Buongiorno,

Oggi il sole é brillante e il cielo è blu. (Today the sun is brilliant and the sky is blue.) Abbiamo fatto una tappa per il caffè al bar St.Michele (We stopped for coffee at the Bar San Michele). Ci siamo seduti fuori. (We sat outside.) The bars in Italy are not the same as in the States. At the bar they serve coffee, tea, sweats, gelato, food and alcohol. So the bar is really a multi-purpose area. Coffee and sweets in the morning, lunch in the afternoon and light dinner with beer or hard liquor. Most have an inside and outside area.

Dopo il café, abbiamo camminato le mura. (After coffee, we walked the wall.) The rays of the sun made you want to jump and play – well, ok we have to remember we are past that stage of life. Stopped at a sandwich shop, Pan di Strada, and had them make 2 sandwiches and we took them to the wall and ate them as we watched the people go by. Some on bikes and most walking at different speeds.

Our dinner was at Da Pasquale; we ate there last Friday. This is our favorite restaurant and rated #1 on trip advisor.

For the first course Dow had the seafood salad, which is the best we have had, and I had baby gnocchi with cod fish with a shade of black ink and a touch of roe of mullet. That baby gnocchi was out of sight. The second course I had the tuna and Dow had spaghetti with clams. WOW. We did have dessert (I know some of you are shocked). Dow had semi frozen almond parfait with caramel and I had mousse of white chocolate and lime. We hardly have dessert but here everything is off the charts. We were here for 5 hours talking to a single girl from San Francisco, to a couple from Belfast, Ireland (both about what is going on in American politics!!) and to the owner, Pasquale. Left at midnight - a magical evening!

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September 20