Monday 26 May 2003

Warm but Overcast

We awoke this morning to more honeymoon activity and then decided it was so close to lunch that we would skip breakfast. Tom says this is just what the Italians do. We chose a restaurant from the Baedeker book and it was actually open. We had to wait for a table – a good sign – the place was packed full of locals. We sat and perused the menu. It all looked good – well as much as we understood. Tom asked the waitress to recommend the house specialty and as she was explaining what things were good in broken English, a diner from another table came over and offered his assistance. He spoke good English and was obviously a regular. He recommended all three courses and wrote them on the waitresses pad, accompanied by little pictures. He asked if we were honeymooners and we said yes, how did he know? He said he could tell from the glint in our eyes! He wrote on the pad, “congratulations on your marriage” and drew two love hearts on the waitresses pad. As we were waiting for our meal, he approached us with three plates painted with the name of the restaurant and asked us to chose one with the compliments of the staff. We chose one and asked to buy another to have one each and he said to keep all three!

Our antipasto was four dishes – hot sardines (mini ones) in vinegar, fresh salmon pate, red cabbage with sweet corn, walnuts and prawns, and grown up’s fish cakes. For primi we had tagliatelli with prawns and courgette's– slightly spicy – gnocchi with fruits of the sea – yummy but not as good as the other. We were trying to work out how to say we did not think we could manage the next course without offending the owner when it arrived. It was colossal! About four large langoustine shrimps and four mini lobsters – with claws and pretty shaped veggies. Amazingly, we ate all of the fish and some of the veggies. Then we had an espresso which was vile but the chocolate afterwards took the taste away – tried but not liked. When the bill arrived, we were overcharged – it claimed for vino when we had not had any. We gave the owner a credit card anyways and when he returned, he had crossed out wine and deducted vino from the bill. After we had paid the bill, he asked if we would like a glass of liquor each, on the house. We politely refused and exited the restaurant before we could be plied with anything more and before we exploded.

We walked to the sea shore and flew our kite – eventually. Whilst Tom was still struggling, a life guard took pity on him and flew a few stunts on our kite, then gave him some instructions in Italian. The moment he handed Tom back the reigns, the kite that had been darting around gracefully, suddenly plummeted to the ground. Tom did get the hang of keeping the kite airborne but sans fancy stuff. We took lots of pictures of each other flying the kite (we are now nearing the four hundred mark). What a fun way to spend an overcast, blustery afternoon. Finally, we promenaded along with the Italian couples and for once we were smarter than most (excepting Charlotte’s windswept hair). We called in at the supermarket for snacks on the way home. Then Tom ate another huge meal, but I could only manage a few crackers, a glass of wine and three apricots, being still full of fish.

Before we flew the kite, we visited the Tourist Information Centre again. The white ribbons we keep seeing on car aerials are leftovers from recent weddings, so we should really have one on our box junior. Ended the day improving on the glint in our honeymooning eyes.