Mercado

So when I went for breakfast this morning my hosts told me it was market day in Ascoli. We're not talking the puny market from the other day, we're talking the real deal. That's when I heard angels singing and realized those little boots I had my eyes on were within reach.

Here in Italy the market moves from town to town and Saturday it happens to be in Ascoli which is 20 mins  away from the house. So I raced over here right after breakfast so I could get good parking, walked up the hill to the main piazza and there it was. White tents as far as the eye could see, Italian people screaming that they have the best deal and people everywhere..  

I made a few good purchases: a beautiful leather bag (with studs) for 20 euros and my beautiful booties (with studs). I am now a full fledged Italian.....I just need to get my greyish legs a little tanned so that I don't look like a total moron wearing them.

Next Saturday at this time I'll be squished on a plane- today I'm spending my day in piazza del popolo, moving from cafe to cafe to restaurant just watching and studying these Italians. Quite an interesting species. For example there is no such thing as a quiet Italian, they all talk very loudly- all you hear as you walk around the piazza is ciao, ciao, ciao.... Old Italian men huddle together discussing world issues ( or complaining about their wives) who knows, but it seems quite important as hands are being waved in the air, then you see her- the typical Italian woman. She's walking with attitude,head held high, as much tanned skin showing as possible and she knows exactly how sexy she is. The higher the heel and the more bling the better.  Italian men are just beautiful but the women are not to be messed with.

So here I sit, quite content, waiting for my lunch and contemplating my plans for the rest of the day.....