On Thursday I watched out the window as they unloaded a big, round concrete thing with a hole down the center. I realized it must be fore the Christmas tree in the piazza. Sure enough a couple of hours later a truck began to maneuver itself in.

There was a difference between the way the tree is transported here and in the US. I have seen plenty of the trees that are brought into Washington DC, the capital etc. and they are trussed up tightly and on a very long flatbed truck that accommodates the full length. Not here. No trussing. Small dump truck style truck. I wondered how they must have gotten along on the highways. The tree spilled out the sides etc. Here are pictures of them trying to get down the narrow street into the piazza.

After the cherry picker managed to push the branches down so they wouldn’t take out the street lamp, the workmen had to go into the apartment on the left with a balcony full of flowers and help the old man there move them. Finally it was in the square and suspended above the ground so they could trim the trunk to fit in the hole. Sorry about the screen.

Here is the tree from our front door after it had been anchored into it’s base. It really is a big beautiful tree. I can’t wait to see it decorated!

We talked to Emanuele yesterday. Things are really shaping up over there. I am actually starting to get excited about moving in! He said next Saturday would be a good day – a week from today. He told us we couldn’t move in on Monday or Friday as they were bad luck days to move into a house. Oh-Kay. I asked him to attached my magnetic knife holder to the wall. I had bought a new one to bring with me. He was quite amazed at it. He had never seen one. I guess they don’t have them here. He also will have the shelves from the living room installed in the pantry for me. Yay! I guess it’s the Capricorn in me but nothing makes me happier than tidy storage.

And a final note. Last night in the middle of the night I was woken by a band playing. I got up and there, in the middle of the piazza, was a truck that had an entire band in it playing at the top of their lungs! I looked at the clock which read 4AM. I vaguely remember Susan mentioning this but I need to find out what the heck it was all about. Always something! They drove off out of the piazza to wake up the rest of the town.