Monday, January 23, 2017

A Parrot and a Pizza

I left work and had lunch at home today, since my Italian lesson was a 2 PM.  After, I headed in the direction of some modern art museums.  On the way there I remembered that everything is closed on Monday - but I have an unlimited metro pass, so it doesn't matter!  I was very proud of myself for correctly activating and using my electronic card (tessera) this morning.  This is the first transit card I've ever had with my picture on it.

The museums were closed, but I'll probably return tomorrow.  A sign informed me that one of them (PAC) had been damaged by a bombing in 1993!  Luckily, the mafia hasn't bombed major Italian churches and cultural centers since them.  There was a large park nearby, so I wandered through for a bit.  I was wearing my work shoes (boots with heels), so I wasn't quite in a frolicking mood.  But I think I saw a parrot.  At first I saw it flying (and it had the right shape), but then it landed in a tree and I could get a closer look.  It was green and was eating nuts off the tree like a parrot does.  Does Milan have parrots?  Google was no help.  I have no pictorial proof because I had forgotten my phone at home.

Back at home, I successfully bought some fruit - my first interaction with a fruit vendor!  And then, feeling extra confident, I bought some tasty little fruit pies from a bakery.  I was actually on a quest to buy stamps (so that people may someday get postcards).  I successfully asked for stamps at one of the shops, but they only had stamps for domestic mail.  It may take 3 months just to find the correct stamps.

Contemplating what dinner would actually be, I found myself in front of the pizzeria at the end of my street.  I hadn't eaten pizza yet (on this trip) and decided to get one.  The guy behind the counter spoke a little English, but we mostly chatted in Italian while the pizza cooked.  This was my third conversation about Trump - the first one entirely in Italian.  Clearly this is the part of my Italian vocabulary I should keep working on!  In the end, the pizza was good, but much bigger than expected.  The size options were "normale" and "grande", and based on the price I expected a normale to be a small or "personal" one.  Nope - this was at least a medium.  I'm looking forward to cold pizza for breakfast!

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