Alive and Well & Living in France, now Italy!: March 2020

Tuesday, March 24, 2020

Pizza, Hearts and Notes of Hope

Today I was really craving pizza. These days, things are a bit hard to come by up here in Citta Alta. Thankfully, Damimmo's was open and yes! they were making pizzas!! Margherita here I come!

The guy told me I had to wait 15 min. for the pizza. Now, normally this is not a problem, but we are on lockdown. I felt very conspicuous waiting outside for the pizza, but I had no choice. I stared into the windows of the closed shops looking at all the beautiful merchandise. 15 minutes pass very slowly. People were giving me weird looks probably wondering why I was hangin' around.

Finally, the cook came out with the pizzas and I said, grazie mille, those are for me. I walked on home and on the way I noticed these letters of hope taped to the doors and windows of the shops. I wondered who wrote them all and taped them up.

As I passed through the Piazza Vecchia on my way back to the apartment, taped out among the vast emptiness of the piazza was this large heart.

No words........

Saturday, March 21, 2020

No ordinary Saturday in Bergamo

With the days becoming warmer and the sun pushing through, the quarantine is proving more and more difficult to stay in.

Bergamo is so beautiful and a great place to discover yet unchartered walks. I really try to limit the number of days I go out and when I do, it's a straight shot to the fruit and vegetable or prepared food shop and home. I often cheat and take the long walk home to enjoy a few more minutes of open air.

Today at the shops, I noticed one cannot even go inside any longer. As I walked toward my shop, I was perplexed as to why the lines seemed longer. Well, stricter measures seemed to have started and owners must now serve you from the entrance to their shops. You can keep yelling back to make your order.

Now, one thing since being here I have not improved on is my Italian. Since I just needed milk, cream and chips I did know the words. However, when I tried to ask for spicy chips, she thought I wanted pepper. I guess next time, I better have my list translated in Italian prior to waiting in line. Maybe I should learn the line for toilet paper!🤣

As I walk home, I look at all the signs made by school children saying all will be okay. I sure hope so.......

Monday, March 16, 2020

Lockdown in Bergamo - a birthday to be remembered!

Well, today's my birthday and this is an unusual one, to say the least. Living in the heart of the red zone in Lombardy we definitely feel the strains of the lockdown.

We are only allowed to go out for a very quick walk for essentials. Today, I deemed trying to buy vegetables along with liquor essential. I asked the fruit and vegetable guy for gin, but alas, none, so I bought a coffee liqueur to toast my birthday. Better than nothin'!

Cheers!!

When you go out now, you need to fill a form out that shows the date and where you are going. You carry this with you along with ID every time you go out. Failure to show it can result in a fine or worse...

Honestly, I am scared to go out now. If I trip or fall or get badly injured, I am out of luck. I hope my family nor I need the hospital right now as you can forget it.

Can you imagine, 2020! and we have to carry a form to give a reason for being out on the streets! The form looks like this:

The form we need to fill out every time we go out of the house.

My small courtyard has become my exercise sanctuary. It really is this petite!! I know this is a small price to pay for keeping my distance. I really don't want to take any chances if I don't have too.

We try and limit our small shopping every other day. There is nothing to hoard here. The shops are full. We can get what we want. The upside of a small apt is there is not a lot of space to store things. Yes, I get a few things from Amazon as well to help round out the shopping and minimize the number of trips outside. Businesses are shuttered.

It looks like a ghost town here. In this image, people waiting in line at the bakery/grocery. Only 2 people allowed in at a time into the shops.

Waiting in line to enter a small bakery/food shop - 2 people only at a time.

We have two pharmacies in Citta Alta. One allows 1 person at a time into the pharmacy. The other one, she has a window where she is dispensing meds. She wants no one in her shop. I don't blame her.

Window Dispensing Drugs

All over the town are signs like this - saying closed until further notice.

Now, most of the time, Citta Alta looks like this - deserted.

It is normally a tourist hub with wall to wall people. Come visit Citta Alta and Bergamo as soon as you can.

It is a beautiful place to have a mini weekend.

The younger students are making these beautiful signs and hanging them in their windows and on all the storefronts. It says "Everything will be ok".

I know Italy will prevail and the rest of the world too. If we all do our part, we as an entire world will come back stronger than ever.

Foie Gras in the Cantine

The girls and I enjoy some good albeit interesting lunches at times. It is quite different from any school lunch we are accustomed to. We always have a starter and bread of course, followed by a main dish and then cheese and bread and of course yogurt, fruit yogurt, flan, chocolate, yogurt with sugar, you name it, we have had it!!

One Friday we had foie gras for our starter!! The children actually spread it on the bread and then eat it. Even the two year olds were given this. I guess that's one way to introduce the palette to different tastes at such a young age. Did Rachel and Isabel eat it? What do you think???!!!

A La Marché

I love the markets and the girls do as well. We pull our cart up to the market, yes, we have one of those "old lady carts" and savor what vegetables and fruits are in season. We have our "favorites" - we visit the same fruit and vegetable stand every week and when they see us coming, they always try out the little bit of English they know on us. The jolly old cheese man who gives the girls endless samples of his yummy cheese, the "chicken man" who has the best tasting poulet roti I have ever had, even the women who sells children's clothing is always eager to help us find exactly what we are looking for. These vendors take pride in their wares and take the time to ask you when you will eat the fruit, ensuring they pick the best one for that day. The customer service at these markets is probably something French people take for granted and just assume it's the norm, however for us, it is a nice change of pace to know you can purchase something and it has truly come from the heart.

You Are Charging Me How Much???!!!

7,50 euros for an application of mousse!! That is what my itemized bill said after I dared to look at it upon leaving the hairdresser. I feel certain I have paid for the entire case of the stuff for a month. For every bit of extra service one needs, you pay for it. I cannot figure out if our prices in America are so inflated that we don't even know we are paying exhoribitant prices or the French are nickel and diming every foreigner they can to get back at their own government for the high taxes they must pay.

Its All Relative

The living situation in France bring a whole new meaning to the word "small". Obviously people are smaller in both size and stature here, and their defination of "personal space" is completely opposite of mine, but come on!! 140 cm for 2 people. Basically this is the size of an american twin/double. I told my husband he better stop making extra trips to the bakery or we are going to have to get an extend-a-bed to fit him!!

I am still trying to imagine how anybody over 170 pounds fits in these french tubs. If you have wide hips, forget it. I am sure the pompiers have been called on more than one occasion to yank someone out of the tub. I do like the fact the toilet area is separate from the "douche" room, however, being the claustrophobic I am, have the toilet in a space the size of a closet just doesn't go over well with me. Even when you are there for just a bit, there is no ventilation, thereby causing one to continuely keel over from the sheer odor. I am sure my whole family will be diagnosed with some form of rare cancer from all the "odeur de maladie spray" we use everytime we exit "the closet".

Nothing Seems to Work Properly

Not even the liquid soap works correctly. I was warned about things not working well and the level of service one expects from living in the states. I am confussed why everything I have purchased thus far has broken or failed to live up to its expectation. I am trying to rationalize whether one pays a high price for each item they want just so they can have the thing live on way beyond their lifetime. This way, indeed they can pass on that foot pedal trash bin onto their children and even grandchildren if they are lucky to have it endure for that long.

My children are lucky, I think..... our 50 euro trash bin complete with a foot pedal broke after a month. They'll be able to put in for the "upgraded" model and the foot pedal won't get kicked around the kitchen floor all day long.

Many of the items from France are shipped from China, (Gasp) but the route is shorter. Maybe the items going to the states have an opportunity to ferment longer at sea, thereby creating a more rugged product. By the time the product reaches America, that liquid soap can handle lots of pushes. The route from China to Europe is much shorter, leaving me to believe not enough salt air has aged the product.

Le Bisous

Instead of a hug, one greets their friends, lovers, male, female etc with one kiss on each cheek - really almost an airbrush kiss. It takes some coordination to make sure the kiss lands on the cheek quickly as before you know it the person has turned their head to have the other cheek kissed. I have to admit I like this greeting. It is a bit more personal and takes some getting used to, but it is a very sweet way to greet or say goodbye to someone. However, one has to know when it is appropriate to use "le bisous". I wait for someone to initiate it as I am not sure if or when I should even be initiating this greeting, for fear of appearing over eager. Now, not everyone is the reciprocal of "le bisous". There is sort of an initiation to being on the receiving end of a kiss. It appears that one must have made your acquaintance at least a few times before, or just a "bonjour" or handshake is given. On that note, I'd say make lots of friends and give lots of bisous!! Remember one has to kiss both cheeks, if just one is done, it could be construed as the "kiss of death"!!