More random thoughts....

November 1, 2003

I didn’t mention much about the chocolate festival last week, mainly because we didn’t see any of the special exhibitions like the ChocoCircus. In the past there have also been classes and lectures, but this year I was just too busy to even notice. On thing that I did want to comment on was some of the forms that chocolate took for this festival. One was something involving chocolate and chili peppers or chili powder, I’m not quite sure. Whatever it was, it did NOT appeal to me! The other things I saw, that I can’t imagine eating under ANY circumstances were various types of chocolate pasta and chocolate salami. I consider myself a pretty dedicated chocoholic, but these things are just too weird, even for me.


On another subject…..

Yesterday I didn’t have an Italian class until 11:30, but Art still had to be there for the 9:20 class. I took this opportunity to wander around the centro of Perugia and check out some of the stores. I had been stopped on my way to the bookstore by a fabulous fabric shop the other day. What caught my eye was a round table with both the larger skirt, then a smaller cover on top of that. I know there must be a word for that extra, smaller piece, but I can’t think of what it might be! Anyway, I went into the shop, and the girl spoke some English. She told me that it was possible to have one of these covers made from any of their fabrics. I told her that I had been unable to find any round tables that weren’t outrageously expensive (mostly because they were always wood tables). She then told me that I could find inexpensive, round plastic tables at Self! Another problem solved! I hade been planning to have some plywood cut in a circle and put it on top of my old nightstands…this sounds a lot easier!

One of the difficulties in finding the various shops is the way the signs are posted on the outside of the buildings. When you stand in a typical Italian street and look down it, you won’t see any sings. Maybe you will see a green cross sticking out, indicating a farmacia, but that’s about it. The signs for the stores are not mounted perpendicular to the building, but are mounted flush on the building. This makes every trip down a new street an adventure, because you never know what will be next…a bookstore, a clothing store, a small fruit and vegetable market, etc.

Because of the way these signs are mounted, my wanderings through Perugia were such an adventure! I wandered into antiques shops and bookstores and stores that carried a little bit of everything…not as grand as COIN, the large department store, but never-the-less filled with everything from yarn to pajamas to shampoo to bed linens to dishes. I found card shops and hardware stores and appliance stores. There was a sewing machine shop and more food stores than you can imagine. The food shops included the butcher, fruits and vegetables, general grocery stores, specialty shops for oil and wine and cheese and chocolate! I had so much fun, just wandering and looking, not feeling the pressure of anyone waiting for me…it was wonderful! It doesn’t take a lot to make me happy, but when you’re already this close to heaven, that’s not a surprise!