Perugia - May 26th, 2010, Part 2

After Elly's "pausa" nap we went out shopping. We bought some snacks, two shirts for Elly, a power adapter (for using Italy's electrical outlets), and some "cioccolata". This shopping took place on another long, up-and-down-stairs, meandering walk. Lots of exercise, whew! We also got two small gelatos to eat on the way back, thus negating the benefit of all that exercise. ;)

Our hop from shop to shop took us to a part of Perugia that actually LOOKED like a city, with roads and stuff. I was so shocked I snapped off a three picture photogasm.

Hours later (no exageration) we made it back to Piazza Bella Repubblica and Hotel Fortuna. A bit of freshening up and we went back out for a pizza dinner. Still unaccustomed to Italian eating, we decided to split a pizza. It will probably be best for us if we DON'T get accustomed to Italy's level of food intake, especially since we'll be returning to our sedentary lives in United States of Fatmerica. Amerifat? At any rate, back home if I ate a  two-course pasta lunch, pizza, and ice-cream all in one day I probably wouldn't need to walk several hours up-and-down stairs to get to it.

Home again, home again. Elly's laptop hard drive is filled with some American TV episodes. Watching a couple of those before bed each night has been a GREAT comfort, I highly recommend it when travelling abroad.

Culture Shock #8: Holy CRAP Italians party. Outside our window EVERY night is raucous signing, flirtatous shrieks, and other drunken revelry. The nights we've stayed so far have been Monday through Wednesday keep in mind. This isn't a weekend, or a holiday, or anything. This is SERIOUSLY worse than Boulder on The Hill.

Culture Shock #9: Customer Service. I'm learning things about my own country over here. It isn't that the customer service is BAD here, its that it isn't the finely honed razor of false smiles, "greeted by the hostess within 15 seconds", etc. They aren't the incredible drones of amazing customer service that they are in the US. Again, it isn't that they aren't attentive, polite, friendly, etc, its just... they aren't so "life or death" about how quickly and thoroughly they serve you. Once a waiter has taken your order and brought back your food you have to FLAG THOSE GUYS DOWN to get more service out of them. They're prompt and attentive once you've got their attention, though. Whether or not you need a refill, desert, etc. is entirely your responsibility, not theirs.

Culture Shock #10: The Bill. We finally figured it out today, after half a week of awkward meal endings. They don't bring you the bill here. They take the plates away, and then they don't care HOW long you want to sit at that table chatting. Only ONCE in all our meals in Italy did they bring us the bill. You're supposed to get up and pay on your way out, whenever you are ready.

Photos

Today's Vocabolario
I speak it all now, guys. Totally fluent. Nothing new to report.