The Coop

I awoke in our upstairs bedroom the first morning to the light streaming in from the open window. I lay there, taking in the sounds, the view, the aroma of the fields. I was in a villa...in Italy. It was a dream come true. After little to no sleep over the past few days, I had slept soundly our first night in Italy. I was ready for whatever adventure lie ahead.

Since we had planned to go to the supermarket the evening before, we turned down the 10 euro per person breakfast that was offered to us upon check in. With the exchange rate sitting at roughly $0.70 to the euro, $13.00 each seemed rather steep for what we expected to be a continental breakfast. This meant we would have to get up and find The Coop in the morning before we did anything else if we wanted to eat.

By 9am, Liz and I were out the door with our little map back in hand, the girls still sound asleep. This time we were able to successfully negotiate our way to San Casciano, figuring out our mistake. What we thought was the first roundabout, was for some reason, not on the map. Since the instructions were to to veer to the left on the second roundabout, it was a big mistake to make. 

As we curved around the road after the "second" roundabout, we could see our destination to our left, just where the map said it would be. Score! 

From the moment we walked in the little supermarket, I was enthralled. I felt I had stepped back into the 60’s and 70’s and was at the corner market by my grandmother’s. 

Don’t misunderstand, there were plenty of reminders that we were in the 2010’s, such as the need to pay the use of a shopping cart, the little do-it-yourself weight/barcode machine for the produce. The place, however, was hopping with shoppers, even for a weekday morning. 

It took us a while to maneuver through the store, and go through our mental shopping list. Fruit, check. Baked goods, check. Instant coffee, check. Milk check. Lunch meat, check. Bottled water, check. 

A little over 50 euros later, we were wheeling our cart out of there, quite happy with ourselves. For just 10 euros more than what we were originally quoted for breakfast, we had not only breakfast secured for almost the whole week, but lunch or dinner too!

We were happy as we headed back to the villa, feeling good about our bounty and that we were able navigate our way there and back without getting lost or going the wrong way once. It was just the boost I needed. Next up, deciding how to spend our first full day in Italy!