multi-tasking
it hadn’t occurred to me, at all, that we were in prada land. i’m not big into labels, but i do appreciate fine, locally crafted goods. when i heard that one of becky’s co-worker’s was making his second trip to the factory this week, i figured it oughta be good.
from siena, we drove for forty-five minutes through a few small towns, along the autostrata, and windy roads. during the ride, i imagined a structure as beautiful as the prada aoyama boutique in tokyo, and nestled in contrast to the green tuscan hills.
there, we turned right, and towards a seemingly out of place, and out of view industrial complex. we had arrived.
i guess in terms of factories, there are worse views, but i expected more than a tan metal structure. some glass, maybe a little concrete, and definitely some color. there’s lots of green from the hills to work with, but i digress. we got out of the car, walked through the gate, and got to shopping.
before i left siena, i told becky that i was gonna buy something completely rediculous; practical, yet gratuitous. prada hiking boots or running shoes came to mind, and so i explored. i was joking with becky, of course, but when i found the prada skis i couldn’t help but laugh. it wasn’t the fact that prada has their name on ski equipment. it was the fact that here i could buy skis, poles and boots, for less than the price of the jacket that i was eyeing. sigh, it was a nice jacket.
through racks of denim, neckties, and shirts; shelves of handbags, wallets, and yesterday’s high fashion – there it was. a small, locally produced, fashionable and useful souvenir from our trip. the prada phone strap, complete with charm. in black with a brown heart (not pink), and a safe distance from the original price of 140.
now get me outta there before i think twice about letting that jacket go.
The checker said something to us we didn’t understand…. then he held up grocery bags and said “Quattro?”. Todd said, “si” and I said, “I don’t know how every many it takes”. As it turns out you have to buy grocery bags, that’s why he was asking. So we got 4 bags.
Then it was time to pay for produce. He picked up our pear and said to me, “Kaiser”. I had no idea what he was talking about. “Is he German?” So I went back to where we got the pear and found number on the sign. I came back and said “14” then drew a one and a four in the palm of my hand. He just kept saying, “Kaiser”. Then with a frantic grin, he motioned for me to follow him. He took me and Todd back to produce and showed us there is this little weighing machine that you put that number 14 into and it prints a sticker to tell you how much your produce costs. He printed our sticker and another lesson was learned. The pear was a Kaiser pear, by the way.
Besides Todd’s barley coffee mishap, we made some other interesting purchases. When we arrived home, we realized we had bought:
the dishsoap, by the way, made a lovely rabid, foaming at the mouth, dishwasher in our kitchen – a good tip that we bought the wrong soap.
Our second trip to the store was yesterday. This time we brought and used our little Italian language book.
Our first road trip was a success with no crazy events and we didn’t get lost once! I was scared to get on the Autostrada, but as it turns out (some may imagine) I have no issues with driving like a bat out of hell with a bit of disregard for the posted law.
After our trip we came home for lunch – Big surprise I made hamburgers!
Finding places for our new plants, candles and putting our bed pad over our mattress is how we spent the rest of Sunday. The beds in Europe are terribly hard. You wake up feeling like a twisted pile of bones. Hopefully our bed pad helps!
So Todd got to blogging and I got to relax. Now we are sipping wine, enjoying the evening and awaiting dinner time.
well, we don’t roll like that. i’m a fiend for lightweight keychains. i don’t like to carry a lot of stuff with me, and i don’t like the added bulge of keys. a hardware shop is a short walk from our flat, and so off i went. just up and over the hill, about fifty meters and i’m there.
the shop is small and cluttered; charming in my book. a man greeted me, “sera”. it was about four o’clock in the afternoon. “sera,” i replied, and paused. how the hell am i gonna ask for a keyring? i sifted through my pocket, and began, “vorrei due…”
“ah, uno anello chiave.” the man smiled, and signaled to follow him. through a maze of racks and shelves and benches, he led me to a chest where he opened four or five draws. there, as vanna white would, he presented an assortment of keyrings large and small.
it may not have been perfect italian, but it got the job done. two small keyrings, in the pocket. now, for adapters.
our flat has two types of electrical outlets. i’m calling them little ones and big ones, but i’m sure there’s a right name for each. since we brought an adapter and a standard american surge strip with us, we were off to a good start. however, with phone chargers, cameras and computers and the lot, a couple extra adapters are good thing to have around. i looked around the hardware store for an outlet, but none were found. instead,
“una adattatore!” the man scurried over to another part of the store and held up a few examples. the smile on his face said it all – this was the most fun he’d had all week. after all, how often do you get to play charades at work?
