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Travel Journal: Italy, Day 3 (Part II)
I wrote the previous entry at a cafe, where I ordered my first Italian caffe latte. It was delicious.
It's funny how, in the US, that latte would have cost about as much but been three times larger. It's funny how much smaller everything here is - the only American cities I've seen with a tolerance for things (spaces, mostly) this small are New York and Chicago. Makes me wonder if the size on everything in the US is somehow psychologically connected to the amount of land we feel like we have. Sorry, tangent.
We left the cafe and spent the day wandering around Lucca, just checking things out. We stopped in to several cafes trying to find something to eat, and finally found a place near the Piazza San Michele that had a tuna sandwich with no cheese! J is going to have a real challenge eating over here - nearly everthing has some kind of red meat, dairy, or chocolate in it somewhere. Poor dude.
We stopped in at a tourist info center, and they told us where to find a grocery store. We picked up a few staples - rice milk (no soy to be found), granola, pasta, sauce, olive oil, tea, etc. That should help tide us over. I'd also love to keep my spending down - I have approximately $100/day budgeted, but I have to keep in mind that I have no job when I get back. I'd like to get a few souvenirs for people, though, and it would be sweet if I could getta me somma that fine Italian leath-ah.
We're in the apartment now, it's raining outside (we got a little wet on the way back from the supermarket), and I feel so good. I...OH MY GOD. We just blew up our stove. More after we clean up...
Okay, Jeremy is cleaning up. The stove in this apartment has a glass top that swivels up and down. Apparently, you put it up while you're cooking, and down when you're not (maybe to make more counter space, or just to hide the ugly burners, who knows). Well, we thought it was a glass-top cooking surface - so we lifted it, lit the burner, then put it back down and set the tea water to boil on top. A few minutes later - BOOM. So, between the €40 traffic ticket and compensating Enrico for the damage, everyone I know is going to be getting a postcard as a souvenir.
Posted September 28, 2003 6:00 PM | On This Day: 2005 2002