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House Instructions

Appliances

Grocery and Highway

Closing Procedures

Communications & Neighbors

 

 

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UPDATED HOUSE INSTRUCTIONS
2019

THE HOUSE
We own the house, the balcony, the terrace to the west of the twin bedroom, the parking area in front of the top story and the flat itself. Our parking spot is constantly used by top story owners, so we park down the street a short distance as to not make a big disturbance.

STORAGE AREAS: We have a small storage area under our flat. It is the second room on the west wall with two pressurized gas containers ( bombolas). There is a large closet off the hallway which can be used to store permanent items. You may store things there, but we suggest that you label them. If you want to store skis, there is a room in the basement storage area or you may want to purchase a ski locker that we can put under the house.

ELECTRICITY
The Breaker Panel for the house electricity is the gray metal unit in the wall opposite our front door. If the power is not on when you arrive, open the panel and locate the power box marked "Bensen". Flip the black lever in the center to the up position.

The house can only handle 3 kilowatts of electrical power, otherwise the breaker shuts off. Of course, the refrigerator is always on and the TV does not seem to be a problem. The oven and washing machine cannot be on at the same time, and adding the coffee maker and a hair dryer at the same time with either large appliance can also trigger the breaker.

If the breaker switches off, go out to the power box and flip the black lever up again. If the power does not go back on immediately, go to the small interior power box which is behind the door between the Living Room and the Hall to the bedrooms. Flip the blue switch to turn the power back on. (I think it's the blue switch, you might have to experiment. This only happened to us once and our neighbors helped us figure out this additional power source.)

Kitchen Overhead Light: The overhead fluorescent lights in the Kitchen take a while to warm up, so they don't go on right away after flipping the wall switch outside the Kitchen. It's best to be patient and use only the wall switch, not the string, to turn these lights on and off.

REFRIGERATOR
As soon as you get in, turn the refrigerator on to the # 2. The dial is on the right just below the freezer. The refrigerator cools quickly. Do not put the dial higher than #2 or the items on the shelf below the freezer will freeze as well. There are small ice trays. We make ice and put it in a plastic bag or dish, then make more.

When you check out of the house, please empty the refrigerator of all food, turn the dial to off (or 0) and leave the door open.

SHUTTERS, SCREENS AND WINDOWS
When you arrive, you will want to air out the house. Open all the shutters (from the inside) and latch them to the wall to prevent them from being slammed by the wind. It may be a little dusty if no one has been there recently.  

Blue Bedroom Note: If the summer "screen" is up on the outside door, the shutters on the door in the Blue Bedroom with the twin beds need to be opened by reaching carefully through the screen material from the inside. There are shutter stays on the outside wall, so it's a 2-person job. We installed this screening (with Velcro) so you can open the door at night for the cool air.  At the moment, there's nowhere to go outside this room, so these doors are only used for ventilation and light. When you are not at the house, however, be sure to close and lock this glass door.

Hallway Door Note: The nice breeze from the windows/doors in both bedrooms, will often cause the hallway door to slam shut. We replaced the glass panes with plastic after a prior such event, however, we like to put a doorstop of some kind on that door to avoid the shock of it slamming in the first place. (Previously, we used the blue plastic snow chains container on the top shelf in the Pantry/Linen Closet, which seemed to work well J )

Kitchen Window Note: The window in the Kitchen also swings shut in the breeze. Watch out for the items you put on the window shelf with the windows open or unlocked. The items must be heavy and/or unbreakable. (We've broken a plate and a salad bowl so far).

Bathroom Window Note: The window in the Bathroom can either open from the side (with a ¼ turn) or from the top (with a ½ turn). We like to leave it open at the top all the time.

COOKTOP, OVEN & GAS BOMBOLA:
To turn on a burner, you have to push in the knob for 3 clicks once it has flamed up, so it doesn't go out.
If the stove does not light, you need to check the gas bombola that provides gas to the stove. There should be a bombola with gas in the enclosure and another full bombola as a spare in the linen closet. To turn ON the gas bombola only turn it a half to a full turn and no more. The blue bombola regulator is permanently attached to the back concrete wall of the enclosure (see picture). The new flexible metal gas line requires 2 wrenches: the shiny new metal one to hold fast the line while our old wrench is used to detach the line from the bombola. Sounds confusing, but you will figure it out when you see it. You can exchange any empty bombola for a new one at the Hardware Store next to the Tanya's Grocery Market in Nus. If you have any problems with the stove, see Karin upstairs and ask her to call Fabrizio who installed the stove for us.

RED LEATHER SOFA
Our red leather sofa is brand new. We would really appreciate it if everyone would be extra careful not to scratch or stain the leather with shoes, keys, pens, items in back pockets, drinks, food, etc. Thank you! J

WASHING MACHINE
The Washing Machine can be used only as a clothes washer. It is not also a dryer like our prior (and very old) machine. There is a drying rack attached to the railing of the deck. There is also a drying rack in the Pantry/Linen Closet that goes out on the deck for drying during the day (and inside the Living Room for drying at night). The good news is that the washing machine spins out much more of the water than a U.S. machine, so items are much dryer when the wash and spin cycles are over.

Quick Start Instructions:

1. Before starting the machine, pull out the drawer on the left side of the control panel. There are separate compartments for the DETERGENT and for SOFTENER. Before starting the wash cycle, put the DETERGENT in compartment II (on the left). Add SOFTENER (if desired) in the center compartment *. DO NOT PUT DETERGENT IN THE CENTER COMPARTMENT.  The compartment I on the right side is only to be used if you want to do a PREWASH. Close the drawer.
2. Select the program OGNI GIORNO ("everyday wash") by pushing or turning the large round dial. This cycle is about 60 minutes.
   For a DELICATE cycle of 44 minutes, select Lana (a Mana) ("Wool, by Hand"). For super fast, select Lavaggio Rapido ("Rapid Wash"), which is 15 minutes. Cotone (Cotton) is 2 hours and Sintetici ("Synthetics") is 90 minutes. There is also Centrifuga ("Spin Only") and Risciacqo + Centrifuga ("Rinse and Spin").
3. Choose the WATER TEMPERATURE by pushing the button repeatedly. For COLD all the led lights may light up.
4. Choose the SPEED OF SPIN CYCLE by pushing the Centrifuga button. 800 seems best.
5. Choose a PRE-WASH or INTENSE clean or RINSE ONLY Option if desired by pushing the Opzioni button.
6. Add your clothes to a MAXIMUM OF 3/4 FULL, loose. If the machine is too full, it may not start.
7. Press POWER to turn the machine on and to start the cycle.
8. Press AVVIO/PAUSA to pause the machine or restart the selected programs.
9. There are Instructions in Italian with pictures on the shelf under the Bathroom sink.

Hang the clothes to dry on the drying racks outside. The clothes pins are in a basket in the Pantry/Linen Closet. If you are washing late in the day, most items will dry out on the drying rack even if the rack is inside the house overnight.

NOTE: After you leave, our house manager, Fiorangela, will wash the sheets and towels so you don't need to hassle with those. If there are large items you need washed, however, there is a laundry/dry cleaners (Maura's LavaSecca) in Nus. If you are going down the hill towards Aosta, it is on a side street to the left of the main street, and on the left down some little steps. You can see the sign from the road.  You have to drive around the block to get to it. Unfortunately, we have not yet found a self-Laundromat anywhere nearby!

SHEETS, TOWELS & TOWEL RACKS IN ROOMS
There are extra bath towels and sheets in the Pantry/Linen Closet. There are towel racks in both Bedrooms and in the Bathroom. These work well to keep people’s towels separate while drying, but cannot handle too much weight.

SHOWER AND TUB
The shower is a little tricky to get in and out of because the tub is raised up from the floor. USE THE 2 GRAB BARS that hold up the towel racks to get into and out of the tub/shower. We like to hold onto both bars getting in and then use the left hand grab bar and the window sill getting out. Don't worry that the bars will come off the wall. It's all right to hang towels on the racks, too.

Make sure the bath mat is secure on the bottom of the tub before putting all your weight on it. (We tried to find a pretty new mat, but the ones in the store are all very small for the little square-shaped Euro showers. Sorry).

The folding doors work well. We leave them ½ closed and then close just the last panel when showering.

Water Temperature: Since our nice neighbors upstairs had their 2 children, the quantity of hot water for the shower in the morning is limited. There is only one common water heater for all 5 units because…it's Italy.
For multiple morning showers, we take very short showers to conserve the hot water for each person, or turn the water on and off for lathering up, rinsing, etc. There is plenty of water in the afternoon/evening, for those who like to take their shower/bath before going to bed. Even at its worst, however, the water is lukewarm/cool not freezing, thankfully.

TV, VIDEOS, MUSIC SPEAKERS
TV: The TV receives it service from a cable service, just like in the U.S. There are separate remotes for the TV and the cable box that is under the TV.

They work basically the same as here:  Turn on the cable box with the small cable "I-CAN" remote. Turn on the TV with the LG remote, "POWER ON".
only use the I-CAN remote to change channels/volume. As of 2018, the English TV Channels are: 26 Spike TV, 27 Paramount Channel, 39 Topcrime, 70 BBC World News and 81 CNBC Financial News.

Videos: There are about 30 U.S. format DVD's. They can be played only on a U.S. laptop or computer.

NOTE: The DVD Player that you see on the shelf under the TV is a European DVD Player and will not play U.S. DVD's. The countries "code" the DVD's in order to control distribution of movies, so please do not try to play the U.S. DVD's on the European DVD Player.

Music Speaker: The small speaker on the book shelf is for an iPod, but there is also a cord so you can attach an mp3 player or other music source.

 

CONAD – LARGE GROCERY STORE
In addition to the large CarreFours and Gros Cidac grocery stores discussed in the original House Booklet, there is a large grocery store called Conad. It is on SS226 on the right in the American Mile part of the main road to Aosta. We like it; it has easy underground parking and is less crowded than the others. DIRECTIONS: To get to the Conad store from Marsan, take SS226 towards Aosta, turn right into the driveway before the store and bear left to park in the underground parking lot. Watch carefully for the turn, but if you miss it go to the round-a-bout and turn right, then right again to go behind the stores and around the to east side of the Conad for entry to the underground parking.

TRICK: To get to the Conad store if you are coming from the direction of downtown Aosta (i.e., heading back to the house from the West): there is a round-a-bout just before the Conad store (you can even see the store's sign). Go around the round-a-bout and turn right at the St. Christopher exit, then make an immediate right turn into the back/side of the commercial area and go around the back and left of the stores to get to the underground parking entrance on the east side of the Conad. Otherwise, there's not left turn into Conad and it's a long way to the next round-a-bout where you could turn around in order to enter Conad from the front entrance.

Grocery Bags:  Bring some of the Conad grocery bags (in the kitchen drawer) and the "Self" multi-color tote bag (and/or the blue canvas bag) in the Linen Closet to use to bring the groceries home wherever you buy them (large or small stores).

Plastic Bags: It costs at least 10c a bag to buy bags at most stores; they are under the check out conveyor and you guess how many you need to purchase for your groceries for that trip.

Fruits and Veggies NOTE:  You must use the plastic gloves to pick up all fruit and vegetables and touching lots of them is frowned upon. Weigh your own bag and put the sticky label on it before going to the checkout counter.

Grocery Basket NOTE: The grocery baskets work with a coin system at all the large grocery stores. Put a 50cent or 1 euro coin in the slot on the handle of the basket and the coin will push out the "key" on the other side of the slot, thereby releasing the basket. When you return the basket to any stack of baskets, your coin will be pushed out when you put in the key re-locking the basket to the others. Cool, easy and smart.

Bread – the local fresh-baked bread is the best, but it doesn't last more than a day. The Deli across from Tanya's Sorriso grocery in Nus has very good fresh bread of all types plus rolls, croissants, donuts in the morning. For sandwich bread, we discovered that the pre-baked bread in packages like ours that we found at Conad is quite good and stays fresh. It can be found in the aisle near the packaged crackers.

TOLL ROAD vs RTE SS 226:
At the toll booths, you either take a ticket or pay for the ticket you have. Watch for the Biglietta word/pictures to make sure you don't end up in the "toll tag" or credit card only lines. The toll road from Nus to Aosta is about $15 each way, so we use SS226 almost all the time (unless we're going straight to or from Mt. Blanc/Courmayeur).

From Marsan to Aosta: Go west on SS226 and watch for the direction "AOSTA/MT. BLANC".

From Aosta to Marsan: Go east on SS226 and follow the signs to TORINO/MILAN. It won't say Nus until the round-a-bout that has the Nus exit. Watch out: there's one place where the right lane becomes an exit only for the Toll Road. If you get off there by accident, I think you can go around the circle and come back up onto SS226 – just watch your direction towards "Torino" if you're going home to Marsan.

Parking in Aosta: When you go into Aosta, there are various parking options.

One option is to park in the large parking lot for the "Gondola to Pila" on the east side of Aosta just before you get to the town center and walk into town from that direction. Look for signs to Pila.

Another parking option is the pay parking lot on the south side of the town center of Aosta in Piazza Plouves: Go around the Roman Arch roundabout as you enter Aosta on the east side of town, go south (left) on Vialle Garibaldi, turn right on Via Torino and go about 4 blocks, the parking lot is on the north (right) side of the street just past Via Vevey. This parking lot puts you right at the Porta Praetoria where the Tourist Information office is.

Also, there is pay parking on the west side of the Aosta town center in the Piazza della Repubblica: continue on Via Torino past the Piazza Plouves for several short blocks then turn right on Vialle Partigiani and right into the Piazza della Repubblica. You then walk into the town center from the west end of town.

Remember: There will always be surprises and new things to learn, and that's the entertaining part of travel! Enjoy!

We would appreciate it if you would leave notes about your adventures in the Valley of Aosta in our Guest Book. New trails, restaurants, castles, markets, and discoveries are always welcome. Plus, of course, please let us know if there is anything we can do to make your visit to our Chalet del Sole in Marsan more enjoyable. Thank you!

 

CLOSING PROCEDURES

Thank you for staying at our Chalet del Sole! We hope you enjoyed your visit in Val d'Aosta.

Please leave the Chalet clean and neat for our next guests. Fiorangela Money (Frazione Marsan #6) will wash the sheets and towels; sweep the floors, dust the furniture and clean the bathroom. Please leave her 50 Euros in cash on the kitchen table before you leave.

PRIOR TO YOUR DEPARTURE, PLEASE FOLLOW THESE INSTRUCTIONS:

• Wash and dry all dishes and replace them in the kitchen cabinets.
• To avoid ants, clean off and wipe down the kitchen countertops and sink and sweep the kitchen and living room floors. Use ant spray if necessary in the kitchen.
• Throw away any open food containers, unless it is a dry food product that can be kept in a tightly closed bag in the cabinet.
• Empty refrigerator of all food, turn it off and leave door open.
• Empty all trash baskets (including newspapers, bags, kitchen, bedrooms, bathroom, etc.) in the dumpster and recycling containers up the street on the right.  
• Place used sheets on each bed and place used towels in the bathtub.
• If used, replace the air bed in its box and return box to closet.
• Turn off all lights, including the outdoor light by the front door.
• Turn off all heat.
• Close and lock all doors, windows and shutters.
• OWNERS: There should always be an extra bombola for the stove. Please exchange the empty bombola(s) for a gas-filled one at the Hardware Store next to the Sorriso Market in Nus.

If a house key was obtained from Fiorangela, please leave the key on the table for her. THANK YOU AND SAFE TRAVELS!

Fiorangela Money

Communications & Neighbors

Telephone
The house has a cell phone. You will need a card to use it. An AT&T card is quite useful for calls to the US. By dialing these numbers, 1721011 (USA Direct), you will be connected with an AT&T operator in the States. Specify your billing, i.e., collect on your card, and then the operator will put your call through. This service is only good for calls to the US. The AT&T Direct service bills you at US rates, which is much cheaper than European rates.

The cell number is 340 547-6495
You will need a pin code to operate - 6259.

The address
Casa Del Sole
Frazione Marsan #5
11020 Nus, Italia

The house manager
Fiorangela Money
Frazione Marsan #6 (across the street)
At the end of your stay, Frangela will clean the flat and launder the linens. Please leave her 50 Euros for her service.

Neighbors in our complex
#1 Karin’s sister and family
#2 “Hay Lady” across the street
#3 Karin and Fabio Giordano
#4

If you need more help (in English) call Geary Bensen - 0584 951285 in Tuscany. He lived in Aosta for two and a half years.

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