The Daily Gauntlet!

Well, you can read the reports of today's activities from Sean, Hailey, and Gretchen, so I'll not rehash that. It was a pleasant day all-round.

Now onto more interesting quirks...getting into and out of our flat requires three different keys, some specialized knowledge of how to use them, and 84 stair steps (and 6 landings)--one way. It's amazing how out of shape we seem to be--doesn't matter that I cycled 20+ miles last week; doesn't matter that my kids are active and fit. Climbing and descending 84 steps multiple times per day is a bit of a workout.

We are very early in our stay here, but as it looks, we'll need to go through the stairs process 2-4 times each day...that's up to nearly 700 stair steps / day! Doesn't seem like much...until you are doing it with wine bottles, beer bottles, juice and milk cartons, etc. It reminds me of when I climbed stairs while carrying a sandbag on my back when I wrestled in high school!

The first flight of stairs leaving our flat.

Now...onto the keys. First things first...when we fully lock our flat (either from the inside or the outside), it requires four turns of "the big key" (see illustration below). "The Big Key" is required whenever locking down for the evening or locking up when leaving the premises. None of this simple turn the snib and pull the door shut behind you...oh no. Whenever we leave the home, locking is a multi-step process:

1. Pull the inner door shut until it clicks

2. Using "the big key" pull the outer door shut until it clicks -- this means that the first level of security is in place.

3. Turn "the big key" four revolutions to the left - one for the first deadbolt, one for deadbolts 2-4, one for the top locks, one for the bottom ones. 

The keys: "The big key," the little rubber covered one and the plain one.

So, after we get lock the door, and get down to the bottom of the 84 steps, we reach the lower, courtyard door. From the inside, this takes a simple lever to open the door. After this door we reach the really tall metal doors with the cast lion-heads on the outside. Again, on the way out, a simple lever opens the door and we are out.

The way back requires that you truly know how to "use" the keys...not in the simple sense, but in the very nuanced Italian sense.

The massive front door is the easiest. During most of the day time hours (aside from a period in the early afternoon), that door is open, so you just walk on through. If a key is required, it takes the "plain" one and the lock is relatively straight forward. Next comes the lock to the door that faces toward the inner courtyard. It takes "the little rubber covered one"...but there's a bit of a trick. Push it in all the way, and it won't turn at all. Push it in not far enough and it'll turn but won't open anything. Push it in just right, then add a little jiggle, and it will open the door. Of course during many (but not all) of the hours that the big front door is open, there's a little old woman in a flat right in between the two doors who will buzz you in with a smile. I think she likes to watch me struggle for a bit, then just about when I get the door open, she buzzes it. That said, I now think I can open faster than she can buzz...but only just!

The inner part of the door...where the
"the big key" goes
to begin the locking process.

Then, just 84 stair steps away and four twists of "the big key" and a twist of the latch on the inner door...and voila, we are back inside! AND...to lock up for the night, close the outer door, then four twists of the lock to fully lock the inner doors...close and click the inner door...and your home!

Lower door bolts.

Upper door bolts.

And that is our daily gauntlet. Gretchen even asked that I let her do it while we are still together so that next week when I head off to work she'll be able to competently leave and enter our flat!

And now...to end it off...we purchased our first (of many) bottles of local wine. We decided to start in the "under 4 Euro" category. Tonight's choice was a 3.42 Euro choice ($4.44) Barbera from a village midway between Torino and Genoa. 

A wine that tastes about the quality of Manischevitz
Concord Grape at 20% less price!

I can't say that it's great...my initial feeling was that it reminded me a little of the Manischevitz Concord Grape wine I drank for communion growing up. That said...given that it's price point is some 20% lower than the Manischevitz...it's not a bad deal! We'll keep working our way upward to see how high we need to go for a "good" wine!

That's all for now! More adventures to come :)