Monday, September 14, 2009

At last! Peanut butter!




Well, today's shopping trip was much more successful. It took more than two hours, but we did finally get everything we needed.

Left home with one backpack, one wheeled shopping cart, and three children. First we stopped at the farmer's market in the piazza down at the bottom of the hill. Tomatoes, onion, carrots, lettuce and some peaches. We went to the first grocery - Todis. We immediately noticed the sign that said that they couldn't accept credit cards today. I don't know why - my Italian is not that good! So, we went to the grocery store next door. Here we picked up cereal, cookies, prociutto (2 kinds), cheese, butter, and spaghetti. We didn't get milk because it was over one euro and I found it at a different store for only 50 cents (1/2 euro). Next stop was a bakery down the street for a loaf of fresh bread for lunch sandwiches. Next grocery store was Standa - a larger grocery in the basement of a clothing store. We got milk, juice, cream, and eggs.

While standing in the long check-out line, Grace announced that she needed to use the restroom. She is newly potty-trained, so that didn't leave me much time! In the US, there are public restrooms everywhere, but this is not the case in Rome. I asked someone in Standa, and she told me to go to a coffee bar. We left Standa, pulling all the groceries carefully packed in the rolling cart. We found one coffee bar. But when I asked, they told me they didn't have a restroom. Poor Grace was wiggling and starting to panic when we finally found another coffee bar. I didn't even ask the man - I just headed to the back of the place and found one of the tiniest restrooms I have ever been in. Despite the fact that there was no toilet paper (wet wipes in the backpack) and the lights went out in the restroom while we were in the stall, Grace made it through the shopping trip with dry pants.

We found the final grocery store near this coffee bar and bought:
Peanut Butter! (for 4.50 euro) (about $7)

Finally, we headed home on Via Gloriosa. This road ends in a staircase that leads up the hill. I think there are six sets of 21 steps. That wheeled shopping cart handles stairs well, but boy was it heavy!

The best news is that I don't think I have to grocery shop tomorrow!

-Terri

4 comments:

  1. That is so funny. Your lucky that Grace went to the bathroom. By the way how much is one euro in Rome?
    -Blake Mattucci

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  2. Hooray! A successful shopping adventure. Any time you can avoid going to the store for just a day you know you had real success at the store the day before.

    One time when I was at the store - Panella I think - I was buying about 20 items or so (a small load for a US market trip) and this one older woman in line started complaining very loudly in Italian about the fact that I was buying "too many" items. I only caught half of what she said before a younger woman pointed out that I had 2 children with me and I was obviously buying more than just food for myself for one day. The older woman calmed down, but I could tell she was still annoyed that she had to wait in line to buy her 5 items while I completed my check out. Can you imagine how she would have acted if I had a week's worth of groceries as I would have bought in the US!

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  3. I am looking forward to discovering Rome with your family. Peanut butter is pricey in Rome.
    Are you enjoyuing the walking?
    Lois

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  4. We just had a chance to check your blog out. How cool! Hope you are all enjoying yourselves. Mrs. Johnson is leaving Elm Rd. in Jan. to become Supt. at a small school corp. 1 hr. 15 min. away, and just announced yesterday.(Wed.)
    Mrs. Hudak is going to ESC, tomorrow is her last day. Molly is enjoying Grissom. We miss you. We'll visit again soon. Take care and have more gelato for us! Diane and Molly

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