Changeless in Brindisi

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I meant to post this earlier but forgot that I wrote it and didn't add it to the entries. Geezerdom is hard on a fella's memory! This is from two weekends ago. No photos on this one.
I originally thought about titling this “When Bloggers Meet, Hilarity Ensues.” Beh, Friday night we went out to dinner with Jeff (inPuglia.Blogspot.com) to a restaurant that neither of us has eaten at. We dined at the ristorante Marco Aurelio and concluded that it was about 20-25 euro per person more than it actually was worth. It reminded me of a previous dining experience at a place called La Corniche. We did like the interior, but again it was another one of those brightly lit and the music doesn’t match the décor kind of places. I’m not saying that the food was bad, it was just overpriced. At 40 euros per person, I expect to be wowed. At one point, I felt like calling over the waiter and asking if I could order some wowing.
Nevertheless, we enjoyed ourselves and laughed boisterously over our adventures or misadventures living the life of ex-pats in Italy. One of the silly topics of the evening was laughing over the seemingly near absence of available change for large bills. Jeff said that it was like gold and we were grateful that he confirmed our observation on this topic. Since Jeff has been here for 3 years, his experience is more extensive than ours. We don’t want to draw unfair or inaccurate conclusions about our observations and it is nice when there is someone to validate your ideas. Beth and I discuss some of these seemingly innocuous episodes and they leave us wondering, “Is it just us? Or was what just happened a bit odd?”
It is almost like a Jerry Seinfeld monologue, “Italy, I mean what’s up with getting change in this country? I have a 50 euro bill burning a hole in my pocket and I can’t spend it because they don’t have enough change to handle it. ‘Don’t you want my money?’ I go to a large department-sized store and they get upset when they have to break a fifty! There is a 1 and 2 cent piece in the euro system, but the shopkeepers will just give it back because they don’t want to bother with it. Are people hoarding 1, 5, and 10 euros in their mattresses? I think so!”
We laughed over this considerably except that it really is truly irritating. Jeff says he knows of an ATM that gives euros in 20 denomination bills. He won’t tell us because then too many people may find out. It is sort of his secret fishing hole. Ok, I can respect that. I may have to tail him though.
So after dinner we headed to The Goblin to listen to some jazz. The quartet was quite good. Jeff said that it is supposed to be the best jazz group in the area. My only observation was that the drummer went overboard with the solos. An occasional drum solo is ok, three or more is too much. So says I!
Tangent: You know you are becoming part of the scenery when the locals know people you know. We stopped at a little grocery store to get some eggs. The guy behind the counter asked Beth if we were turisti. Beth said yes because that is one of the words she knows. So I jumped in and told him that we weren’t tourists and that we lived in Brindisi. That Beth just said that because she is comfortable with the word si.
I tell him where we work and he immediately asks us if we know Sara. It turns out that he is Vincenzo’s childhood friend. He also asks if we know Jeff. We plan on frequenting his place as his little store has roasted ready-to-go chicken.
Next post will be about Gallipoli. We are planning another daytrip for the next weekend. For those of you in frigid temperatures the weather here has been sunny and in the 60’s.

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