Chris & Kelly's Travel Adventures

When we woke up this morning, it was supposed to be a day of rest...go no where, do nothing kind of day.  Things don't always work like you planned.

Since arriving in Italy we have been collecting souvenirs, small gifts and the pile kept getting bigger.  We thought somewhere before we arrive in Rome we should ship some stuff home.  Postitaliano (Italian post office) does not ship packages, nor is there a place to sell boxes, packing material etc (at least none we can locate)!  This was news to us, but was told a local courier who worked with Fed Ex, Amazon and UPS would come and get our stuff, pack it, insure it and ship it for us.   After a few emails back and forth we got an initial quote...it was enough Chris was ready to start drinking and it wasn't yet 9 am!  To be fair the company had only seen a list of what we were shipping, so not weight or volumn.  It may not be as bad as we initally were told.  However, we have calculated that to ship things from Italy to the US, will effectively double what ever price you paid for the item.  OUCH

We decided for that much money we wanted to talk to the person face to face.  Chris looked up their hours online, we loaded the car with our stuff and effectively throwing away our do nothing day...we headed 1 1/2 hours to the city to get this chore done.   Again- the jokes on us.  Their internet website had not been updates...closed all weekend. :(. We have to return on Monday.

Hence the lead photo of the day.  Not to totally waste our day, we headed to the town of Santa Maria degli Angeli at the base of Assisi.  We have visited this Basilica before to view the little chapel Francis of Assisi built in the 13th century, but it had been closed.  Now we get a second chance.  To honor and preserve the little chapel, the Catholic church built a big beautiful Basilica around it.  

For those of you who need a good laugh...this is for you.

Italian public bathroom (forget bidets for the moment).  Usually you access them from a coin operated turnstile (.50-1 Euro).  I try not to generalize as I rarely have the need for a bathroom break during the day.  But I have had 3 experiences since visiting Italy.  2 were nightmare scenario's I had not anticipated.

1st public bathroom.  2 cups of coffee, 1 coke and 2 bottles of water and the need was urgent.  I make it into the small 2 stall bathroom only to find a tank mounted to the wall and a hole in the floor in one stall...yeah, I don't think so!  The 2nd stall had an elevated shower floor with a drain on one end and on the other edge was elevated foot pedestals (as if someone took an impression of your feet and mounted on the shower floor).  No paper, no grab handles, no hope.  You use your imagination, I am desperately trying to forget.

2nd public bathroom slightly better (very slightly).  Mens and women's shared bathroom, so Chris can verifly.  Toilet, but no seat, and no choice.  No wonder Italians have really strong legs!!!  I really need to learn to limit my liquids in the morning 🤪

3rd public bathroom.  Thank goodness, the Ferrari of bathrooms...a seat, paper, sink, towels- the works.  So relieved...LITERALLY!