day 5
we decided to spend the sunday quietly. a lovely breakfast of eggs with smoked scamorza and bread with jam.
a nice rest by the pool and a stroll through the town, checking out the street vendors.
we discovered that they have some scary looking bugs in italy. sadly, these even appeared in the house on occasion.
the town of citta della pieve is lovely.
wouldn't this be an amazing place to grow up?
a map of the town, for your reference
the piazza with vendors
this lady was great. the puppets were attached to her legs, and she made them dance while she played the concertina (?)
this 'street' is fabled to be the narrowest in the area. the 'way of the kissing girl,'the story has it that the families did not approve of the love of their children, but they would lean out their windows to kiss. in reality, it was probably more of a property dispute, where families had a dispute over the area of the alley, so built their houses apart, rather than attached.
the other end of the street, with tj looking hot ;)
a beautiful street with flowers. believe it or not, some of those 'doorways' are garage entries. not only to people manage to park there, but they back into the garages.
a view from side of town to the other
somebody's lovely balcony
rooftops
a tiny truck (tj wants one)
the church tower
closer
why can't we have doors like this??
or make the streets this pretty?
the swallows at the pool.
when the temp would drop a bit, from breeze or cloud, they would swoop down and catch bugs, for about 3 minutes, and then disappear again. our 'standard' lunch of cured meats, cheeses, fruit and wine, created another idyllic day.
i did buy a brass lion-headed bottle opener (to be mounted) at the market. it took me a second to translate '15' after i asked the price, but i still made a half-hearted effort to haggle, offering 12. my highly offended vendor ranted about how it was impossible and remonstrated with me to examine it, and determine this was not made in a factory, but by hand, and how like art it was. i was going to buy it, regardless, and i'm glad i got to flex my inner translation skills by listening to him.
people would mostly try to speak to me in english, as if i were wearing a sign. most people, though, didn't know a word of it, and would just start speaking to me in italian, oblivious to the often confused look on my face. a man came up to me in the supermarket, and had an entire conversation with me. we think he might have been the 'town crazy', and i just nodded and smiled, or expressed astonishment, as his tone dictated. i caught a few words, something about pants, and what somebody did with them. tj came over to me afterwards and asked what he said. when i told her i didn't really know, she was surprised, so my part of the 'conversation' must have been believable. i can generally get the gist of what's being said to me, hence the thought that he might be a bit cracked.
ETA: tj rightly corrected me. the crazy man in the store actually started speaking to her, first. she smiled and nodded and looked around for me to rescue her. i thought he was perhaps trying to ask her something, so i said 'buon giorno' and off he went!
a nice rest by the pool and a stroll through the town, checking out the street vendors.
we discovered that they have some scary looking bugs in italy. sadly, these even appeared in the house on occasion.
the town of citta della pieve is lovely.
wouldn't this be an amazing place to grow up?
a map of the town, for your reference
the piazza with vendors
this lady was great. the puppets were attached to her legs, and she made them dance while she played the concertina (?)
this 'street' is fabled to be the narrowest in the area. the 'way of the kissing girl,'the story has it that the families did not approve of the love of their children, but they would lean out their windows to kiss. in reality, it was probably more of a property dispute, where families had a dispute over the area of the alley, so built their houses apart, rather than attached.
the other end of the street, with tj looking hot ;)
a beautiful street with flowers. believe it or not, some of those 'doorways' are garage entries. not only to people manage to park there, but they back into the garages.
a view from side of town to the other
somebody's lovely balcony
rooftops
a tiny truck (tj wants one)
the church tower
closer
why can't we have doors like this??
or make the streets this pretty?
the swallows at the pool.
when the temp would drop a bit, from breeze or cloud, they would swoop down and catch bugs, for about 3 minutes, and then disappear again. our 'standard' lunch of cured meats, cheeses, fruit and wine, created another idyllic day.
i did buy a brass lion-headed bottle opener (to be mounted) at the market. it took me a second to translate '15' after i asked the price, but i still made a half-hearted effort to haggle, offering 12. my highly offended vendor ranted about how it was impossible and remonstrated with me to examine it, and determine this was not made in a factory, but by hand, and how like art it was. i was going to buy it, regardless, and i'm glad i got to flex my inner translation skills by listening to him.
people would mostly try to speak to me in english, as if i were wearing a sign. most people, though, didn't know a word of it, and would just start speaking to me in italian, oblivious to the often confused look on my face. a man came up to me in the supermarket, and had an entire conversation with me. we think he might have been the 'town crazy', and i just nodded and smiled, or expressed astonishment, as his tone dictated. i caught a few words, something about pants, and what somebody did with them. tj came over to me afterwards and asked what he said. when i told her i didn't really know, she was surprised, so my part of the 'conversation' must have been believable. i can generally get the gist of what's being said to me, hence the thought that he might be a bit cracked.
ETA: tj rightly corrected me. the crazy man in the store actually started speaking to her, first. she smiled and nodded and looked around for me to rescue her. i thought he was perhaps trying to ask her something, so i said 'buon giorno' and off he went!