So, I have this favorite cafè...

Quite often I find myself getting up in the morning and going to this little local bar (bars are what the Italians call coffee shops), and I call it local because really, it's down this street near my apartment in the opposite direction of the city center. You go out and turn left instead of right onto Via Ghibellina and suddenly you are in local Florence heaven. Professoressa told us before we left to choose a cafè or "bar" to frequent instead of trying them all. Well, Enoteca de Macci is mine. The lady who works there was so kind to me the first time I went, and she grins at me as I try to speak to her in Italian. Today, when she saw me come in she simply smiled this huge welcoming smile and came to let me order. She doesn't speak to me in English though I know she knows some, and for this I am thankful. All the people who come in are locals as well. They come in and order their morning caffè (though caffè in Italian is really espresso), and they down it in about 15 seconds standing at the bar. But while they wait they talk to each other, the customers to one another and the lady to the customers. I don't know what they talk to each other about yet, but my Italian will hopefully only improve as the semester goes on.

Soon, I hope to find out the lady's name. I bet she has a beautiful story, I think for me she is like the man with the flowers was to Francis in Under the Tuscan Sun, except she acknowledges me. But still, it's that mysterious quality about her and her smile and the fact that she never charges me to sit down. €1.80 for my caffèlatte and a cornetti. I can't wait to have another morning there.