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Published: April 11th 2023
More fine weather here today, so we ventured out around 10:30 AM to run a few errands, the primary goal being to buy some paper filters for the brand new drip coffee machine that sits unused in our apartment. We are expecting an overnight guest in a few days, a dear Italian friend from Rome, who's told us she drinks American-style coffee, but we have no filters to use in this coffee maker!
If you think this sounds like an easy problem to remedy, you'd be mistaken. We've looked high and low for these filters for days now, but have been unable to find them in several grocery stores, or even in kitchen and housewares shops. We have concluded that most Italians brew their coffee and/or espresso without the use of a drip maker, so there is no demand for paper filters. So, at least for the time being, it looks like we'll be forced to continue drinking instant coffee in the mornings; not sure how we'll serve coffee to our guest.
When we finished a few more errands, we found ourselves near the English Inn (where we had eaten shortly after our arrival in Sorrento), so we decided
to stop for lunch. On our first visit it seemed to us like a pub or sports bar, but today we discovered the place has nice outdoor terraces with seating on two different levels. The friendly manager and staff, much to our surprise, remembered us from our first visit, and we had much fun bantering and joking around with them while we ate lunch.
The size of the cheeseburger I ordered was large enough to feed a horse (took half of it home), while the fries (chips) they serve are out-of-this-world. Dee had a so-called "Capri" sandwich that was basically a caprese salad served on a roll. We washed everything down with a couple of beers and some white wine. This place is a definite keeper, and we promised ourselves that next time around we'll try the upper deck seating.
After lunch we veered off the main pedestrian street (Corso Italia), and began a slow crawl along some of the narrow and meandering grid of streets and passages that crisscross this part of the old town. Mostly filled with souvenir shops and tiny restaurants, there are no significant sights or landmarks to be seen, just throngs of tourists
clawing their way along. Dee did a great job navigating her way through this maze, using her cane for support on the many uneven walking surfaces. Eventually we found ourselves on the Via Cesario, a narrow and congested passageway that is truly a
Tchotchke lover's paradise, where dozens of tacky souvenir shops and snack bars are crammed into every available inch of space.
We soon had enough, and returned to the Corso Italia near the cathedral, where we rested on some nearby benches. While sitting there we observed a young lady, sitting on the pavement, feeding some pigeons from her hand. She sat there for more than 15 minutes, meticulously feeding them some kind of small seeds or pellets, one by one, as each bird picked them from the palm of her hand. As we were leaving to go home, she was still at it!
Dee's Comments: A bigger national holiday today than Easter, more places closed. We were going to take the day off from battling the uneven cobblestones, but decided to venture out to buy a few things, which turned into some more explorations. First I bought Mitchell a nice shirt/sweater, then to the nice
Cheeseburger and chips, English Inn
The burger was excellent, and the fries even better!pharmacy where a very knowledgeable and bi-lingual pharmacist assisted us, even offering his comments on politics in the USA. Then off to the kitchen store, where we had no luck finding coffee filters.
During our parade through
tchotchke territory, I did manage to find a super paring knife. Then another enjoyable lunch experience at the English Inn, where we had much fun with the staff. So when this day turned into a new adventure after all, I was reminded that "Some beauty paths cannot be discovered without getting lost first". This is kind of our story every day when we travel...love and live in the present.
Some other observations...grocery stores and pharmacies do not push supplements, vitamins or probiotics; and there is no sign of the keto or paleo diet fads as there is back in the states; older ladies walk their butts off...even observed a partially crippled older woman hop on her motor scooter and zoom off!
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Jeni
non-member comment
Now you know why the drip machine sits unused, no filters! But when you can get espresso that looks so amazing, who needs it! And who were these Italians studs lol? Look like another beautiful day and maybe you can become pigeon whisperers before you leave. Hope you have another fun day today!