Wednesday, November 13, 2024

Siena, Italia

Time to get to school! Up and at it. Can’t be lazy! Ok, I was up early and did more work in my workbook. Wanted to get a little ahead in the assignments so I didn’t appear quite so dumb in class.

Class is a little different today because today is street market day in Siena. Wednesdays are special and in the area around Fortezza Medicea and Piazza Antonio Gramsci is filled with street vendors selling just about everything. The mixture of stalls changes with the season. In the spring and summer there are more fruits and vegetables. Now it is mostly clothing, shoes and household goods. There were a few vendors selling plants and flowers.

Mary’s class went first thing in the morning. My class did two hours in the classroom before taking off for the market. We were supposed to buy things and ask questions of the vendors. I was very uncomfortable with taking up the vendor’s time with my questions, the same questions other people may have asked. I did watch Andrea work on buying a pair of shoes.

Most of the stalls have a crowd of people around them. People are looking, touching and “testing” goods. There is no return policy in Italy, not even in established stores. So, you by it and you keep it. Not like Amazon where you get to return it if you don’t like it. So you better know what you want, what it should cost and if what you are buying is the quality you are expecting.

As I walked though, I got to talk to “phone girl” a little bit. I found it she is from Israel and just graduated high school. Her father lives in Italy and she will probably go to school, university here, to study physiology. Still don’t know her name. Fortunately, she speaks both English and Hebrew. Neither one of us speaks that much Italian.  

We finished up in the market at 13:00. Mary was out shopping. We agreed to meet at the apartment at 13:30 and then go to lunch. We decided to go to lunch at Il Bar Caffetteria 4 Cantoni which is on the angolo di Via Città e Via S. Pietro. While I was going to school here in 2019 it was a good place to have afternoon tea.

Mary had the lasagna and I had the cheese and ham panino. Cuba Libra was my beverage of choice. They do make a good one here. The lasagna was ok as was the panino.

After lunch it was back to the apartment to do compiti and get ready for school tomorrow. We picked at things in the refrigerator for dinner. Took a small walk later in the day, then called it a day.

Buonanotte e ciao, Enrico e Maria