a few questions as I prepare to leave Italy

Only three more days left here in lovely Rome! I broke down and did a bit more shopping today, but from now on I am mostly taking it easy and revisiting a few favorite places. (Plus FINALLY getting to the Roman Forum … aka the very first place I attempted to go and the only major attraction I’ve not gotten to even once!) But I have a couple of questions for Roman/Italian readers, things I have not been able to puzzle out on my own:

1) Prego is usually translated in English as “you’re welcome,” but I notice that people in stores and restaurants frequently say it even before they are thanked or have done the activity for which they would be thanked. So what does it mean really? Is it something like, “I am happy to help?”

2) A few days ago, when I was in the Borghese Gardens, I was going along, minding my own business and attempting to reach the Piazza di Spagna, when suddenly my only option was to take some stairs down and then take some more stairs down and suddenly I was in a series of subterranean tunnels and then I was in a Carrefour supermarket in the bowels of the earth. And then I kept going and I was in … the Piazza di Spagna. What happened, exactly? I didn’t dream the Carrefour, did I?

3) What in the name of our sweet baby Jesus are those Amore ads? The ones that appear to show an orgy in progress (European ads = not like American ads), but everyone involved is wearing dog and cat masks, which is just astonishingly disturbing. I have attempted to parse out the Italian beneath it, but if I understand correctly, these are ads for PET FOOD, and so I can’t possibly understand correctly, can I?

I’ve almost maxed out Flikr, so the rest of my vacation photos will be up in my first July update, but I promise many more to share then!