What Fills My Plate

Are you looking for housing in Italy?   Do you dream of a home with all the romantic features of Italy?  Many people search expat blogs to find answers to all the “how to” problems of moving to Italy, obtaining a visa, how much to plan for costs of electricity, gas, sewer, taxes, water and the other usual considerations one must overcome in a move.  I am a member of expat.com and several other blogs of this type and I receive questions quite often from people all over the world.   My posting this week is to help a friend who has a very nice condo for sale right in the middle of Italy.   It comes completely furnished, furniture, stove, fridge, heater, etc.  This is a big help for foreigners as they don't realize that condos are usually sold completely gutted.  Just the bare walls, what you see is what you get. My friend is moving to Malta.  She is putting her condo in Italy up for sale.  I have written in previous blogs about how Ital...

Gripping the steering wheel tightly, hands sweating, I am totally concentrated on the road.  Thoughts of nothing except what I am doing, what others are doing, and what might be the outcome of an accident at the speed of 130 kilometers and hour,  81 MPH.  I feel fear.  It is only normal to feel it.  You, dear reader,  are with me in my little 52 miles to the gallon Hyundai i20 on the Italian Autostrada out of Venice.  We are headed north and in a little over an hour we will be  close to the Austrian border.    I wish I had time to  look up and view the Alps near the border, but the big double trailer trucks dwarf my little red Hyundai. Most cars in Italy are small. We are small compared to the more crash-worthy SUVs.  We are cooking along at a speed of 130 kilometres and hour.   That is fast, but feels much faster with the lanes much smaller than American lanes and Italian highways have no siding, and make one feel co...

Checking out Paris Several nights ago we had  Francesco, who works in the same place as my wife, over for dinner.  He is an amazing young man and an inspiration to me.  While I, living an old person’s life as exciting as watching a bocci ball game, ponder shaky fingers, sagging skin and loss of memory,  Francesco had the  determination to lose a pile of weight through exercise  with personal trainer.  His effort now allows him to compete in local marathons, and the amount he lost causes one to pause and ask, “is that you?” No Pain  No Gain Besides that fact, Francesco would make a good choice for an Italian ambassador, his innate quality of curiosity, and his overwhelming passion to know more about the world is contagious.  Marco Polo and Christopher Columbus have nothing on him.  He has a desire to find the heart of who people are, and, in particular, what Americans feel, think and do. I knew we would have a good conversa...