Bright and early, first day of classes! It started with espresso al bar a Café Diana in front of the Fonte Diana.
Class is very small and taught by Professoressa Luisa. There is only one other student, Tina. She is from Australia and is here visiting family who spend 6 months of the year in Sicily. Class was very intense but very good. We even have homework.
After class, Tina and I went for a leisurely lunch followed by caffe and gelatti. Afterwards, we went shopping. Tina showed me some wonderful “local” mercati. She has been here for some time and has already cultivated relationships with some of the locals. With her help, I was able to avoid the worst of the American faux pas. Tomorrow is shopping for necessities such as a clothes rack and handwash clothes soap.
For dinner, I tried to go to a very upscale restaurant – O’Sciná. Try doing a search for it.
It’s hard to do when you're one person. They offered me a table that was outside the restaurant which I gladly accepted. During the appetizer, a nice Australian woman also asked for una tavola per uno. When they told her that they had none, I invited her to join at the sidewalk table which she accepted. Apparently, this won me lots of points with the staff.
Natalie was a wonderful, intelligent, interesting dinner companion. We exchanged contact info. Conversation was so involved, I hesitate to try to summarize it. Imagine my surprise when I realized that dinner took 3 hours and it seemed like it flew by. I really enjoy this “slow food dining” experience that is the norm here. It didn’t that the waiter was gorgeous and told me that I looked just like his best friend, a web designer/internet professional. Of course, I liked him from the moment that he told me my accent was pure Sicilian. :-)
We topped off the evening with a complimentary glass of local dessert wine. I think I may have found heaven.
Buona Notte amici i miei!
---Vincenzo
Love these posts!
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