CAGLIARI, ITALY

Cagliari was a fun place to visit.  We decided to venture out to look for a few of the sights yesterday.  There was a market that sounded fun as well as a museum.  First things first - the market.  We were told to catch the M bus up the hill...so we did.  Well, we didn't exactly find it right away, but we had a fun time walking all over town and asking for directions to find it. 

 At one point, we stopped at a bank to get some cash.  I had some US dollars that I thought I would try to exchange.  It seemed rather convenient that we found this cute little bank.  We brought the $ up to the (older male) teller and asked if it would be possible to change the money.  He smiled, took the money and then asked for my passport.  Of course, I gladly handed it over.  He started punching things into his computer and began to have a confused look on his face.  He looked up at us and smiled once in a while.  Then he started talking with some of the other tellers.  He asked if we were residents and then kept typing something on his computer.  After a few more minutes, he got out of his chair and went to an office on the other side of the room (probably the bank president or something...).  Now both men were looking at the computer with confused looks on their faces.  At this point there was a long line forming and I started to get that sweaty feeling again.  We didn't look behind us.  I tried to apologize and leave graciously but they seemed determined to help us.  By this point there was a third bank person staring at the computer with a confused look on her face.  The room was becoming crowded and I was getting hotter by the minute.  We are not sure what the problem was, but after some convincing...I managed to get my passport and my money back.  The teller was very nice, but said he could not help us.  No problem on my part.  I just wanted to get out of there!!!  The end of the story is that after 30 minutes inside the bank, we left, went to the cash machine outside, and in 5 minutes, with money in hand, we were good to go!  Oh well.  In spite of all our issues, everyone was really very patient and understanding.  Whew!  Another memory for Kristin and me.

Back to the original story.  We did eventually find the market, but everyone was closing up by this time.  We bought some strawberries and a few pastries and started back to the hotel.  The museum would have to wait until another day...

Interesting things in Cagliari...lots of laundry hanging out...graffiti...lots of skinny jeans and black boots...older people dress up...lots of smoking...people are generally helpful...  We like it here!