Lunch with Maria Novella

The family that is staying in our house in West Vancouver, the Beltramos, are from Rome, trying out West Vancouver so their kids can attend an English speaking school ... and you must admit, West Vancouver is a little slice of heaven.

Waiting for the bus to Rome

Anyway, Maria Novella was back in Rome overseeing repairs to their house that had some type of water damage (seems like we have that in common too) and invited us to a lunch at her sister and brother-in-law’s pizza restaurant. We had a wonderful meal – with some of the nicest procuitto we’ve ever eaten. Me having a couple of beers at lunch didn’t hurt my attitude either. Anyway we were talking about all things happening in our lives, what we liked and didn’t understand about the different countries we’re living in. 

One of our first views out of the train station. 

One of my questions was around marketing (grocery shopping) in Europe people buy less per trip and make more trips. Also, you buy meat from the butcher, cheese from the cheese shop, bread from the  .... you get the idea. She said that she did both the North-American way ... load up at Safeway and the traditional European way ... but what she said she loved was that she could always find a parking spot. I can imagine that coming from Rome that would be a unique experience.

Walking to the restaraunt. 

Also when they arrived they bought two cars: a Yaris and a Mitsubishi 4x4 – the Yaris is a sub-compact and the Mitsubishi is a smallish 4x4 – like a 4 door Rav 4. Here the Yaris would be a mid-sized car and the Mitsubishi would be large – but in Vancouver she’s taken to driving the 4x4 because the Yaris is too small. I remember her saying Marina’s truck was so huge – but everything is relative ... she'll probably buy a Suburban next.

The only picture we took of lunch. 

She gave us a bunch of great advice on places to go and visit and islands and marinas to stay in. We’re making our way to one of them today. It is very nice to have a local help you navigate the complexities of visiting a beautiful country like Italy.