This morning was outside the norm we had established over the past 12 days:

Paul and D drove to the town of Ceprano to try and get his iPhone repaired (he dropped it in the ocean while in Sperlonga.) The first place couldn’t help him, so they drove to the larger town of Frosinone to try a different place we had researched online. Hopefully we’ll hear by Monday whether they can fix it. 

Next the boys drove to a pick up point that we had arranged in Frosinone for an IKEA order. It is 9 Euro to order online and pick up in Frosinone versus driving over an hour to the store or incurring a 60 Euro delivery fee. They had a hard time finding the pick up point (inside of another merchant) but ultimately successfully picked up our wardrobe and a few other items and managed to fit everything into the car. 

Paul and D did manage to evade a security guard briefly and sneak into the Frosinone soccer stadium, which was a bonus.

While they were out, I walked to the store for a case of waters and yogurts. Unfortunately I grabbed the garden gate key off the hook at the front door instead of the front door key, and locked myself out. 

Leaving the groceries at the front door, I walked back down the hill to La Piuma Nera bar for a cappuccino. Using Google Translate and the few phases I could cobble together (Mio figlio iPhone roto! Giardino chiave, no casa! / My son iPhone broken, Garden key, no house!) I told Mimo about our morning as he shook his head with empathy. 

I then went to the hair salon where moments after I arrived, a woman came in from a nearby bar with a tray of espressos for all of the customers. Italian pop music played on the speakers and thankfully the salon was air conditioned. Only 39 Euro to get my hair colored and dried which is less than half the price than what I pay in Belmont. 

Arriving back at the house, Paul told me that I erroneously bought Gassosa, not sparllng water “con gas.” Gassosa is Italy’s version of Sprite. The first night we were in Pico, Stefano had topped off our glasses of beer with Gassosa to make a drink they call Panache or Radler. 

The day is not off to a great start, but all we can do is laugh it off as we know these mishaps are not serious problems to have.

By 1:30pm we decided to turn the day around and head to Naples, leaving all expensive jewelry at the house. More on the Naples excursion tomorrow as it’s late, we’re exhausted from the day and truly Naples deserves its own post.