Friends with a new baby and some irritating people

Wednesday and Thursday Maurizio was off and although we had wanted to spend the day in Lucca the weather was crap and it rained/snowed for both of his days off and instead we spent these two days cleaning the house and running errands. Much less exciting than the original plans. So Wednesday I woke up early and went to the gym to continue my training for this upcoming half marathon and I let Maurizio sleep late. When I got home he was still in bed but when he got up we had a big breakfast of pancakes, eggs, and bacon. We took it easy the rest of the day and cleaned up the house. Later in the afternoon we went to the store and bought Maurizio a new pair of running shoes because I am determined to make him run with me. Finally later in the evening we were able to catch up with our friends Luigi and Elisa. They just had a baby and they have been so busy we haven’t been able to see them or the baby and we have had their baby present sitting in the house for a week now.

The baby, Jacopo, was absolutely beautiful he was so little. Elisa asked me if I wanted to hold him but he was so little I was absolutely afraid of him and told her no. Maurizio said no also but I have never seen him hold a baby!! It should be interesting when we have children of our own. Luigi and Elisa were so happy together. They are the nicest couple ever. We all spoke only in Italian, which was great practice for me. In Italy, the customs when you enter someone’s home are much different than in America. Sure in America we are always accommodating and offering beverages to guests whom stop by but its just so different here. As soon as we entered Elisa immediately got out her lace tablecloth and started preparing the table. We were offered prosecco and soon after the table was full of pretzels, pistachios, crackers, candy, bread, percorino cheese, parmigiano cheese, and salami. I felt terrible, here they are exhausted with a new baby and they don’t lose a beat in their hospitality skills. What started as a quick visit turned into a 1.5-hour aperitivo. (aperitivo in Italy is the time before dinner when you have snacks and drinks, not heavy drinking most times either non-alcoholic or prosecco, something lighter.) It was really nice seeing them and Elisa and I made plans to meet in the near future to work on her English and to work on my conversational Italian.

Thursday, we woke up a bit earlier and planned on putting Maurizio’s new shoes to the test but unfortunately the rain just hadn’t stopped so instead we decided to go shopping for the upcoming 18th birthday of our niece Francesca and the 10th birthday of our nephew Davide. We went to several stores searching for something for them but had very little luck. After buying 10 boxes of nespresso capsules at Coin, we agreed it was time for lunch. We decided to have soup for lunch and there was a place, a little hole in the wall, that served Italian soups in bread bowls that I wanted to try so we were off. When we arrived it was after 1pm and I had thought the lunch crowd would have been gone but it was still pretty busy. Here is Italy at the smaller places its not abnormal to see people squeezed into sitting places at bars or standing enjoying their meals. Italians, like many Europeans, stuff themselves into places and don’t really worry about personal space. I am accustomed to this so it doesn’t much bother me anymore. Maurizio and I made our way to the cashier and ordered our soups. I ordered a pan seared steak in tomato sauce in a bread bowl and Maurizio got the Lampredotto. I DON’T do lampredotto! Lampredotto is a very popular Tuscan dish that is basically composed of the intestine of a cow. To the intestine, they add water, tomato, onion, celery and other spices to make the dish. After we received our dishes we attempted to find a place to sit. There was a bar close to the window which had 4 seats but there was a couple, that looked like they were finishing, which had spread out covering the whole bar. I thought this was ridiculous and approached the 4th chair making room for myself at the end of the bar. The couple seeing that there were two of us made absolutely no attempt to create room for the both of us. Because the space was very limited, I had to push the chair in and use the backside to hang our jackets then I stood. They still made no attempt to create room and Maurizio instead sat on a small bench and used another ledge as a sort of table behind me. We started to settle in hoping they would soon leave. I noticed that they were completely done eating, they had no food left on their plates, no wine, and they were finishing their espressos. Then, a crowd of more people entered the bar; there were no available seats anywhere. This couple just continued to sit there, doing absolutely nothing, no drinking, no eating, NOTHING! I was so irritated.

By this time, Maurizio and I had eaten half of our lunch so I was a bit over it, what bothered me was the amount of people who were literally standing in the middle of the bar not able to eat comfortably because these two people were being so RUDE! The owner, I think, in an attempt to get them to leave came and picked up their plates although most of the people disposed of their own. They just continued sitting there with nothing in front of them. I was so irritated! They had another plate that they had pushed in front of me and I turned and asked them in Italian, “is this yours” and they just stared at me with a stupid look on their face. I asked Maurizio to throw it away and then we realized they weren’t Italian, they were French. Go figure right?? So by the time Maurizio had completely finished and I was finishing mine, they stood up and asked us in French in we wanted their chair. Maurizio returned a reply in French telling them that it was no longer necessary. We finished our wine and lunch spending only 14 Euros and it was really good. I just got so bothered by how rude this particular couple was. Didn’t they even feel the littlest bit guilty watching all those people standing around eating their lunches when we could have fit an additional 3 people at that bar if they would have moved over???!!! Some people just really don’t care about anyone but themselves. When they were leaving the owners said goodbye to them and thanked them for business and they didn’t even turn to look at them!! This is what I mean when I say Florentine people are very patient. I however, have very little!

Here is a picture of Lampredotto from Discover Florence Bogspot: