...a toy story...

Another day, another character to encounter...we stopped into a toy store (giocattoli) so Joe could scout out any bargains that might be lurking on dusty back shelves for future E-bay sales...got to save up for that next trip, right ?

We said "buon giorno" to the proprietor, a cute little old man who watched us suspiciously for a minute or two, then decided we would like to know his entire life story - in Italian....

He started with his family: where his sons and daughter live (I think), who his friends were (I think), and how he worked for years and survived the war (I think...)...gesturing with his hands and clutching our arms all the time.

He spoke about seeing the Madonna come to take his wife's spirit when she died, and explained that we might not believe him, but he knows what he saw and he saw the Madonna !  He told us several more stories (completely lost in translation...), and then informed us that he was 97 years old...I said I didn't believe him, so he let go of my arm long enough to pull out his identification form from his wallet...sure enough, he was born in 1916 ! Pretty amazing guy...we tried to make our escape, but by that time he was well into his personal opinions about  politics and religion (at least I'm pretty sure that's what he was going on about...)

20 minutes later, we finally got to hug and kiss goodbye...phew !  Another barrage of Italian words and gestures floating around in our poor American brains, we headed home for a well deserved nap....

Hugs in two languages...Chris and her overwhelmed bargain seeking husband