Blogs Archives - Page 4 of 4 - Just Doing Paradise

Landing in Rome, Italy is always thrilling for me – no matter how long the trip has been to get there. There’s something about the excitement simply of ‘landing in Rome’. It sounds exciting!

Coming in the daylight, you fly over a beautiful green, lush, countryside with hills and mountains. It’s such a stark change from the Sonoran Desert of Phoenix, and it’s just stunning.

Once through customs and baggage claim, now the interesting part. Getting a cup of coffee or a bottle of water and then walking on to the train station at the terminal inside the airport.

The Italian trains are new clean, disinfected and just lovely. They have CCTV inside with screens and you can watch everything going on inside the train. The CCTV also tells you each stop and shows you a map of where you are and where you’re going. I can take the train from the airport to Orte, my village, which makes it easier and less handling of my luggage, having to move all of it on and off multiple trains. I’ve taken a train to Roma termini in the past, changing trains (ugh) and I just want to get home.

But the Orte direct train is a two hour train trip as there are many local stops and you decompress, and take in all the beauty of these little towns, cities and villages with all their charm, graffiti and their beautiful countryside.

Orte is a major train hub so I can get to just about anywhere in Italy from my little village on a train. Getting off the train I feel at home – I’m here.

Now I wait for the little local bus, which will actually be faster than the local taxi!

Stunningly I quickly remember that just about every automobile driver in Italy seems to think they are some version of Mario Andretti!! And it is no different with this new bus driver. My luggage continues to fly all over the back end of the bus! And finally I just let it go. There aren’t that many people on the bus and I will get to where I need to go in a few minutes so who cares. My stop is at the Populi Piazza in Centro Storico (the historic area of the town).

Going to my apartment is melancholy. I get to see all parts of my village that bring me joy. From the cafés/bars to the grocery store, the churches, the restaurants, the wine bars, and the stunning church in the main piazza – just make my heart sing. I’m home. That being said, I’m lugging three pieces of heavy luggage up 16 steps and that is no piece of cake!

I always carry all my own luggage. Although I did have numerous offers of help to get it on the train and off, the Italians are truly truly lovely sweet people, which I graciously accepted.

I stopped at my local Tabacchi store and paid for my cell phone to be back on in Italy. I converted to an E Sim card in the States so I can get Italy and the States without having to change Sim cards. Which is pretty cool. However, calling me from the US or me calling someone in the US is a bit pricey and best done on WhatsApp and email.

And one of my local cafés has Wi-Fi so at least I can check in with my family and let them know I arrived safely.

I have my obligatory decaf cappuccino, send messages and say goodbye to the Cafe owner for the evening. I pass another one of my favorite cafés on the way to my apartment and I stop in there and have another decaf cappuccino! Speaking with the owners of each café, where one speaks English and one doesn’t, is still so enjoyable and fun and I’ve missed them.

Turning on my Wi-Fi will require a trip to the TIM store which I will do very soon.

It’s so quiet here at night, generally And the weather has changed. It’s cool through the day, very lovely fall weather. And almost getting too cold at night to leave the windows open.

Italy wants everybody to economize on heating their homes so in my region, I am requested to not turn on my radiator heat until November 7th. I can do that. I think.

So the next morning, not wanting to get out of bed, but having to, I head over to the grocery store in my neighborhood to get some milk to froth and make my own cappuccino and a few other things. I hadn’t planned on buying more cheese, but I did. The cheese, and the olives here are outrageous. The ladies in the grocery store are so sweet. They always speak to me when I go in there and when I see them out on the streets later. Just lovely. And again I am on my journey of fun and speaking/smiling a requisite “Bongiorno, Ciao, and Salve” to my neighbors.

After the short grocery trip, it’s time to go check on how to pay my utility bills while I was gone and I have some sort of mail at the local post office that they tried to deliver twice to me in October. So I need to find out what that is. I did find out that I belong to a condominium association here and it appears that I am required to pay 9 euros annually. Oh I guess I can do that. I’m more concerned about the utility bills as utilities have gone up in Italy, and they’re low on gas for heating and cooking. I’ll have to find out more on that. Of course the post office and energy company are closed. Back tomorrow morning!!!

Then I walked over to the local Chinese store and picked up a few things, napkins, an outdoor lightbulb, and a few minor things. It’s a little striking to the brain when the very nice Chinese ladies speak excellent Italian to me which I again have to defer to Google translate, or they just explain to me in Italian and I understand. Being immersed in a language teaches one very quickly.

I’m looking for a particular item in the store and they don’t have it. So now I shall be on the hunt for an adventure to find it!

Of course I find nap-time to be invaluable in trying to change to this time zone. And early evening I head into the village, main piazza to see if I can pay my Wi-Fi bill with more information to provide Alessia in the tabacchi store but no. I have to go to the TIM store tomorrow.

I stop and chat with Sylvia at her Enoteca in the Piazza (the local wine bar) as she speaks fairly good English. We catch up a little bit and she calls her sister and makes an appointment for me to get my hair cut at 11 AM the next morning. I really need it, but as I’m standing there chatting with her, I hear music somewhere in the area…and I walk towards the music and the Produce store. I actually wanted to get over to the Produce store and pick up some fruit, maybe some of the huge red, green and yellow peppers. Also to see if sweet potatoes are in season yet. Sweet potatoes are not in season yet.

The music gets louder and louder the closer I get to the Produce store and finally, I realize Max, who owns the store, is inside playing his saxophone. So you know those vegetables and fruits are thrilled and so am I.

I haven’t seen Max in three months and this is the first time I ever caught him playing his saxophone in his store by himself. So I took a video and thought you might enjoy it. He stopped playing to smile at me and I waved him to keep playing that I was videotaping him. Just nice people here.

And the big news of the village, which is huge – is that they are repairing and replacing the street on my side of the village! I am so delighted and excited I can’t see straight. Oh, what we older people find fascinating and joyful!! There is an alternate route that I can walk, so it really won’t be a problem for me during the construction.

And the second interesting piece of news is that there is the Orte Cantina Festival on the last Sunday in November. Where you buy a ticket and the guide takes you around Orte Centro Storico for food and wine! How lovely is that! You bet I’ll be doing that and inviting my ‘not to close, but not too far’ neighbors, Michael and Toni, to come enjoy it with me.

I also had a lovely visit this evening with Daniela, Annarita, and little Noemi to give me the Italian ‘cheek cheek’ greeting and we visited for awhile. Daniela watches my apartment when I am gone and waters my flowers. She wouldn’t let me pay her but asked for a book from America. I actually had a book on my nightstand from America and gave that to her before I left. And I brought her some nice turquoise jewelry, and two large informational journals on Arizona specifically the landscape and the Indians, I thought she might find interesting. Some Christmas ornaments and a book for Noemi.

Tomorrow…

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Category: Blogs

Blog 10 It wasn’t Narnia

Blog 9 Spello

Blog 8 Teaching…what????

Blog 7 The Art of the Italian Kitchen

Blog 6 Roma

Blog 5 Arezzo

Blog 4 Orte Evening

Blog 3 Orte – Italian Bureaucracy

Blog 2 Orte

Blog 1 Rome