Luckily, right around the corner from that is something I'm much more familiar with, the pasticceria (bakery, specifically for pastries -- we'll see the panetteria shortly). I guess I wasn't really in the mood for a croissant when I was here, since I didn't get anything -- that's pretty unusual for me when there's a bakery around! I also already had some Eataly croissants at Termini on my first day -- I'm not sure if they're the same since the pasticceria here has its own brand. I was also getting a bit of sticker shock from Eataly's prices, especially since I had just come from Sicily where everything is cheaper than even the relatively normal places I stopped by in Rome!
My Italian friend was quite annoyed by American coffee culture back in the early days of Starbucks. She contended that coffee was never meant to be consumed 'on the go' and that coffee was only useful for having a long sit-down conversation with someone. I guess in my case, that had to be me even though I had no interest in going to Starbucks, lol. Also, she said coffee was meant to be served in very small cups...I guess like what we see here. Of course, at the places I went to in Italy (aside from McDonald's), the cafes didn't want you sitting down at their establishment unless you paid extra for it! Oh well.
ReplyDeleteGiven that this is Italy, I'm surprised that people aren't sitting around smoking cigarettes while drinking their coffee, but perhaps that is against the rules there now. Maybe the culture has changed a lot there since I was last there!
Italian culture seems to involve a lot of long sit-down conversations like that, something that always annoys me when I'm just trying to get out of the restaurant after eating my dinner! I had hoped things would be better when I was traveling alone, but no, I guess I'm just supposed to sit there and stare into space or something. Oh well, it's hard to complain that much about eating at restaurants in Italy when the food is as good as it is!
DeleteIndoor smoking was banned shortly after I started visiting Italy, so probably somewhere around 20 years ago now. At first that just meant that there were tons of people smoking outdoors, especially at outdoor restaurant/cafe seating (plus a lot of people simply ignored the rules, unsurprisingly), but I was surprised to not run into all that many smokers (indoors or out) on this trip. I guess the culture is finally changing!