Centro on Our Own, August 8th

( Note:  I lost my last blog due to an Internet crash.  So I will be publishing this blog as I write.  So continue to follow this posting as Vicki and I update it.  I will write "finito" at the bottom when I am done.)

On Our Own

Our friends, Troy and Penny are off to Germany for the week so we are on our own.  Oh the places we will go and the things we will see or encounter.

Over the Weekend

  Saturday (Sabato) we tested to see how much we remembered from our day with Troy Friday (venerdi which doesn't mean "very nerdy"). Ok, maybe that was nerdy. Anyway, our plan was to walk to Centro (pronounced Chentro), which is downtown, catch an autobus (bus) after looking around Piazza Erbe, shop at Lidl's supermarket, and head home.

Centro is a 10 - 15 minute walk from our apartment if you walk like an American with purpose or 15 - 20 minutes if you stroll like everyone else.

God Speaks to Me through Bob Marley

One of the first phrases I noticed as we entered Centro was "chiuso per ferie" right next to the name "Bob Marley"  I thought this was stating something profound about Bob Marley and Ciamaica.

Translating  "chiuso per Ferie", simply means "closed for the holiday."  Which means, see you in Settembre (September). Now how do we pull this off in the states?

Then I started thinking maybe this is a sign.  Bob Marley wrote and sang a song called "Three Little Birds"  and there are three of us.  Coincidence?...
The lyrics I remember are "Don't worry about a thing, 'Cause every little thing gonna be all right."  So when I mention Bob Marley, you will know what I am talking about.

Back to Piazza Erbe

Piazza Erbe is filled with vendors selling trinkets to tourist, wonderful restuarants, and great produce.  Surrounding the vendors are modern stores like Northface occupying extremely old buildings. I know there are clothing stores, but Vicki will have to fill you in on those stores.

After about 15 minutes, I found a book on Verona about its culture and history.  I was happy with my find and ready to walk through the plaza and catch autobus 95 heading towards the stadio (soccer stadium).


Ok, stay with me for a second while I digress.  I know some of you are thinking in Europe, soccer is called futbol.  Well in Italy it is different. They call futbol calcio (Kal-cho).  I'm beginning to learn, like my daughter, Italy is determined to be different from the rest of the world.








I was done shopping, but Vicki and Brianna had just begun.  I'm such an amatuer.  I didn't realize that store fronts like the one in the photo means come in and check us out.  We have great prices.  So Vicki and Brianna continued to shop while I looked for a caffe. 

Cappuccinos and Me

So I have a new thing with cappuccinos.  For whatever reason, I am going to start taking photos of the cappuccinos with the most interesting designs.  This is going to cost me an additional 0,30 Euro a cup.  This cup came from Julius Meini.  I googled Julius Meini and found out it is Europes equivalent to our Starbucks.  As a side note, I go to Illy's Cafe just down the street and across from the hospital.  The first day I stopped in, the owner behind the counter told me he speaks little English.  No worries, Parla po 'd'italiano.  I've been going there about a week now and Carlo's English continues to get better everyday.  Back to shopping...
I met Brianna and Vicki back at the center of the piazza and headed for the bus station to catch a bus to Lidl's.  We didn't make it very far because of store fronts that demand you come in with various prices on the window.  I let Vicki and Brianna go into the stores and I parked my behind on one of the convenient steps strategically placed in front of the windows for husbands to sit on.  I also think it allows the wives/girlfriends to keep track of us.  So like a school assignment, this is what I saw while the girls shopped.  I did get to move from window front to window front.  

 

What I Saw

When I first saw the "T" sign, I was at the train station and went over there to buy tickets to get us from Milano to Verona.  T is for Texas, T is for Tennesse, and T is for Tabaccheria and the Tabaccheria made a fool out of me.

There are some great street performers and there are strange ones.  I will go to Centro sometime and just take photos of street performers.

Brianna thinks this is Italy's version Hollister.

Possibly my mannequin's next girl friend.  And for all of the derogatory remarks I received on Facebook regarding my male mannequin request, I bought one at Goodwill thank you very much and he is standing in my cubical as you read this.  I will post photos of Ranican later.

I thought these guys were posing like the mannequin in the window sporting shorts. I don't quite understand why anyone would roll their bluejean shorts up

 I think these signs mean place stickers here. There are a lot of signs that look like this. If you look closely at the bottom, there is one for our MLB.

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I discovered why the store fronts had steps in front of them. I met quite a few guys while we waited for our wives/girlfriends to finish their shopping. Funny, no matter what country they were from, the routine was universal. I hardly understood any of them; however, we understood why we were each there.  If you notice on the window, we are instructed how we are to respond to all of the shopping.
(Vicki) --It was very funny--at one point I go to the front of the shop and there is Ralph with 4 other guys sitting next to him (all like little ducks in a row).  I wish I would've had the camera at that point, but by the time I got the camera it was just down to Ralph and this guy.

Gelateria

So across from the "You Will Like It" store-front window was the Gelateria.  Did I mention I really like gelato?  After watching people ordering and buying, buying and ordering, eating gelato, sharing each others flavors, laughing and after 20 minutes, I couldn't take it any more.

 So after the shopping spree and realizing that Lidl's will have to wait, we ordered and bought, shared and enjoyed each other's gelatos.

We had a great time on our way back home.  We miss you guys and will post more later.  (Finito)

Photos Along the Way Home