American Idol

We can’t get it here naturally but we heard Naima was eliminated but at least she can fall back on working in her cafe in Sorrento (across the street from our B&B):

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Tale of two doors

Most doors open in the middle which means that the opening is pretty narrow, like on the door to our apartment. We were walking in the old city part of Ostuni and found this nice looking door. Note that it splits 1/3, 2/3 so it is easier to get in.

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Some places in the old town are well-maintained, some less so, like this door that was the next door down from the one above,

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Getting Train Tickets

Post by Wynette written on Sunday:

Yesterday afternoon it occurred to us we’d better get our train tickets to Rome since most things are closed on Sundays. We went to Tourist Information (TI) to get their advice. The young man working in the TI called several travel agents but they were all closed so he said he could help us get the tickets on his computer. He invited us to the back of the office and we stood around and watched him do it and gave him the details he needed. He was very fast and really knew his way around the trenitalia web site. He was helpful and fun and very cute and had a GREAT Italian accent. Afterwards we chatted with him a bit. He said his name was ___ Paulo. (I didn’t quite catch the first name.) I asked him how he learned to speak such good English and he said school and much travel. He said he was about finished seeing all of Europe. I asked if I could take his picture. He suggested he stand in front of the TI posters of Ostuni which made a really nice backdrop and he happily smiled for us.

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Open and Shut Case

Post by Wynette written on Sunday: We walked a bit in the Ostuni old town around noon today. We came across this little antique store we hadn’t seen before. I took pictures to show my Mom and Dad because they have had booths in an antique store in the past and have collected old tools and old glassware. The shop was tiny. Only room for one person to (barely) stand inside. Just a closet really. I found a little wooden box I liked but there was no one coming forward to sell it to us. I put it down thinking I’d check it out again on the way back after we finished our stroll. Here are some pictures of the store:

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On the way back, less than an hour later, I kept my eye out for the store but went right past it. Charlie said he remembered exactly where it was. We walked back and this is what we found:

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It’s a perfect example of how shops here open and close. Nearly everything closes tight around 1:00. And notice that there is no sign advertising what is behind the door. This is often true for many large modern stores as well. You can be walking down a street during the break and think there are no shops on the street. Then at 5:00 when everything opens up again it’s like a busy commercial area. This is true for small towns like Ostuni but also bigger towns like Sorrento and Lecce and Naples.