Arrived and moved in. The apartment exceeds all expectations. It's roomier then the photos from afar showed, and it's quiet, cute and well, yes, in need of TLC to make it into a home, but we'll get there for certain.   I, of course, on morning one went to the local bar, Yvonne's for my morning doppio espresso. Right on the main piazza by the lighthouse, less than a minute from my door, it's definitely THE spot. Everyone in town seemed to be here this morning sitting in the covered outside area while the Autumn rain poured down. The contingent of local old guys (my goal is to join one day), the local cops, expatriate rock star looking guy, even our waiter from yesterday's pranzo. The whole ton shows up for coffee and conversation. Turns out my lingue Italiano is rusty and determining which type of crema in my cornetto became a major motion picture production  Yvonne speaks little to no English and my Italiano was sputtering from jetlag and nerves. Our waiter fro...

 The morning finally came when we awoke sluggy headed to face our first day in-country - conveniently in a lovely hotel in Rome we've stayed out a few times.  9Hotel Cesari; a very old hotel smack dab in the middle of the Centro Storico, walkable in minutes to the Pantheon, Piazza Navona, Campo Fiori, Fontana di Trevi. Very much an on purpose action as sort of way to float down comfortably from the fog of jet lag before we head south to San Cataldo/Lecce and the sea.  If you read any snippets from my previous blog, pre pandemic Becoming Roman  you'll know I like lists, so here you go.  What seems different than 2019 we we did a few months in Rome (gawd, I love remote working) in the most interesting and beautiful city in the world? Chage, in the Eternal City?  It happens. 1. Ristoranti and cafe life.  We like coffee and of course that was our first goal, so we headed down a few blocks to a really authentic, high volume coffee bar, one of the first real...