I have used up the last of my favorite soap!  When I was in Italy in 2005, I took the train from Florence to Lucca one day with Deb.  It is an ancient, walled town, home to Pinocchio and Puccini.  I made a couple of small errors which really only added to the richness of the experience.  I spent a long time looking for the labyrinth at the duomo so I could walk it, only to discover that it was a tiny thing carved into a pillar in the portico wall that one could only “walk” with one’s finger.

Then, at lunch time I made a mistake in thinking that something listed under the salads as insalata vitello di tonnato would be a tuna salad but it was not.   It was veal with a bit of cold tuna sauce.  I don’t normally eat babies.  I ate it.  I always make nice in foreign countries.  Besides, everything in Italy is delizioso.

But later, I ventured in to a shop which sold all sorts of cleaning products for ordinary use, and not normally frequented by tourists.  Housewives were picking up Comet, Tilex, Clorox, bath soap.  I came across some soap in brown paper, oddly called “Marseille,” but apparently, as I have since learned,  is only available in ordinary shops in Italy.  My friend searched in vain for it when she was living in France.  I bought a box of it on the spot that day.  It smelled so good even through the wrapping paper.  It cost practically nothing.  I just used up my last bar.

If you know anyone who is going to Italy any time soon, I would like to send for another box.  I’ll pay.