Our front door. Bye Bye 152 Bidlerdijkstraat, Amsterdam.

We were picked up electrictaxi.com at 10:00 for our 12:15 flight.  We only sat for about 15 minutes at the gate–the lines for check in and security were quite long.  But everything went smoothly.  Schiphol is a very easy and nice airport.

We arrived at Bari at 2:30 and took one train from the airport to Bari Centrale where we got another train to Lecce, arriving a 5:45.  Gianni, our landlord, picked us up and showed us the sparsely furnished, modern apartment.   We got settled and he recommended a place for us (Osteria Divina Providenza) for dinner at 8:00.  He called for us and they said they were full but he cajoled them into taking our reservation.  So we walked about 15 magical minutes through the sparkling center of Lecce.  I can’t wait to see it in the light of day.

The restaurant was indeed quite full–of a British tour group. Lucky for us they left about half way through our dinner and the place felt “normal” again.  We were told they come 3 nights a week.  The food was great; we ate the classic fava bean puree and chicory for an app and we each got our own pasta dishes.  We both liked Ken’s better but mine was really good.  His was fat spaghetti with various seafood and cherry tomatoes.  Really fabulous!  I had orecchiette (little ear shaped pasta typical of Puglia) made of burnt flour with broccoli rabe and mussels and clams.

We were treated to 2 different bitterish after dinner drinks and some cookies.

I’m going to post my leftover images from Amsterdam and then it’s Italy all the way for the next 11 weeks! It’s great to hear Italian spoken here but I realize how much I don’t understand!

Interesting buildings which used to be a foundry

pretty tree at the Vondel park

Our favorite bakery guy

In the middle of the glorious museum area

red door

shiny black door

bold orange doors at 9 streets

View from our front windows