Wednesday 26 October 2011

I woke up early, about 5 am, and it was pouring rain.  We’ve had good weather since I arrived (having missed the flash flooding).  I spend most of the morning writing up notes from my research.  Since I was in the apartment for a while, I starting inventorying some of the things in this place. I had stayed in this same flat last year, when it was nicely furnished (nearly all IKEA) but there wasn’t a lot of “stuff” around.  Since then, someone has obviously moved a bunch of personal belongings into this apartment.  Here’s an inventory of some of the new contents:

·       A white piano

·       A baroque cello with rosewood pegs and fingerboard

·       A 70s-era coffee table book of Liza Minnelli paper dolls

·       Eleven ashtrays

·       Two wide-screen televisions, neither of which I have turned on

·       Over 400 DVDs of opera and European-language theater

·       A doll house

·       A huge abstract painting that takes up one wall of the living room

·       A cotton candy machine

·       An ironing board (my desk; I set it up in the living room by the window overlooking the piazza)

·       A cool wooden bar cart

·       Two little-kid-sized chairs

·       A brass rhinoceros

·       A dying (I think) olive tree

·       A Gone With the Wind poster in the bathroom over the bidet

I was also surprised to find that some things I left here a year ago are still here:

·       A half-full bottle of Listerine

·       A blue rubber bath mat (I like to travel with one since I nearly broke my neck once in a shower in Venice)

·       A half-full bottle of body wash

·       Three business cards (my own)

·       A pair of socks that I’m pretty sure are mine because they’re size 13 and I’ve never met an Italian with feet that big

About 11 am the rain let up, and by noon it was sunny and warm again. I left to do some research for the afternoon.  The weather stayed very pleasant, so for dinner I bought a porchetta (panino stuffed with roast pork and mozzarella) and a salad and ate on the steps of the fountain in the piazza.  I returned to my apartment to read before bed. I love reading books on my iPad because I don’t need a light and I can bump the font up enough that I can read without my glasses.  When I noticed that it was nearly 1 am I decided it was time for bed.