Once our friends arrived, we sat on a park bench and talked for a little while, then went to the restaurant. They had made reservations, which is normal in Italy, even at regular restaurants and therefore we had a table waiting. It was downstairs, so we went down. As we came down the stairs, we saw that the wall was half open and there was seating out of the balcony. As we sat down, we realized that off of the balcony was a cliffside view of the Adriatic Sea. The sun had already set, so we couldn't see the view, but imagined it to be very beautiful.
We had a great dinner together, then sat around the table for awhile talking. A normal Italian dinner can last for two to three hours, because of the familial socializing. After dinner, we split the check and went for an after dinner walk. Angie, Emanuela and Valeria spoke of womenly things and Luca and I spoke of movies and games of RISK and Axis & Allies. After we stopped at the videoarcade for Luca and Valeria's two young boys to gaze longingly at the teen playing, we went for ice cream, better known in Italy as gelato.
Then we strolled down the street talking with our friends and passing the time. We stopped at a few market stands that were open late, selling purses, mindgames, artwork, etc.... Then we started saying our goodbyes. We thanked them for a wonderful evening and they us. Then we parted ways, and Angie and I made our way to the car. It was a wonderful evening that deepened our friendship.
3 comments:
"After dinner, we split the check and went for an after dinner walk."
Does that happen normally? Does it happen without arguing?
Here in Taiwan, it is VERY rare to split a check... the person paying gets enormous amounts of "face" so usually one person pays for all others. The other parties may reciprocate in the future.
Spreadin' the face around.
I would say that when we go out with friends around our age that it is more than acceptable, it is the norm. Now, we usually just divide it evenly, we don't count it up and say, "I got this and this and this," and then just pay for what we got. It is definitely more communal than that. But we just divide it among the number of friends. Tonight, the family we went with has two small kids, so they just easily said, we'll pay a little extra. Which was fine. Then he bought the ice cream afterwards. When we invite people over to our house for dinner, there is a reciprical action that usually happens afterwards. They invite us over, or we go out to dinner and they cover it. Italy is a very tit for tat kind of society.
Good answer. I LOVE Sirolo - it is like a Eureka Springs on the sea. Glad to hear the evening went well.
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