We stared the day with a mission: to get clear about our phone usage/charges etc.  So we walked, outside the walls to the Vodafone store, only to find they don’t open until 3:30 on Mondays.  Well… (not writing the words here).  Since we were pretty close to the Europcar store, we walked over there to change our car pick up time on Wednesday and ask a couple of questions.  (My Italian works much better in person than on the phone)  We walked around that neighborhood.  I saw a beautiful house which is really a legal office which had a della Robbia on the wall and found a little shop to print our ballots which Leon county had emailed to us–2 pages of ballot and 5 of instructions on how to return it!  On our way back home we stopped at the Forno Casale–we are determined to taste all of the breads and focaccia before we leave.

We met Lyn and Anthony at Palazzo Pfanner for a before lunch explore.  The Palazzo was built in the mid 1600’s but sold to the Pfanner, Austrian beer brewing family, in the 1800’s.  The formal garden is full of color, huge terra cotta potted lemon trees, green lawns, mythological sculptures and a lovely fountain.  The house itself includes an almost majestic sandstone (pietra serena) staircase leading up to some rooms which are open to the public.  One includes display cases of old medical instruments.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We went to lunch at Osteria Buralli.  I loved the menu:

I had the tagliatelli with porcini and shared the fried chicken and vegetables with Ken. The pasta itself was really good and the sauce was tasty with dried porcini.  The chicken and veggies were like tempura.  I think I enjoyed it more than the others.

We said our goodbyes to A&L and started strolling.  And there it was:  Grom!  I just had to stop for what will probably be my only gelato of this trip.  I had pistacchio and nocciola which were fine but I really love the cone!  By this time it was nearly 3:30 so we walked back to the Vodafone store.  I think we have it straight now but still finding it confusing.  Of course, no one speaks English at the store.  I added €10 onto my phone for international calling.

Back at home, we just took it easy.  We had a bunch of leftovers for dinner and of course the focaccia.  This time I got the one with corn flour and it was my least favorite.  We also had 2 little leek “sformatti” which are like souffles or a savory pudding.  They were delicious with some spinach and other greens.  A satisfying meal.

We started watching a new Netflix series call River.  It was good but I’m getting tired of these British shows.

We did some Face Time with Mavis and that was that.