Nothing much has been happening because Bill has been down and out with a terrible cold!  He finally started feeling better yesterday (Sat.) but he’s still not 100%.  When he goes down, he goes down hard!

So yesterday, in the bright sunshine, we started out to do our local grocery shopping.  As, it seems so did everyone else in the neighborhood.  Our little stores are mostly about 10ft. sq. filled with shelves and display cases so there isn’t much room to move around once you get in.  We had Pita with us and she is welcome in all the stores but other peoples’s pets are equally welcome and that just adds to the congestion!   For instance – at the vegetable market there must have been six women, one with a dog, when we went in so I stayed by the door with Pita and Bill did the shopping.  Outside were some other men and a baby buggy so all the ladies were admiring the new baby as they came and went.  I think Bill was glad to get out!   Then we went to the fish market.  I don’t know what I was expecting but there were fish, I mean like whole fish with the eyes and everything.  I have no idea what those fish were or what to do with them so we left after I tried to tell the fish guy that I had no idea what to do (in Italian).  Bill is still laughing.

We are still watching the baby sea gulls, they are now about as big as a pigeon. 

Seagull Family

I guess they’ll be flying away before long.  Mom shows up early evening to watch over them.

We saw an advertisement for a local bar called “Surfer Joe’s”.  Ad said they are the primo stop for all the “Surfer” bands.  That sounded like fun and we were trying to remember all the Beachboy’s songs.  Surfer must lose something in translation.  We found the bar and we could actually sit outside and watch and hear the band play an Elvis tune, then some country western tune.  After the break we just knew now they would play some “Surfing” music but we laughed out loud when “San Antonio Rose” was played but not to a “Two Step” rhythm.  No singing up to now but the lead guitarist did sing in English and he as good.  Now any one from Fredericksburg will be wondering about the dancing since if there’s an available 2ft square place in any bar someone will be dancing.  Not here!  No one was dancing.  But it looks like a fun place and we’ll no doubt go back.

The walk along the sea wall was packed with people of all ages, lots of families and it was probably midnight when we headed home – nothing starts before 10 or 11 PM.  There’s a carousel and some other rides for kids.

We start our Italian lessons on Tues.  We’ve been reading the children’s books that are here and have found that they are not easy to read!  Bennie the Bear gets in a lot of trouble but it’s hard to translate!  Now Bill is reading “Pengu” the Penquin, he had a birthday – the penguin, not Bill!

After church this morning we walked to the gelato store, which is seems does not really sell gelato, and I had my usual limone but Bill tried Pistachio that wasn’t – well we don’t know what it was or wasn’t.  As we were sitting there we heard some really familiar music and looked across the street to see, OMG, they were doing the “Chicken Dance”.  I think they need some instructions on how to do the “Chicken Dance”.

Looking forward to talking by Skype with families this evening.

Wow, what a day.  We started out this morning, late as usual, to go to the office of our landlord to sign the lease for the apartment.  Yes, we’ve been here nearly a month and haven’t signed anything.  You might say this is happening on Italian time but actually it has more to do with Italian red tape!

We discovered a whole new neighborhood and great new stores.  Probably won’t be shopping in any of these stores, I think we found the Galleria of Livorno!  We still haven’t found the Scotch Tape Store – I’m not kidding we haven’t found anyplace that sells tape!  But we did find the “Oil Cloth” store, to buy some fabric for the table on the porch.  Lease signed, off on the bus to find the American Market. Along the was we found a small Post Office, naturally it was closed since it was during siesta!

 Supposedly the place to buy some American foods, etc. is the American Market.  Well, what a disappointment.  First of all it’s embarrassing to think that anyone would identify American goods with that junk.  It’s mostly Army Surplus so the casual observer would think we all wear camo and carry amo boxes.

One of the things I really wanted at the American Market was Peanut Butter – sorry – I love Peanut Butter.  Check on oatmeal and coffee.  We found the PB, it was – sit down -  €7 for a regular jar of Skippy, that’s probably $10 US.  They wanted  €10 for a jar of peanuts and  €22 for a container of Maxwell House.  Can you spell Rip Off!  We did get the PB.  The clothes that weren’t camo could be found at any flea market!  So, no more American Market!

Then we walked back into the pseudo Venetian area looking for the restaurant where we ate with Paula and Jean.  Can’t believe we actually walked right to it and had lunch!  That was fun.  Walking back to the main plaza we passed an open door to an office building and went in.  It’s a beautiful old building that I’m sure was once a home. 

Next we went to the Tourist Info, they may start to recognize us, to ask more about Elba, the train schedule etc.  We need to find a kennel for Pita so we can take the bikes with us, can’t do it with Pita and the bikes.  It seems no one knows anything about boarding an animal.  The TI person sent us to a Pet Store – do not think Petco or Petsmart here.  After some walking around, around being the operative word, we found the shop and somehow got the message across but even they didn’t know any kennels!  Now at least 50% of the population here must have some kind of dog or cat so this is really strange!

Weather lovely today!

Tomorrow we look for a kennel, after consulting the Phone Book!  Who knew!  Well I looked in the Phone Book Bill looked at a web site.  We are still arguing about this.

Today is Saint Julia day, so everything is closed.

Just a few words about going to the grocery store.  Imagine in you mind, HEB, Publix, etc., But…

There are no shelves of spices.  The milk and juices come in packages off a shelf not refrigerated.  They go into the refrigerator after they are opened.  After nearly one month of searching we have come to the conculsion that Italians don’t eat oatmeal because we can’t find it in any store.  There was a container of Quaker “Quick Cook” oatmeal in the apartment when we got here so we just assumed it came from a local store.  Now we think the English apartment owner brings it with her from England.

The cereals look pretty much like what we see in the US, some are more local, we practice Italian reading the boxes!  We have yet to identify a raisin!

The meat department is easy to shop because it’s marked according to the animal – they actually have pictures of the animals, like a cow or a pig – including Horse and Rabbit.   I try to avoid that part of the display.  Canned tuna is incredibly expensive and packed in olive oil – no water here baby.

So today the sun is shining, so far, the beach house has opened and we can see people in the water on “Boogie Boards”.  It’s still way to cold for this girl!

We didn’t leave the apartment Sunday, it was so rainy and cold.  Well, I didn’t leave the apartment – Bill had to walk Pita!  We had on sweatshirts, etc. with all the windows closed!  Couldn’t figure out how to get the heat on.  And, it’s how many degrees in Texas?

We studied our Italian, I read a book and then we got to talk to Mitch and family via Skype!  Wow, that is so cool.  We can see them in their home and we gave them a short tour of the apartment!  We topped off the day by watching “The Shining” in Italian.  It was weird enough in English!

So Monday dawns sunny and warm and we are ready to get some grocery shopping done since all we had to eat on Sunday was salami and bread and tomorrow is a local holiday – St. Julia – the Patron Saint of Livorno.  Off to Billa on the bus.  Even though we don’t always do everything right in the grocery store they are always nice to us – like we didn’t weigh the cantalope.  They do have the scale with the numbers of products, like Central Market.

One if the local stations has “Letterman” in English at 10AM.  We were so excited!  We actually had US news.  The Italians are not much on news that we can tell – even the earthquake had minimal coverage – probably more in the foreigh news!  This is if you can concider “Letterman” news.  We did not feel the earthquake, were surprised it was as strong as they said and we’re on the fifth floor so we should notice.

We decided to go look for one of the Vet. Clinics for which we had an address.  It ended up with Bill biking down a very busy road while Chicken Little Carol waited at the corner!  Not open today so we still don’t have any idea regarding vets, etc.

So, tonight we had the first real dinner we’ve had in days, this does not mean we don’t have anything to eat it just excludes cheese and salami.  So a few words about our kitchen.  First, it’s really small.   We are both used to having multitudes of assocories at our finger tips – not anymore.  But somehow it all comes together.  We only have two working burners on the stove so that sort of slows things down.  But I have to admit we do miss having a microwave!  I am tempted to go buy some silverware because what they left us is so lame but there are no “Tuesday Mornings” that we have found!

We gave another possibility for visitors in July – my friend Agnes and her grandsons are doing the “Euorpean Tour”.   Agnes was born and raised in Poland so they are starting there.

Across the main road from us are lines of  “cabanas” that are rented during the summer for those that want to take advantage of the sun and the surf.   There’s no real “beach” here but a pool for swimming  the season opens tomorrow so our traffic should really increase around here.  Right now if we had a car I can’t imagine how we would ever find a place to park it!

My Seagull family seems to be doing well they were on the roof this evening and “Momma” seagull was making noises that I interepted as “It’s about time you showed up with the dinner for these kids.”  Bill has a different interpredation.

Tomorrow is a local holiday so we’ll be close to home, studying our Italian, etc.

We’re waiting for you!

Carol and Bill

 Oh man. Proud of Dr. Bill. Got to see him in hood and all on Skype. And then at 4:00 AM got a skpe call from Bill’s party. Got to talk to almost everyone. What a treat!. Everybody was having a great time at the party as is evidenced by the fact that I could hardly hear anybody. I did hear the word “wine ” several times. Hmmm. Hear that here in Livorno a lot too. Tempted to call back at 4:00 AM Dallas time, but no, I’m not that evil.

Livorno living is really an experience. We get to go to the store most evenings and try to communicate with people in some klind of mix between bad English and terrible Italian. But it’s good enough to get bread and wine, so who cares after that? As a matter of fact, we are strongly considering Italian lessons from a school here. They seem a little expensive, but, oh well, did we come her to learn how to wave our hands to pick out cheese?

OK, my girlfriend, who many of you know as Carola, is getting fixated on the family of Sea Gulls that is living on the roof of our next door apartment. There is a mommy Gull, a papa Gull, and about three little Gull chicks. When Carol first

Next door Apt. A. K. A. Sea Gull roost

saw the chicks she thought they were rats. Anyhow, every night the Gulls roost on the roof and the little Gulls come out to play. The chicks get precariously close to the roof edge. Carol shouts at the mother (or maybe it’s the father – Sea Gull sexing not one of my strong points), “Watch that bird. Make sure it dosn’t fall off.” Okay, it is five stories or maybe three to the ground but IT’S A BIRD. It might be able to handle heights, good grief. I doubt  there are many birds born with vertigo.

Anyway, with our wildlife management chores and our learing of Italian and our checking of the harbor to make sure they aren’t bringing in too many or too few ships, we are really very busy. It’s a tough life but no one has to do it – or some phrase like that.

Oh yeah, I bought a new pair of pants yesterday. I know, updating my so called wardrobe is not a usual occurence for me, but my girlfriend is a fashionista, so what can I do?  I’m a size 56 in Italy.??? That doesn’t translate to centimeters or anything else I can figure, but I guess sizes never make sense the world over. Anyway, Carol is hemming my newly obtained pants. A good reason to lug 13 pounds of sewing machine 7000 mile or so, I might add.

I wake up every day thinking, “Wow, do I deserve this?” Well, of course I do but damn it’s a good thing.

Today we decided to do the grocery thing we started yesterday.  Only today we’re on the bikes and Pita is waiting at home!  Well, we got started OK and then couldn’t find the street to turn down to get to the store. 

As we were standing, in our bike clothes, by the busy street looking at the map a woman headed toward us looking very determined. 

Grocery bike. How much is gas?

Then, she calls out “Are you lost?  Do you need some help?”  In English, Praise the Lord!  So she gave us directions and cautioned us to be careful (it’s a busy steet).  Due to the fact that I actually listen when someone gives me directions we got there with no problems.  We’re in heaven, a grocery store with more than one kind of product and we’re in no hurry and all the little old ladies with their kamakazie carts are home taking a nap.  Then we realize that we have to get all the groceries in the bag on the bike!  Well, we did it and got home with no problem.

I went up the stairs with the groceries while Bill locked up the bikes.  Pita tore out the door, without her leash, and headed full steam down the stairs!  So she got to take a walk without her leash!

I wrote earlier regarding the wall plug problem

Electric sockets Italian style – ok, Bill style

and Bill finally got two appliances plugged into one plug.  I took a picture, it’s quite a feat!  Now we just have to be careful not to turn both of them on at the same time!

All is well.  Pita has fresh food, Bill makes her dog food, she truly is the Diva, and we made another successful trip gathering supplies and learning about life in Livorno, IT

We can see four islands from our kitchen window so Bill took the compass and tracked on the map what we see – Giogona, Capri, Elba and part of Corsica.

We had to log in as Bill because my password isn’t working.

Picture from Castellaccio

After some discussion yesterday morning we decided it was indeed the 15th and Bill’s birthday!  He decided for us to do the all day bus ride – a E3 ticket gets all day rides on the local buses.  First we had to go to the sewing machine shop to get a replacement part for the sewing machine loaned to me for the trip, then to the Tourist Information to get the bus tickets.

We had saved up a lot of questions for the TI, like how to figure out the fares for the ferries going to and from the coastal islands.  We wanted to see about going to the Island of di Gorgona, remember Bill thought we might go camping?  Also check into how to get to Elba.  We mentioned that we wanted to go to Gorgona and the TI said that we couldn’t go there – because it’s a prison!   The building we saw on Google is NOT a hotel but a prison.  But we could go with a group.  This still doesn’t explain the way they have the fares listed but, oh, well.  To go to Elba we need to take a train to Piombino.  We will do that!  We really did get a laugh out of that mistake!

So we started out on our self guided bus tour.  Bill wanted to go to the furthest point of the bus route and have lunch, then come back and do the rest of the city.  Sounded like a good plan and I won’t go into all the things that made it go wrong but the bottom line is we got up the mountain to a little hamlet called Castellaccio only to discover that we would be stuck up there for 3 hours till another bus went back to town.  This with all the stores closed for the mid day siesta!  Everything closes from about noon till 4 all over the city. 

A castle while waiting for a bus

So we had a long time to rest!  The ride is really beautiful up a winding hill with views of the Tuscan Mountains on one side and the seashore on the other!

We had dinner to celebrate the birthday at a local restaurant where we had not been before.  Eureka, the waitress speaks really good English.  She was so much fun and the dinner was great, she brought a dessert with candles and the numbers “40″.  Lot’s of laughs!  She also gave us directions to a vet clinic where they do boarding of pets.  I think she’s our new best friend!

Still windy all night, I could hardly sleep trying to be sure everything wasn’t blowing away!

MAY 16, 2012

Still windy this morning, the sea is rough enough that the waves are washing over the sea wall!  But the sun is out and it’s a beautiful day, just not for biking.

We’ve decided we need to get really serious about our Italian so we’re devoting more time each day to our Rosetta Stone.  Bill is so much better that I am!  To make us feel really dumb my good friend Agnes wrote that she taught herself Italian before a trip and it was easy.  Of course she was probably 20 when she did that.

We found another real grocery store while biking – remember the aggressive shoppers?  Today we were going to walk there with Pita, even fashioned a little cart to bring the groceries home.  Good plan except we left out some really important things – like no way to keep things cool.  Anyway, we gave up the march about halfway there and decided to do our shopping at our local shops.  Only problem is they close on Wed!  So it was Pizza at another local shop tonight!

Bill is looking forward to watching the “Hooding” tomorrow from Dallas when son Bill gets his PHD hood!  Seems we can watch it on the internet! Oops see Bill’s comment.

We are set up for Skype, our name is CarolandBill10.  Call us!

Livorno is not a very big city, which we have discovered on our bikes and on foot.  It’s possible to go from one side of town to the other in less than an hour – on foot.  The interesting thing, for me, being from Houston which spreads for miles, is that no one seems to live in a single family dwelling – like a house.  So far we haven’t seen a house!  Just apartments, and those mostly less than 6 floors.

Once again we started out on the bikes, this time to find a road less traveled that leads into the countryside.   I won’t go into the details but we didn’t find a road less traveled that goes into the countryside.  Maybe tomorrow!  We did find another grocery store that sells more than one or two specific items.  It was so crowded we could hardly move and the Italian ladies are pretty aggressive shoppers!!  They have these hand held scanners that they scan the items they have in their basket so when they get to the check out the clerk just enters the info into the register and doesn’t have to check each item.  We don’t have those at HEB.

The fruits and vegetables seem to be mostly local and the strawberries were really good!!  We got our small bag home on the bikes!

Yesterday was so windy we hardly left the apartment and couldn’t even open the doors or windows on one side of the building or the wind would blow everything over!  We lost a couple of vases that I hope were not expensive!   Today the awnings are down and we’re enjoying the porch!

My Assistant Harbor Master saw this sailboat

Sailboat in the Med from our balcony

this morning so we tried to get a picture with his phone! The picture is out our apartment window. The graininess is due to the lack of much zoom capability, but you get the idea of what things we can see from our balcony.

Trying to figure out how to get the ferry to Elba, or Corsica!  There’s a closer island that seems to be a National Park but the ferry doesn’t go everyday so that means staying for a day or two – Bill suggested camping.  There seems to be a nice hotel!

Later!

I convinced Bill we should walk to the area known in Livorno as the Venice look alike.  It’s probably a mile or more down the main street from our place.  We couldn’t locate the street indicated on the map so in true Fahle Fashion we headed in the “right direction”.  Eventually, we found what we wanted to see which was a big disappointment, maybe one street along a canal that may or may not look like Venice.

No photos for awhile – Bill dropped my camera!

The day was saved by finding a table at a small bar to have a glass of wine before heading back.  Note, there are very few fat people here.  You can tell we were doing a lot of people watching.  The walk back seemed way longer than the walk there and Pita was falling behind!

SUNDAY, MAY 13, 2012

Happy Mother’s Day to all my daughters-in-law, I love all of you, I am a lucky woman!  And to Kim the mother of my great grandsons!

We went to church at San Jacapo.  Walked up and saw a big crowd outside the church which turned out to be from the previous Mass which was a First Communion celebration.  The girls in their white dresses and the boys in long white cassocks.  The 11:00 Mass is apparently for children of all ages, the Priest directs his sermon directly to the young people sitting in front.  Well this was a first, during communion the song involved clapping, yes clapping in the Catholic Church.  My Presbyterian heart was a flutter.  Clapping in church?  The church was packed, SRO, and it’s not air conditioned!

We’re pretty much confined inside today, it’s too windy to bike and looks like rain!

We finally got off to Pisa.  Somehow it takes all morning to get out the door!  We wanted to get there in the afternoon so the crowds from the cruise ships would be gone, or about to be.  Remember this statement!

It took thirty minutes to get from our apartment to the stazione and maybe 15 minutes to get to Pisa.  We’re trying to decide if riding our bikes to the station might get us there quicker but actually it doesn’t matter!  The train was so crowded we could hardly get on, let alone find a seat.  Lot’s of young people with bags of all variety probably going to Pisa to the University.  As it turns out everyone was going or already in Pisa and the crowds didn’t lessen the entire time we were there – so much for that theory.  But then whenever Bill and I decide to sight see it seems the schools are notified and all the kids are out looking at the sights with us.

The University at Pisa is one of the oldest in Europe and the law school is quite famous, as well as old.  Grandson David is studying Italian, could Pisa be in his future?

Pisa is old, very old, as in BC old.  The history is interesting but Bill doesn’t like me to narrate while we’re walking along – sorry Rick Steves.  He prefers to get lost on our (his) own.  We stopped just before the Tower to get lunch and found a really cheap place that was good.  I’m having a hard time here not being a PITA with my fanning the cigarette smoke.  Every one seems to smoke!!!

The Tower is still leaning

The still leaning tower

in spite of all the tourists that pretend to be pushing it back or holding it up!  We visited the  Duomo and decided to leave climbing the tower and Baptistry for another time – maybe when there aren’t so many tourists!  Like we’re not tourists!  So whoever gets here next be ready to climb the Tower.  There are a lot of shops and I found a quilt shop that had my brand of sewing machine and it wasn’t open!  Maybe next time.  Guess I don’t need to mention that I didn’t do any shopping or much window shopping!

The Duomo

The duoomo

is amazing, not to be missed.  Carvings, tombs, Gallileo’s lamp, some guy with a silver face (you have to be there).

Trip home was more comfortable with the train not so crowded!  So we did our evening walk along the seashore to try to get some sunset pictures and watch the many ships

Big cruise ship in the sunset.

coming and going.

SABATO

The weather is getting warmer during the day but the mornings are very cool.  Once again we didn’t get out very early for our Adventure Ride.  Bill wanted to check out the hippodrome stadium that is close by which turns out to be the soccer stadium.  Then we rode around narrow streets, got sort of lost (confused is better) and finally got back to the apartment without any blood being spilled!   The bikes, motor scooters, cars, trucks, etc. all seem to ride along the same street with no one stopping or honking.  The street being barely able to have two cars side by side!

There is an American Air Force Base nearby but they keep a very low profile.  Early this morning I heard multiple planes taking off so I wanted to check the news to see what’s happening in the world.  There seems to be no world news on the local TV – do thay care?  The newpapers mostly Italian politics – imagine that – so we have to rely on the internet.

Pita is getting used to going up and down the stairs by herself which helps Bill not to have to make an extra trip!

And now, the European electric plug confusion.  There are very few wall plugs in the apartment and each one seems to need a different plug or adaptor so we run around with the appliances to see where we can plug it in.   Finding a trasformer for my sewing machine was the easy part!  There are some applicances (European made) that have two or three adaptors to get them on.

Next adventure may be going to Elba.  Guess we’d better read up on our history!

Bill will post some pictures – I’m going to check on the shipping business to make sure they all get into port.