In an effort to get more material on the blog, I am doing an unauthorized post. 🙂 you see, my dear wife take so much pride in her blog that she really goes into the detail, especially with her photos. She edits all of her photos. She wants to tell a very special story. Bless her heart. Sometimes, I just don’t have the patience for those more tedious things. I need to. I’m actually trying very hard right now to be more like that with Vanessa as my inspiration. Be that as it may, I wanted to share some photos and some stories about where we are. I’m just not gonna do it as well as Vanessa would.
This is the view from my rooftop patio in Ostia. I’ve always wanted a top patio. Now I get to experience it. This is our third Airbnb house on this trip, and it’s been a success. The neighborhood here in Ostia is nice. There’s a beach walk right by us, we have a deli and a café downstairs which we have frequented many times. The neighborhoods here are all what I would call taxpayer construction if I were still a firefighter. Meaning, there are businesses on the first floor of all these apartments. People live in the upper levels. That’s the way it is everywhere here. So every city street you walk on you find cafés, deli’s, business owners and people sitting on the street sipping espresso talking with each other, mechanics, little shops…
It creates a very different energy and vibe than anything that I’ve been used to. I really enjoy it.
There are creature comfort’s that I miss. For instance, nobody does brewed coffee here. It’s all espresso. I miss having a 20 ounce cup of coffee to sip on. Instead, I have double shots of espresso to sip on. And I don’t really sip. So it’s a little different, and takes a little getting used to.
This is going to sound odd, but I miss breakfast burritos. Seriously. Breakfast here is very very different. Also, it doesn’t seem like anyone has dryers here. Everything is air dried. Which is fine, it’s just not as convenient, and we Americans are very used to our convenience.
Finally, another thing that really exposed my arrogance as an American: not nearly as many people speak English here as I expected. I had what I now know is an unreasonable expectation that everyone would speak at least some form of broken English. Not the case. And, I have taken that to heart. I am entering someone else’s culture. It behooves me to learn how they talk, not expect them to talk the way I do.
In a few minutes, we will be leaving for Ostia Antica. It is supposed to be some incredibly well preserved ruins that really is off The traditional tourist track. Looking forward to it. Will have more pictures soon.
Adventures With My Tribe 