Yesterday we visited Francesca who will be helping us to get our gas and water contracts situated and our permesso started. She also helps with whatever we need so I have sent her numerous questions about things like bed sizes. They are not the same as in the US. Our mattress in our apartment seems too small for the platform. I am fine with making that our guest mattress but don’t know the sizes here. She can help.
Today we had coffee in the piazza with John and Libby, Americans who live in the hilltown near here called Montone. I have conversed with John for a long time and it was great to meet them! It was a beautiful morning and the Saturday market, which is more local producers was in full swing.
Next we decided to find another pet shop in Perugia. We plugged in the address into the GPS and it sent us right. Through. The. Middle. Of. Perugia (!) OK well we managed it and found a good tree for the cats to pick. On the way back the GPS took us through the middle of nowhere (I think she is schizophrenic). Lots of hiking trails, mountains, parks and we even found the Strada del Vino for Lago Trasameno. We stopped in a lovely winery/agriturismo and bought a couple of bottles. When we brought the cat tree to the flat they immediately, enthusiastically started to pick it. Happy days! They are very good about not picking furniture as long as we provide an alternative.
We ate lunch in and dinner out. The dinner was great, we sat outside and the weather was perfect, but way too much food! We ended up out in the Piazza for wine and grappa and Luther’s cigar. The Piazza is amazing. So much is happening from the old men playing briscola (Italian card game), to the little kids on bikes and chasing pigeons, to the table full of Brits to the 15 or so people watching the world cup. All this at around 10PM. Luther and I just looked at each other and agreed this is what we wanted. Our town is not that picturesque but it is a “real” Italian town with authentic activities. Yay, we love it.
Back to the flat to bed. Speaking of the flat. It has air conditioning but it has not been so hot that we have to use it. At night I open the windows on both ends of the living area and put the fans in and they pull in the cool overnight air. I shut the door to the zona di notte and we and the cats stay in there. I am afraid to let the cats get into the windows even though there are screens. We do sun management with the shutters, closing them when the sun is coming in and opening them when it passes on overhead. Then closing the back one in the afternoon. Works pretty well. I see we are headed for a streak of very hot weather so we shall see if we decide to use the AC. The cats with their long hair do suffer in the heat.
Tomorrow we are celebrating our friend Susan’s birthday at an agriturismo for lunch. There is an Arts on the Piazza in the afternoon and then there will be a group of us getting together for dinner. It should be fun!
Buonanotte!