Mexican Heaven: Trani, Italy

We are just starting to get caught up on sleep. Our first real time in Trani we spent walking around. It was amazing - first stop, the nearby beach ("spiaggia"). The water was a bit murky, but mostly pleasant. The Italians had dropped tons of small roundish stones to create the beach front. I wasn't used to walking on the stones, it was a bit of a struggle. But sitting on the beach and watching Sarah, Catalina, Gaby and Eileen go into the sea (note I did not use the word "ocean" because it is not the ocean), was a pleasure. Sue and I sat on the edge and talked. I dipped my feet in the water, which was slightly cool and refreshing. There was a slight surf, as this is really the Adriatic Sea. After about an hour we headed up to have an afternoon coffee. Rick joined us at an outdoor cafe. Then we walked to a park, populated with turtles, fish, lots of unusual shrubs and other flora. Here you would find groups of older Italians strolling together or sitting on benches. Children were playing ball or on the park swings and such. It was beautiful. Sorry we don't have pictures. We hadn't taken photos since we didn't want to bring the camera to the beach.

Later we strolled to fetch some pizza for dinner.

Again we went for a walk in the city of Trani. The roads are cobblestone, and of course there's marble everywhere, including sidewalks and roadway edges. It can be a bit slippery if slightly wet (and even if not wet). Gaby took pictures of the street sites. We had capucco (cappucino) at yet another favored outdoor cafe along with some croissants. This particular outdoor cafe is within a town square/park where again, the Italians group together and stroll or hang out on benches. It's adorable to see them together like that. A group of five or six men, all dark, dressed neatly, walking closely together in the same direction and speaking with their pronounced inflections, it's just so charming. It is likely these men went to grade school together, and that they'd never really leave Trani is not unusual. It is the same for the women, though I mostly saw them sitting on benches, very tightly together on the bench, sometimes with an elderly child or one forlornly-looking man among them.

I'm cloudy on the timing of this, since jet lag is still affecting me but at some point we went to the grocery store across from the Ewings' apartment. I decided to photograph the packaging of some of the products, when about six photos in, the very tall, angry-faced and ominous looking-store manager asked me something in Italian and looked like he wanted me to hand him my pink camera. Eileen came to my rescue, asking him what was going on in Italian to which he replied, "it's okay" or something like that.

Friggi Bene.

Umm...rabbit.

I think this is edible.

We strolled down the street to a small art supply store and purchased some acrylics, a large canvas and other art stuff. We plan on making a group collage. Then walked near the edge of the older section of town, where we got pizzas. While in the pizza shop, it begin to rain. It was then the Italians ran in every which direction, covering their heads and some actually screamed. Sue told me, "Italians don't like things falling from the sky." Indeed! It ruins their lovely shoes and dress clothes.