Sunday, May 3rd 2009 Blog #2

Sunday, May 3rd 2009 @ sometime past midnight
Blog #2

So much for ‘sunny Italy.’ It’s been raining since we arrived today. What a trip! We were all pretty exhausted since we skipped a day of sleep because of the time difference. Salerno is so beautiful, even with the bad weather today. I figured out quickly that unlike my time in Sicilia and Venezia, this will be VERY different. I experienced Italian culture shock today! How is this possible? We went to a family owned trattoria that literally looked like it was someone’s house. The Husband was running the place, the son the waiter, and the mother cooking in the back somewhere. We never quite received what we asked for, the service was slow, and the bill was made-up. The New Yorker in me had a difficult time dealing with this after being grumpy from travelling. On a good note, the food was delicious! I had gnocchi with garlic and zucchini flowers. I figured out quickly that I’m going to lose a lot of weight here given the size of the portions. There was about 10 gnocchi on my plate……about 1/6 of the plate I would eat at my brother’s restaurant in Brooklyn.
After a nice 6 hour nap, our local guide, a young man named Stefano, took us for a brief walk in the rain to learn the streets a little better. We went to a ‘pirate themed’ pizzeria for a late dinner. My money is going fast! I had a pitcher of Sangria and others had a lot worse if you know what I mean! But we all had a good time. Unfortunately we have a placement exam bright and early tomorrow. Yikes 0:-)

(The picture is of Regan and Bobby in front of our hostel)