Friday, November 8th, 2013.... at 4:00 pm Italy time.
Okay, so you read the toilet paper (almost) crisis.  The last two days, the room has had 4 rolls of toilet paper each day.... plus the 4-pack Paco bought to avert the emergency.....  do you think that is plenty?   I asked Paco what would he have done if the man hadn't sold him the toilet paper.   He says, matter of fact, I would have gone to the cafe and ordered a coffee and stolen all the napkins!!!!!    Now, we take a few napkins from every cafe.... just gotta be sure, sure, sure.....  
Yesterday, we spent all day at the Vatican.  It was a beautiful, sunny, crisp day.  We walked our "£$%&/() off, more than 3 hours, plus the walk to and from the train station, in Frascati, which is, I tell you in quite an incline.  We had a pizza for dinner.... not worth mentioning, but worth mentioning was the pistachio gelato... yummy, yummy, yummy.....   We saw the Vatican Museum, the Sistine Chapel, the Vatican Gardens, and, of course, St. Peter's Basilica (including The Pieta) and St. Peter's Square.  All of this is hard to digest....in time.Today is our last day in Frascati, although I am already negotiating spending the month of January here.  It is so absolutely charming, and believe it or not, I have already made some acquaintances... hopefully, they will become friends.  Tomorrow, we leave for Arezzo by train, which is about 30 kilometeres outside of Florence.  We will do the Florence thing, and swing by to Bologna to have white truffles, and some more wild boar.  Bologna is considered the gastronomical capital of Italy.  There are a few more plates I want to try.   Veal is especially popular there.  I will write when we get acquainted with Arezzo.   Right now, the clothes are almost dry at the laundromat.  Even in Italy there has to be a wash day!

It finally happened:  I went "down" to kiss the Roman sidewalk, in other words, I FELL!   We were walking towards the train station, and a lady bumped into me from behind.... the sidewalk was extremely uneven, and, as I stepped, my balance was off, and I sort of "slomo" went down.  Two gentlemen, so gracious and so sweet, helped me get up.   The lady was soooo mortified.  Aside from being sore, and a huge bruise on my right knee... the broad held up pretty well.  Took a bunch of Tylenol last night so I could sleep.  Slept 7 hours straight.... miracle or miracles!

Okay, so you MUST be wandering what the fashion is like here.  This is what the young girls are wearing:  a sort of short skirt, one color, with about 3 inches or lace starting from the end of the hem.  In other words, it's like their slip is showing, but it's part of the outfit, and it actually looks very nice and feminine, because the lacy part is very beautiful and see-through.  For winter, all the stores show lots of layers, and knee-highs (wool) but they go up over the knee.   Put on those high, high heels on and then push one of the knee-highs all the way down to the ankle and you're good to go!   The men's fashions, of course, are so classic and manly, lots of houndstooth, and gently patterned blazers with classic wool pants.  The scarves are EVERYWHERE, even summer ones.  They are beautiful and most people look very smart with them.   Soooo, get your scarves and do that funny fold in the front, or wrap it around several times.

I would love to have you post comments on the blog.  That way, I know who's reading it.  AND, it is a way to connect.   Okay, so much for now.    More from Arezzo..... Viva Italia!
Cecilia