Day 7 - Walk a Mile in My Shoes (and a contest!)

Monday, June 27
    At Francesca's encouragement, I took a walk to a nice shopping area today. By "nice" what she really meant was "out of my price range." Like, five times what I can afford to spend on necklaces and sandals. Anyway, I headed out with a few necessities in mind. Bus/metro tickets and nail polish remover. Seriously, they are important things, guys!
    The first place I stopped was a profumeria, which is pretty much just the cosmetics/hair product sections of a drug store. I enjoyed the air conditioning in there while pretending to browse around. After a few minutes, I bought my nail polish remover and headed back out to the street.
    My other main purchase goal was bus/metro tickets, which are not sold at bus stops, but at tabaccheria, or tobacco shops. I don't really know if there's a good reason for that, other than to annoy me by making me walk all over the place to find an open shop. Eventually found one and stopped in to buy six tickets, each one good for 75 minutes from the time you get it stamped on your first bus or metro ride. (And you don't want to get caught without one, apparently they can charge you up to €500 for riding the bus without a ticket!!!)
   Francesca had also suggested I invest in a good map, which are available at news stands newsstands stands that sell magazines and newspapers. I asked the lady, "parla inglese?" She said "No." So I asked, "Mappa?" and she replied "That's the only word I know in English."   Ugh, these Italians make me crazy sometimes. She gave me this giant folder, with fold out maps on each side. I asked for a smaller one, which she understood, apparently, because she handed me a quite nice, reasonably priced, laminated type map that would easily fit in my bag. I purchased that one and wandered off in search of some food.
   Just across the street, I found a little shop selling sandwiches and pastries and drinks. I already had a full bottle of water with me, so I just purchased a sandwich that looked appetizing. 

(panino with some kind of meat, some green leafy stuff, and some kind of cheese.)

   After my sandwich and some people watching, I decided to head back to the apartment. (I had returned Margherita's house key to her, so the I had to come back before she left for the evening.) When I got back, Frederico (the painter) had finished Diletta's room and was preparing to move all her things from the dining room (where I was staying) to her newly re-done bedroom. He and Margherita moved the (king-sized) bed and the desk, with a little help from me, though I mostly just stood around feeling helpless. Then they set up Angi's old (twin-sized) daybed in the dining room for me. I spent 20+ years sleeping in twin beds, but to go from a king one day to a twin the next is... pretty much a bummer. 

    If you've stuck with the boring part, you deserve a prize! If you actually read all that crap ^^^ you should know that I purchased nail polish remover, 6 bus/metro tickets, a map, and a sandwich. Here's where your work comes in: The first person to put the FOUR items in order from cheapest to most expensive will receive a special prize from Italy! I've included this picture, which probably won't help at all.

THE RULES: Contest will end on Friday, July 1st, 2011 at 6 pm Italy time (12 noon Ohio time). If you are not currently in either of those time zones, you may have to do some math. You may enter a guess only once. If you guess more than once, you will be disqualified. Ummm... I think that's it, don't be difficult, you know how contests work. Good luck!