First World Problems:

I was at the farmers' market last Saturday, picking out some luscious peaches.  I went to pay, opened my purse & heard myself say "oh, no - I only have euros...."

 

We are recovering nicely from the big trip.  We can almost stay awake during normal Central Time hours and only require one- to three-hour naps every afternoon.  Suffering severe gelato withdrawal and we’re noticing there is way too much English spoken wherever we go.  Sigh, we’re not in Italy anymore…

The first day back it rained.  All day, as if the earth itself was in mourning for our lost Italian adventure.  But, of course it rained.  It was a day.  In Louisiana.  In the summer. Not that we noticed much.  We were too busy examining the insides of our eyelids.

I came to understand Frances Mayes (although in our case, the book would have been Out of the Tuscan Sun- yes, it was that hot).   Had we the resources, there would have been no way we would have left after our vacation, either.   Eventually, I might have been able to do more with the language than order wine, although that was a superb limitation to live with.

This trip was a result of a posthumous gift, and, as “found” money, we were determined to do nothing practical with it.  We already had what we needed.  This was what we wanted.

Not really interested in a guided tour, yet unsure how we would negotiate trains & sightseeing with limited language skills, we booked a compromise – three days in each of three cities, with half the time each place completely on our own.  It turned out that it was a lot of fun traveling WITH people without having to constantly. And there was always someone to help move suitcases onto the train!

Coming up:  Three Days in Rome, or why we wore pajamas to the Vatican.