Around town

In addition to helping to take delivery of furniture and sitting helplessly by Pam's side while she called the gas-and-electric company on our behalf, here are a few other things I did today.

* I had a cappucio deca (decaf cappucino) with Pam at my favorite bar/caffe, La Strega, while we waited for Danny and Romano to turn up with the chairs so we could help bring them up to the apartment. (That glass of prosecco on the counter is for an older gentleman who can often be found there, having several glasses for his breakfast.)

* We had a lunch of prosciutto, torte fritte, and, for me, heavenly gnocchi in tomato sauce at l'Antica Trattoria al Duomo with Pam, Romano, and two of Romano's musician colleagues from China. With it we drank Malvasia prosecco, which I'd been thinking about since watching that old enophile at La Strega enjoying his morning tipple.





* Next I had a caffe americano in another, less busy caffe with Franca, to whom I tried to describe our apartment in italiano, with mixed success. The americano is the usual thimbleful of espresso with a side of hot water; combining them creates American-style coffee, but without any milk because you don't have milk in coffee in Italy after breakfast if you are hoping to look even partially Italian.

* Later Pam, Romano, Danny, and I drove out to a Home-Depot-type store where Danny and I ordered a medicine chest (requiring almost as many forms as buying the apartment) and admired the lighting fixtures. When it comes to home furnishings, Italians seem to draw their inspiration from drag queens.

* Danny and I released Pam and Romano from bondage for the evening and went off for pizza and salad at Fidenza Best Kebap. The pizza was not up to Italian standards, but the people-watching was great; the crowd there was mostly families and delightfully diverse.

* On the way back to our hotel we swung by Fidenza's main square, Piazza Garibaldi. In addition to the little merry-go-round that's been installed in front of the city hall since we were last here, there's now a temporary ice rink (artificially frozen--it's in the 40s or low 50s here during the day) that the nearby outlet mall is paying for, presumably partial reparation for gutting the town center's small businesses. Today was the rink's opening day and it was very busy during the afternoon. By this evening the crowd had thinned out, consisting mostly of a couple of showboating teen-aged boys who kept falling down and this very intent little girl, who didn't.

Some day we may find all this small-town life boring, but at the moment I am charmed.