a bit more

A sculpture from the 10th or 11th century - and yet I know just how she feels. She's hearing that her sump pump has exploded.

 The Castelli from inside. I told Bruce it looks like a Vermeer painting.

One of the great tests of travellers - dinner. I had bought the Guide du Routard in France, which gives great recomms for dining and staying. But its map does not extend this far north. Bruce checked out the recomms that came with the apartment, and since it was still pouring and cold, we checked and decided on a place only a few blocks away: Ristorante San Mina, a local pizzeria/bistro.

OMG. The perfect place, utterly without pretension; we were the only people not speaking Italian, and also, of course, at 7.20, the earliest, except for the staff. The food was incredible, so was the service; at the end, after I'd paid the bill - my treat to Bruce, to thank him for all he has done to set up this trip - the lovely waitress asked if we'd like a little limoncello or another digestif - so we both had limoncello, which I've wanted to taste since we toured the Amalfi coast, where it comes from, and never got around to drinking some there. Delicioso!

We had of course bruschetta, which Bruce is teaching me to pronounce correctly - then I had risotto Milanese which I felt obligated to try but which I'd not take again - too salty - and he had pasta, and then the secundo, he had grilled vegetables and I had a platter with mixed fish and vegetables, which I shared with him. Incredibly good. Zucchini and calamari crispy like French fries. Heaven. And then, after stopping in a grocery story where Bruce bought water and I watched a young couple - he buying dinner, very thin steak and salad and water, and she obsessed with her cellphone - home in the still-pouring rain.

"We did 16,000 steps today," Bruce just told me.