Hahah. Our clothes are still sopping wet out on the terrace. We moved them under some protection from the elements.
We headed out into the pouring rain. Our usual spot isn’t open on Sundays, so we headed down the road and picked another cafe. We are chilled and it was SO warm in there, we decided to get a pastry and a coffee and linger over our breakfast. I’m sure all our Missoula friends are thinking, “boohoo, what is it like 45 there?“
We were on a mission to find an ATM and get some cash. We’re still trying to get this figured out here. Where’s the best place to get euros? Let me tell you where it is NOT. The airport in Rome and the train station in Bari. We tried the post office in Bari. That also does not seem to be the best. We went to a bank ATM and that one has been the fairest by far.
Cash in hand. Now what? We don’t particularly feel like wandering around in the rain. We head over to the train station and see where they are going today. Yikes. It seems like it is true. If you buy your train tickets early, they are pretty economical. We were not willing to shell out several hundred dollars, or wait hours for a train headed in a cheaper direction, so we opted for the bus instead.
The central hub for the buses is right outside the train station. We wander over there and choose a bus we haven’t been on yet. Number 21. Off we go. Along the route, we see an Ikea. That sounds like a fun activity on a rainy day. We get off the bus, walk to the stop across the street and voila. The bus should be here soon and it is a 3-minute ride to Ikea. But, the bus is late. Previously, we have had 2 buses not even show up. It is Sunday. Hm. We decide to walk to Ikea. It is only a 20-minute walk. No sooner did we get a block away, the bus drives by. Grrr! Oh well. It has stopped raining and it is pleasant out.
Not so pleasant, the high-traffic area that we are trying to weave our way through to actually get to the Ikea. We make it though. We laughed. It reminds us of a previous time we were on foot on Vancouver Island trying to walk to the Costco. Eerily similar.
We have now figured out where all of Puglia hangs out at on Sundays. Ikea. Holy smokes. And boy howdy is it HOT in there. We were looking for a couple of items. Found them and got the heck out of there. We didn’t even stop and have something from the cafeteria. (which was disappointing, but it really was just too dang hot in there).
I check the timetable for the bus. It will be here in 5 minutes! We head over post haste and arrive at the stop as the bus is pulling up. Sweet! On Sundays, the bus only comes every hour. This is a new experience for us – the bus says it is headed to Bari Centrale (D). We know A buses line up in front of the station, B buses line up alongside the station, but we have no idea where the D buses end up. And, we’ll never know! We accidentally got off one stop early. We were in the general area we wanted to be in anyways.
We walked to a grocery store. The Rosso Tono. I think it means red tuna. I look it up. Nope. It means Red Tone. We are having salad again for dinner. We love salad and (obviously) can eat it every day. We head home for aperitivo and dinner.
Shocking for us, it is chilly and we turn on a little heat. Just for a little bit. Then shut it off so we won’t regret it while trying to sleep!
Paleremo presto
You are becoming bus experts!