Who can spot the American?

Yesterday I had some free time and decided to take a 'field trip' to the large grocery store that my friend Jordan had shown me. It took me a few tries to find the correct cobblestone street that it was on, amongst the winding roads, but once I found it, I was excited to take my time, cruising the aisles, taking in the various products, and getting more acquainted with Italian grocery stores. Jordan had told me that she likes to go between 1:30-3, since that tends to be the time it is least crowded, as everyone is at lunch, vs out doing errands. I entered the store and thought, "wow, she was right, the store is dead, and I can really navigate it w/ ease with the stroller, and just have a relaxing time. Great!" So, I began my shopping experience in the produce department, learning how to shop for fruits and veggies. Basically, you select your items...say, apples, than you take them over to a scale, that has a board w/ buttons that each have a picture an item on them (apple, banana etc), you hit the button that corresponds with what you are weighing, so the 'apple' for my example, and then a sticker w/ the price and barcode is spit out. This saves the cashier from having to weigh your produce at check out. So, I gained my confidence in that department,then moved from aisle to aisle, checking out the different items that you just don't find in the US, and the missing items, that I just can't find here in Italy. Some of the observances:
1-Eggs are not refridgerated. They are just sitting on the shelves, just like cereal.
2-Speaking of cereal, it's expensive,and it comes in small boxes (kind of like the size of the grapenuts cereal box). I also thought I was buying the same Honey Nut Cheerios that I get at home, but it seems that General Mills must have licensed their branding to Nestles, because although the Nestle's HN Cheerios box looks just like the General Mills one, complete with the same little honeybee, the cereal itself isn't the same, and I miss the flavor of the General Mills ones.
3-Milk just comes in small size plastic bottles. I've yet to see a gallon of milk anywhere, even at the larger grocery chains.
4-A lot of the yogurt brands come in glass jars, kind of like baby food.
5-The tiniest jar of peanut butter is 6+ Euro
6-It's hard to find baking ingredients such as baking soda,baking powder, brown sugar, chocolate chips etc. Most grocery stores, if they carry baking powder/soda at all, the 2 ingredients are combined in little envelopes, so not sure how you would convert those to try to bake a new recipe? Also, brown sugar has big sugar granules..almost looks like the raw sugar you get at Starbucks, or like light brown Kosher salt. A friend did find some 'normal' containers of baking powder/soda and Dunkin Heinz cake mixes at the Lindt specialty chocolate store, but otherwise, I think the best bet, is to stock up on those items during a future trip back to the US.
7-Speaking of Starbucks, I heard today from several of the girls at coffee this morning (1 who is married to a Neopolitan, and 2 who are dating Neopolitans), that there is a law (not sure if it is a written law, or an unwritten rule) against Starbucks here, and that it's not allowed in Italy. Another one of the girls said that probably explains why her Starbucks coffee beans that she bought while in Edinborogh last weekend were confiscated at the Italian airport.

Anyhow, I kind of digressed from my story...so, I was walking the aisles, taking my time to take it all in, loving how deserted the store was, and enjoying my 'field trip'. I kept hearing announcements on the loudspeaker,but was basically ignoring them,since I couldn't understand anyways. After a few minutes of announcements, and another aisle covered, a store clerk approached me. I couldn't understand her at first, but then realized that she was telling me they are closed. I was the only one in the store, and I didn't even have any intention of buying anything. This was just my field trip. It was so funny! As she directed me to the exit, and as I rode the moving ramp to the door (like a flat escalator that they use at all the malls and big stores), I looked down to see the cashiers all counting out their drawers to cash out, and all the aisles totally empty! I wonder how long they were trying to tell me to get out of there via the loud speaker, since literally, I was the only one in there! The manager was at the door with the keys, and she locked the door the second Evan and I exited. Oops...my vocab for the day "we are closing..get out!" ha

I laughed at myself, and decided to stop and treat myself to a hot chocolate(literally a cup of melted chocolate) at Gambrinos on my way home. Gambrino's is a famous cafe here..still don't know what it is famous for. I got in the cafe, and I decided I'd also get some Tirimisu, to try their version of it. I looked in the bakery case, didn't see it, and so then I opened up the refriderated case and was going through the items in there, to see what the desserts were, and if there was a tirimisu or something else that looked good. The security guy whipped over there so quickly, snapped the door shut, and slapped a lock on it. Apparently, going into the case yourself is a big 'no-no'. Oopsy, this Americana still has a lot to learn to blend in w/ the locals, but when it comes to sweets, I tend to just go for it! ha