Tag Archives: #Shopping

Giorno de Vacnza 40

Posted by mishafesto on

Paul had to work Saturday morning, so once he got home we didn’t venture far. We went and wandered around an electronics store, another home store, and then had dinner at an “American” grill.

Here, the ‘electronics’ stores sell everything from appliances and phones, to fine crystal and candles. I don’t know 🤔 Below, you’ll see the world’s shallowest washing machine! I mean, look at that thing! It is literally one foot deep. I’ve already told you that the washers here will do a max load of about 3 pair of pants. Seriously. So this thing…what the heck is the point? Washboards are cheaper! 😂

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And then, we went to the home store, Brico. A different one from the one we went to last week! I was walking and saw this end cap and was like, “Oh, emoji magnets” or something…nope. They have emoji sink pugs here. WTF?

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And finally, it was dinner time! We kept driving past a sign pointing towards this Roadhouse place. An American Grill, Google called it, so we said what the heck. I’m starting to long for familiar meat and potatoes after a month here. This was in a giant modern building, shared by…a McDonald’s. Yep. So we go in, and there are cowhide chairs and horse shoes and stuff decorating the place. But it smelled a heck of a lot better than a stock yard! 😂 The menu (an English version they had!) was full of onion rings, quesadillas, cheeseburgers, steaks, ribs, all these unheard of things here! We settled on a mixed platter for two ( a common serving style here), that had a ribeye, a NY strip, a Veal fillet, and some little brats. We got sides of onion rings and green beans. It. Was. Amazing. 😋 #OMG The table had a little carrier, you know the kind with salt and pepper and ketchup, etc. This one had honey mustard, BBQ sauce, and mayo, though. The BBQ was the *exact* same stuff that comes with McDonald’s chicken McNuggets. #IKnowThatSauce Which led us to wonder if they weren’t owned by McD’s or something, sharing a building and all. They seem to be paired up in other towns too, we’ve noticed. So, anyway, that was Saturday night’s dinner. It was amazing. Would totally go back again (the cheeseburgers looked wonderful), but with just a few nights left here before we fly back to California on Thursday, I’m not sure we’ll make it.

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Giorno de Vacanza 39

Posted by mishafesto on

Friday, Paul was able to get out of work at the extra early time of 4:30pm! We had some grocery shopping to do, and a few other things to look for, and ended up trying out a new-to-us store. Auchan, who’s symbol is a red bird, is the WalMart of Italy! It took I don’t know how many years of looking, but Paul found one! They exist! This place was huge, and had a little bit of everything. Pharmacy, car tires, clothes, food, home repair! FYI…these are all Google pictures I found. It’s easier to explain the shopping carts with close ups!

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So. Not only are reusable grocery bags the absolute must here (you can buy plastic bags at the register for like, a quarter each), but most people also use the little baskets to shop. They have wheels and handles that telescope up, but they are still tiny baskets. You *can* get a shopping cart, but you have to rent it. Below, you can see all the carts chained up together. That is the norm everywhere here. And most European countries, I found during my research.

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So, you put a coin (usually a 1 or 2 euro coin) into the slot at the front. The coin pushes the chain key out the back, releasing the cart. The coin is trapped inside the cart until you push it back into the next cart and push the chain key back in. That pushes the coin back out for you to grab.

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It’s pretty basic, some spring mechanism inside the little box on the handle. A coin and a key pushing back and forth. But this way, nobody steals the carts, runs off with them, leaves them out to roll into your car, etc. They actually have key fobs here, that are shaped like a round coin on the end, to sort of trick the lock box. They resemble those lottery scratcher key fobs you see at grandma’s house. Plus, your keys are then locked to the cart, so you can’t run off without replacing the cart #BecauseKeys. So, that was our Friday adventure. We actually got a cart, for the first time ever, and it was a good thing, because remember…this store had everything!

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