Monday is another Italian holiday and I’m off to Venice on Tuesday, so today is my last language class until next Friday. I walked around the area and went to Cibrèo Trattoria (https://www.cibreo.com/en/cibreo-trattoria/) for lunch. Cibrèo is a culinary empire begun in 1979 and has a quite famous restaurant, also a caffè and trattoria. I first tried the caffè which was too crowded and they suggested the trattoria, which was mostly empty. There are two rooms and the first had some guests including an American family with crying kids, and there was no one in the adjacent room, so that’s where I was seated. I had a wonderful porcini mushroom soup and then chicken and ricotta meatballs, accompanied by the typical Tuscan rustic bread and a glass of chianti. Nan explained that the bread is different in every city, and in Firenze it is unsalted because the food has salt.
After lunch I headed back to the supermarket as I needed some additional items, then popped over to Nan and Mauro's for a small dinner with them after our usual great conversation. There is always laughter, but it's tinged with the overload everyone if feeling about the war in Ukraine. I learned that one station shows three hours of war coverage each day before the normal news hour - it is very close and very personal for everyone here. First off, their costs for oil and gas have skyrocketed, and many factories are closing because they need fuel to operate their equipment, so people are losing their jobs after all the problems during COVID. The war is so much closer to people in Europe, both geographically and historically, we never had battles in the US, but every country in Europe has the institutional memory of the horrors of war on their doorsteps.
It's also important for me to explain more about my adventure so far as part of the reason for this trip was to challenge myself. I have never lived by myself, nor been in a situation that could be considered quite uncomfortable and not super easy to communicate with people, but it was something I wanted to try. As you’ve read earlier, I was negative about the flights, my landlady and the apartment – but realized through good input from several people that I needed to adjust my attitude – all part of the adventure. I am now taking a different approach, not getting frustrated with things being so outside my usual comfort zone, and learning that I can survive on my own and perhaps even triumph. Those of you who know me will recognize this is a new methodology – basically understanding that there is nothing that I must overcome, I just need to process my current life with a more positive attitude. Believe it or not, it’s starting to work.
It is also fascinating walking past all these wonderful old buildings and monuments, and not having to always whip out a camera to take a photo - because I will walk by them for months longer. It reminded me of a time I was visiting Firenze years ago and Sandy had taken a trip to Belgrade one weekend. Nan and I went to Via Tornabuoni as I was looking for some cool corduroy pants and I found a pair at Zegna. The salesperson asked if I needed them altered by that evening so that I would have them for the next leg of my travels, assuming the bus was leaving that evening for it's next stop. I had the pleasure of saying, "Nope, I'll just pick them up next week," - made me feel a bit like a local.
After lunch I headed back to the supermarket as I needed some additional items, then popped over to Nan and Mauro's for a small dinner with them after our usual great conversation. There is always laughter, but it's tinged with the overload everyone if feeling about the war in Ukraine. I learned that one station shows three hours of war coverage each day before the normal news hour - it is very close and very personal for everyone here. First off, their costs for oil and gas have skyrocketed, and many factories are closing because they need fuel to operate their equipment, so people are losing their jobs after all the problems during COVID. The war is so much closer to people in Europe, both geographically and historically, we never had battles in the US, but every country in Europe has the institutional memory of the horrors of war on their doorsteps.
It's also important for me to explain more about my adventure so far as part of the reason for this trip was to challenge myself. I have never lived by myself, nor been in a situation that could be considered quite uncomfortable and not super easy to communicate with people, but it was something I wanted to try. As you’ve read earlier, I was negative about the flights, my landlady and the apartment – but realized through good input from several people that I needed to adjust my attitude – all part of the adventure. I am now taking a different approach, not getting frustrated with things being so outside my usual comfort zone, and learning that I can survive on my own and perhaps even triumph. Those of you who know me will recognize this is a new methodology – basically understanding that there is nothing that I must overcome, I just need to process my current life with a more positive attitude. Believe it or not, it’s starting to work.
It is also fascinating walking past all these wonderful old buildings and monuments, and not having to always whip out a camera to take a photo - because I will walk by them for months longer. It reminded me of a time I was visiting Firenze years ago and Sandy had taken a trip to Belgrade one weekend. Nan and I went to Via Tornabuoni as I was looking for some cool corduroy pants and I found a pair at Zegna. The salesperson asked if I needed them altered by that evening so that I would have them for the next leg of my travels, assuming the bus was leaving that evening for it's next stop. I had the pleasure of saying, "Nope, I'll just pick them up next week," - made me feel a bit like a local.