UPDATE #1
Armani
Now this is a major change. For the past 13 years this advertising space has been occupied by Armani, an Italian clothing company. We always looked forward to the new billboards. Now the billboard is for a British company, Vodafone, one of the largest telecommunications firms in the world. Armani annual revenue is about $2 billion and Vodafone is at $40 billion. Guess they can pay more for this spot.
Glasses
Down the street from our apartment is a store that sells eyeglasses. We are not sure whether this is a clever display or these are really for sale.
Umbrellas
Over the years we have purchased some small and large umbrellas from the various vendors who appear with the first rain drop. We always leave them in the apartment for other people to use in the hopes they will leave them here so that we do not have to keep buying new ones. We even put some sticky labels with our address on them. They seem to still disappear. This year we were surprised to find some of our old umbrellas that had disappeared many years ago and also one new one that was not one we bought - it did not have one of our sticky labels.
Lampada
Almost every trip our first meal is at Lampada around the corner. Last fall we learned that one of the owners had pancreatic cancer. We were pleasantly surprised to learn that he is still home and doing OK although with pancreatic cancer that does not mean very much. For the third time in a row his partner refused to allow us to pay for dinner. We always feel bad and sometimes we just leave some money under a plate when we walk out. This time he was ready for our trick and would not let us leave any money. This is me with Jacapo, the other owner.
This the King with a customer from another table. Can you imagine a restaurant in the US allowing a dog in to sit with its owner?
Piazza Vittorio Market
This is one of our first stops to stock up on dried fruit (mango, pineapple), cheese and nuts. We always find new fruits and vegetables. This is the Queen holding a Chinese cabbage.
There are red and green peppers the size of large eggplants.
Vegetables that can pass as sexual toys and some pretty ugly meat.
Ristorante Eleonora D'Arborea
We were invited out to dinner by a professor at Cattolica (Catholic University of the Sacred Heart). He is a user of Thymosin Beta 4, one of the Queen's patents. It turns out that a scientist from Germany who the Queen has also collaborated with was here doing some work with his Italian counterpart. Massimo selected a Sardinian restaurant. They specialized in fresh fish. We started off with a series of appetizers and the King could not eat 99 percent of the dishes. First dish in photo was one of several appetizers.
The next is the Queen after eating a sea urchin.
The last photo is of the group after dinner. From left to right is the Queen, Erica and Ewald from Germany, Massimo from Cattolica University in Rome and one of his postdocs from Brescia, Italy. I had Rombo (Turbot) with a zucchini crust which was fantastic. This is a place where we will go back.
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