We arrive at night, and check into our hotel. We're staying at the Boscolo Bellini . I knew what I wanted to do already, and I knew if I told Laura it would never happen. We went to bed, surprisingly uneventfully.
That morning, I caught a cab and dragged Laura in with me. We were going shopping.
With Mr. Perazzo's credit card, of course.
Laura began whimpering, but I assured her this would be quick.
We stopped at Louis Vuitton, Roberto Cavalli, Armani, Fendi, Gucci, Prada, Missoni, and Versace, buying almost nothing. But not so fast, I spent nearly $20,000. Teehee.
By the time I was done, it was only lunchtime. We stopped at a corner cafe. We both had grilled sandwiches called paninis. We wandered the streets of Italy, observing people. Before long, we were hungry again. We stopped at a restaurant and had a traditional five course meal.
Our first course was called Antipasti or Antipasto. Antipasti is like an appetizer. Instead of spinach dip and chips or potato skins like Americans would have, Italians enjoy bruschetta or antipasto misto. We had bruschetta, which is toasted bread with a salsa like mixture of tomatoes and onion, but instead of being spicy it was sweet. They had slices of mozzerella cheese and basil leaves to put on also. Laura seemed to enjoy eating this; she was pretending to do something that I didn't quite understand.
The second course is Primo, which is technically a "first course". Its like a side dish. Primo usually is a pasta, soup, or risotto (rice) dish. Laura, being as obsessed with pasta as she is, ordered pasta. I wanted to try something new and ordered risotto.
The third course to our five course meal is Secondo. It's technically the "second course". The main meal. The Big Bang. The Hanuka Matata. The Whole Enchilada. But it wasn't an enchilada. It's usually meat, poultry, or fish. Once again, being predictable, Laura ordered trout, mumbling about something to do with penguins. I ordered grilled salmon.
Our fourth course, which is technically just a side dish, is called Contorni. It is usually vegetables (verdura), potato, or a salad (insalata). I ordered a salad, and Laura ordered, surprise, potatoes.
Typically in Italy wine or sparkling mineral water is drinken with dinner. They have no lawful drinking age there, but if you're under 16 you can't buy alcohol. I deliberately didn't tell Laura this, but somehow she found out and was asking anyone who appeared to be over the age of 16 to buy us some wine. I managed to muffle her requests so we didn't become international fugitives.
The last course, the best, was desert, or dolce. Typically fruit or cheese. After that, you are offered cafe or digestivo, coffee or an after dinner drink. Both Laura and I had some fruit and hot chocolate.
After leaving the restaurant, we went for gelato. I had chocolate gelato (now that is what you call decadent) and Laura had, surprise, vanilla. We ate our gelato as we walked back to the hotel.
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