Wednesday February 25, 2015

Well, as you can tell by the dates, I am just getting around to posting Wednesday's experience and it is already Saturday. Gives you an idea of how crazy busy everything has been around here.

Wednesdays are typically a day off for me. Typically the students would take Italian with Danilo in the morning and have the rest of the day off. But the first Wednesday at Walsh Rome always includes a visit to the local police station in Albano to notify the local authorities we are here and to obtain their approval to allow us to stay in the country. This is always a long process because there is always a line of people with their paperwork seeking the same approval. It doesn't take long for each of us to sign the forms in front of them and they examine our passports. Some of the other visitors take much longer, and invariable there is much shouting and yelling.

After the police visit we traditionally give the students a walking tour of the city. Albano is the next train stop to your station and is convenient by bus as well. It is often a good place to obtain items one cannot get at Gianni's little grocery store, e.g. socks, hair straighteners, ...etc.

I was able to take a few shots of the group and parts of the city.

Albano is also home to my favorite bakery. This bakery provided pastries to previous popes who often stayed at the pope's residence in Castel Gandolfo. Apparently Pope Francis has not yet made use of the pope's summer residence. This is sort of a sore spot for the residents of Gandolfo who depend on the tourist buses to make their living. The good news is one of our students has a birthday while we are here. That means I will get at least one taste of "pope cake" while I am here.

here is a picture of the main piazza in Albano. On warm evenings the piazza is packed with people. adults chatting with another and children running around playing with a soccer ball and other games.

the other thing we discovered was a french fry shop on the main drag in Albano. It was called New Amsterdam Fries. Michael and I made plans to come back later. The fries were excellent and the portions were generous. They had about 15 different sauces you could put on the fries. They looked very disappointed when I said I only wanted tomato catsup. Next time I will take a picture. I know there will be a next time!