the cadys

Have Tickets, Will Travel

Today, Simeon and I had the responsibility of "checking out" at the old apartment. We were supposed to meet someone from the rental agency, at the old apartment, at 10:00 to give her the keys and sign a piece of paper saying we didn't steal the stereo or anything like that. Sounds easy, right?

Keep in mind that yesterday afternoon was the first time in his non-newborn life that Simeon slept in/on something without sides. He was exhausted enough, both for his nap and the night, that it wasn't a problem, but at 6:30 this morning his pacifier had rolled off the mattress and I was woken up for "Mama! Where's Blue?" After we found it, I convinced him to lay back down for an hour or so, in spite of the noise. This apartment is much quieter as far as motor traffic goes, but our place is right next to the front door of the building, so anyone who enters or leaves goes right past our walls and windows. One nice thing about apartments here, though, is that they all have this great system of blinds that truly shut out the light, much like hotel draperies. At Vialle Certosa, the last apt., they were even electric. Push a button and the light disappears, no matter what time of day or night! Here, it's mechanical -- I pull a big canvas strap -- but it's the same idea. Almost like a set of rolling hurricane shutters that come down outside the window. They help muffle the noise a little, too.

Anyway, when we woke up, I rushed around trying to get some food in us, take a shower, get dressed, and get out the door by 9. The other apartment is only 4.4 km away, but it took us a whole HOUR to get there. (And an hour to get back, even though this time I knew a little better where I was going!) This was my first time to tackle public transportation without Francois around, and my first time doing much walking around the new location. We walked 2 or 3 blocks to the metro stop, went down, bought two tickets in Italiano from the tobacco stand, rode the subway 2 stops, went up and walked a block to the tram stop, and rode the tram to within another 3 blocks of the apartment. It doesn't sound like much, but it's much faster to do all the walking with S in a stroller; however, then I've got to fold it up and carry it (and sometimes him!) up and down all those stairs and on and off the trains. Plus, on the tram, you have to know where you are well enough to ask for a stop prior to driving past it! Suffice it to say it was a workout.

In any case, the whole thing took 2 hours but was a success. And the best thing about it all is that we discovered a great playground, super close to Via Vico, where we're staying now. Simeon ran and laughed there for quite awhile on the way home, and was even the better behaved of the two toddlers there playing. :-)