Our Apartment

Our residence is Via Vetulonia 16 just inside the ancient city walls by the Porta Romana. It is a first floor apartment which means it is actually on the second floor since the Italians begin their numbering with zero.You enter the apartment into a long hallway which divides the space in two.The first room to the left is the kitchen. It is somewhat small, but quite functional with a double-basin wash sink, gas stove, brand new dishwasher and fridge. Staying on the left we come to a pair of bathrooms. Each has a toilet, sink and bidet. One has the washer and a phone booth sized shower, the other has the dryer. At the end of the hall is the entrance into the first of the two bedrooms. It has a queen bed and a giant wardrobe against the wall. There are no closets anywhere - wardrobes stand duty as places to hang clothes. All of these rooms overlook an overgrown interior garden. As far as I know, we have no access to that which will make life interesting should we drop anything out of the windows or if anything falls off of the clothesline which stretches from the kitchen to the further bathroom.

If we continue around we are now on the street side of the apartment and at the second bedroom, across from a bathroom. This one has a pair of twin beds which we have pushed together to create a second queen sized bed. Inspite of the street noise, this is the room we have adopted as our own room since it is larger and we find the beds more to our liking. The next room is the dining room which is across from the other bathroom. It has a nice table for six and several china cupboards with enough space in them to store all of our stuff in Springfield. Those of you who know what we have there will realize we will NEVER fill all the space we have here. The final room is actually the first door to the right as you enter the apartment. It is the living/tv room. It also has a small desk where we will work at home.The couch pulls out into a double bed meaning we can comfortably sleep as many as 4 guests as long as they are willing to pair up.

There are stone floors throughout which, given our lack of animals and other mess producing quantities, should be relatively easy to keep clean. Amy's mission this morning after we complete our visit to the school is to find an appropriate mop. The apartment walls are all 16-18 inches thick so, even though there is no AC, the place stays somewhat cool as long as we close the shutters and windows. So, we open the windows at night as the sun goes down over the west-facing garden and close them again as it rises into the east-facing road.

Internet at home is still an issue so I am writing from school. Thus, no pictures - at least not yet. I hope to add some in the near future.