Europe Trip #2 - June 30, 2022 - Santa Patata

Here are some odds and ends from the trip.

I’ve been reading a book by Brit Tim Parks called An Italian Education. He’s a keen observer of small Italian details. In this book he’s contemplating how Italian children become Italian.

One observation he has about Italians is how they build–hard. Concrete, steel and tile. Drop a wineglass in an Italian house and you have to buy a new glass. On the ride up from Levanto to the agritourismo I was searching for any wood in the buildings in town. None was to be found.

In a similar vein, the agritourismo is painted in fake 3d relief (probably to avoid having to use wood). Or apartment adjoins to a small church. We have fake decor, the church has real.

I was excited to shop at Flying Tiger, a hot euro retailer that basically sells all the cheap fun stuff you could find in the final aisles at IKEA. We got some playing cards only to find two aces of clubs and no ace of diamonds. I got a chess board too and joked it would be missing a piece. I was wrong.

Speaking of games, I have an analogy for train travel of which I’m rather proud. Train travel is golf ⛳. On time is par. Each stop is a stroke. A well hit stroke keeps par in reach. But sometimes you shank it.

Finally, Tim Parks book features a elderly, loving Italian caregiver whose favorite phrase is santa patata (holy potato 🥔). Since Ginnie already had her own harmless curses shoot a bug, I plan on adopting this one as mine, all mine.

Say it with me, santa patata.