Genoa - yeah, I think I met her once

We are now in the Italian city of Genoa, or, in Italian, Genova.  We're very happy to be in Italy at last, the first time for both of us for many years.  We've had a few hours of walking around, and took in a view of Genova from a hill top.  I'm not really that taken by the city itself, although there is an impressive collection of Baroque and late Renaissance palaces here, which is World Heritage listed.  We passed through there briefly a few hours ago.

We're much more on our guard now.  This is Italy, after all, which has had a reputation for thefts stretching back at least to the 1980s.  We've been approached by two dodgy looking young men already.  In a fruit market, the Mercato Orientale, one young man approached us twice.  He carried a cup for us to put money in (as all European beggars do), and, on the second occasion I noticed he carried something concealed in his other hand.........a blade?

I'm very impressed with the young 15 year old daughter of our hotel manager.  She speaks English, French, German, Spanish, and of course Italian.  If I'm desperate, I can communicate with her father in French.  I also exchanged a couple of sentences with her in German.  I have, unfortunately, forgotten a lot of the Italian I learned.  As the next few days pass, however, I'll go through my notes.