Italy Tips, for EB&Kids, Part III

Part 1 is here.
Part 2 is here.

The Condo, cont’d.

The Laundry Room

… is small and serves as the “1/2 bath” — so you can go to the bathroom while doing your laundry, I suppose

There’s a small Electrolux washer that holds about 1/3 of what my American washer does. And there’s a sink to do your handwashing, but mostly the kids have been using that to rinse after-the-beach things. There’s also supposed to be some sort of electric dryer above the toilet, but the condo owner said it was broken.

- Aisa: ~ Hanging the clothes outside can be time consuming, but it’s a very pleasant thing to do. Note that the sun is on the extreme left end of the balcony, the end that opens up to the two smaller bedrooms.

The bathroom

… is again, small but adequate. There’s a bidet opposite the toilet, but we are just not bidet people. The tub is as long as ours at home, but much narrower — I believe about 18 inches wide (the interior, that is). And don’t forget the shower curtain because you’ll be bumping into it as you take a shower if you’re not careful. The sink is huge as far as bathroom sinks go. We’ve been opening the bathroom window a lot, actually all the windows in the house are kept open when during the day and when weather permits — just better air circulation, hence healthier for us too. And the paint has been peeling off the bathroom ceiling, and steamy showers don’t help.

The bedrooms

There are three — one master and the other 2 for kids. The master bedroom has — I think — a king-sized bed. It feels bigger than our old queen-sized one, but smaller than our American king bed, so I don’t really know. S.ra Farina provided some sheets and pillowcases, but we needed more. I hadn’t planned on buying these when we came here, but I did find Italy-made sheets that were quite affordable. We bought our own towels as well. Common sense should have told me I should have prepared for a “move” as opposed to a “vacation” — but we didn’t even bring our most basic stuff (at least I remembered the knives!) that we take with us when we move from house to house. Esp. crucifixes and other religious items that we want around the house.

The balcony

This is one of my absolute favorite features of the house. It’s wrap-around and spacious, such that the kids can play balcony soccer (Paco invented the game and the rules, I’m sure he’ll be happy to teach Christian about it). The living room, kitchen and all three bedrooms all have exit doors to the balcony. You can view the beach from here. And check out what people are wearing so you have an idea of how chilly or warm it will be.

The condo complex itself is quite green and kept up well. In early April we were woken up several days in a row with machine sounds… turns out the landscaping guys were pruning all the trees around the condo buildings and planting flowers, etc. There’s a little grassy area in the middle/front of the complex, with seating — so the boys should be able to play there a bit. Not much running around, though, since there are cars coming in and going out, busier at certain times of the day than others, of course. Kicking balls is not allowed either, apparently. One disadvantage of balcony soccer is that the kids sometimes kick the ball out of the balcony, which means Paco has to make a quick run downstairs to retrieve it. Luckily we are on the first floor (counting the garages as “Piano 0″).

The neighbors are friendly and always ready with a Ciao or Buon giorno or Buona sera. S. Enzo occupies the door across ours. His wife died three years ago — he describes her as “bellissima” and quite clearly still misses her a lot. On the upper floor there is a little girl and her mom — they like going out for gelato. And then there’s a guy we affectionately call “Old Navy” because we don’t know his name, but he was in the Air Force and speaks good English. He has all kinds of tips on where to go and what to see, etc. Other neighbors in the condo complex are similarly amiable, so living here and coming and going are pleasant affairs. I have yet to meet an Italian who’s nasty. (Thank you, Lord.)

Next up: Shopping!