Tolkien bridges cultures

As part of my ongoing efforts to settle into my room here at the Casa Santa Maria, I went out on a mission this afternoon to purchase a set of speakers for my laptop (I decided my desktop and monitor were too bulky to lug all the way to Rome).

When looking for a store in Rome, you almost need to know exactly where you are going beforehand because very the few of the shops have signs as we are used to seeing since they are all right on the edge of the sidewalk.  To see what a store sells, you really have to look in the window as you walk by and hope you didn't miss the store you wanted while you looked at another.

After some time, I finally stumbled upon an electronics store - and began to understand a bit more of the neighborhood around the Casa; the streets will start to make sense to me (I hope!) - and went inside.

I mentioned to the salesmen that I was looking for a speaker for my laptop and he demonstrated a smallish speaker with which I was not satisfied.  When he asked what sort of speaker I was looking for, I answered, "Per quando io guardo il film "Il Signore degli Anelli" ("For when I watch the movie The Lord of the Rings").

He laughed and understood straight away.