom and Hillary, they always have corkscrews). Thus, I began the worst struggle of the trip so far. How the f- do you get these bottles open?! After MANY attepts with the opener, which was literally in pieces upon its failure and trying to jab the cork in with a key, I considered myself defeated, something I rarely ever do.

So, the bottles sit on my dresser, unopened with ravaged corks. It's also very obvious we barley made a dent. So, I'm beginning to think there is a trick to this and you can bet that tonight, those bottle WILL be open! 

Well, off to get ready for the day. I have to take a shower, which we just found out does have hot water, but apparently the sink does not. And then Mom and I shall hit the town in search of a job. She just walked back in the room with some hot water for coffee which I'm sure will be very helpful in warming my icicle fingers.

This place is very surreal. Mom and I are still having trouble placing ourselves. More pictures of the surrounding town to come. Missing everyone at home! Hope all is well on the home front!