1 Maggio.......La Festa dei Lavoratori!

The first news of the day is that it is actually cloudy........and during breakfast we had a short rain shower!  This is the first day without sun since we left Boston 19 days ago!  This must be a record of some sort, but no complaints here.  We actually got excited watching the light rain off our balcony (which is covered by the roof overhang).  It was actually new entertainment to watch people on the street with umbrellas!

what is this grey stuff in the sky?

do we see some raindrops on the pavement?

we discovered that we had too many pastries!

The second news note is that today is a national holiday.  This is the third national holiday we have been able to celebrate in less than a month!  Today's occasion is to commemorate the labor union movement’s social and economic achievements (Labor Day), also known as La Festa dei Lavoratori or Festa del Lavoro   It is a nationwide public holiday in Italy on May 1 each year.

The third in our news items is that I have to make a quick trip back to Boston for an interview on Friday.  I will leave Rome Thursday afternoon and return on a Friday night flight.  I tried every way to get the interview rescheduled or have someone fill in for me, but to no avail.  Anyway, it should be an interesting experience!  More details as that gets closer.

We celebrated the holiday by doing absolutely nothing in the morning......NO LABOR.  Looking back, I am not really sure how the time went by.  Around noon we sauntered up to Bar Gianicolo for a midday snack.  The tables outside were open, but still a bit wet, so we sat inside.  The sandwiches were very nice.  We had a baguette with prosciutto and cheese and two tramezzini - one with tuna & tomato and one with ham and cheese.......followed by espresso.

After lunch we walked down to the fountain to stretch our legs.  The traffic was light and people seemed to be quietly enjoying the holiday.

Most of the afternoon was spent in the studio, reading and painting and eventually heading back for a rest.  Here, it is interesting to distinguish the various terms.  Siesta can be used, as it is relatively universal.  Pisolino is a term for a nap, in general.  What we learned from Alessandra at Bogliasco was that Italians more frequently refer to the period after a midday meal as pennichella.......a period of hours in which a rest is taken.  Any of them work for us!

The sky brightened as the afternoon progressed, but the temperature has remained cooler, in the mid-60's.  We had a glass of wine and some potato chips on our kitchen balcony.......very cool place to lean on the parapet and watch the people walk by below.

For dinner, a large group of us got together to go to Ristorante Scarpone again.  While it has cooled off quite a bit, we still decided to sit outside under the arbor.  The temperature was actually fine, but we were concerned when a few sprinkles started to drip through the wisteria!  It only lasted 5 minutes, so we lucked out.  It was a fun night with a broad range of personalities (11 of us)........it was actually rather exhausting!