SIESTAS AREN'T SO FUN ANYMORE

We’re finding that nothing is ever open between 2PM and 7PM.  This really makes the afternoons frustrating as there is nothing to do.  All the shops, restaurants, grocery stores, bars and cafes all close for the afternoon siesta.  I guess people get to go home to their families during this time each day, but for travelers it can be difficult.  We tried to visit the bar in our hotel to talk and pass the time until dinner at 8PM and were told that the bar does not open until 7PM.  What?!? 

BOLOGNA

We arrived in Bologna today.  We are staying at the NH Bologna de la Gare which is conveniently close to the train station.  We are blessed with wonderful air conditioning here, by far the best we’ve had on our entire trip.

We arrived before our room was ready, so we ventured out to explore the city.  We went to the Piazza Maggiore at the city center surrounded by ancient buildings.  Unfortunately the Basilica de San Petronio was under construction.  Interestingly though, they had draped the scaffolding with a life sized image of the Basilica.  We also saw the Fontana Del Nettuno (Neptune’s Fountain) which is one of the most photographed locations in Bologna.

We encountered our first gypsy today.  There have been many beggars sitting on the sidewalks.  However, we had not yet encountered the aggressive gypsies.  Today, we had a young woman approach us quickly with her arm wrapped in a scarf and with her other hand outstretched for money.  She attempted to move in close to us quickly.  Luckily, we said “no” rather loudly and she backed away.  Had she gotten close, we probably would have been pick pocketed.

Tonight we will eat at Trattoria Anna Maria.  This restaurant was featured in May’s edition of Bon Appétit magazine.

THE BEST RESTAURANT IN PARMA

Rex and I stumbled upon the best restaurant in Parma, Italy on our first night in Parma.  Since then we have eaten there three times.  Each time we ate there for dinner.  The price was fantastic for the caliber of food and service the restaurant offers.  We had been paying almost double the bill in other lesser restaurants throughout the trip.  I can honestly say that the Ristorante Il Trovatore has saved the reputation of Italian food.

The first night we enjoyed the following menu items:

Per Primi (for starter):

·         Pasta with green beans, potatoes and crispy pancetta

·         Sciatattelli with prawns on saffron infusion

Per Secondi (for main course)

·         Lamb chops with peppered crust of cacio cheese (we split this)

Per Dolce (for dessert):

·         We skipped dessert this evening

Per Vino (for wine):

·         Lambrusco Rosso

The second night we enjoyed:

Per Primi (for starter):

·         Tagianeile with culatello ham, green pea vellutè, and smoked ricotta cheese (we split this)

Per Secondi (for main course)

·         Lemon scented John Dory fillet with seasonal vegetables ragout

·         Their signature beef filet with aged balsamic vinegar

Per Dolce (for dessert):

·         Traditional chocolate salami on English cream

·         Limoncello

Per Vino (for wine):

·         2008 Vermentino (wonderful white wine)

And tonight we tried the:

Per Primi (for starter):

·         Riserva Parma ham cured 36 months, served with Giadiniere

·         Classic ricotta and spinach tortelli tossed in organic butter and parmesan cheese

Per Secondi (for main course)

·         Grilled piglet chops with apple, pine nuts and raisin compote (we split this)

Per Dolce (for dessert):

·         Limoncello

Per Vino (for wine):

·         2008 Nabucco (wonderful red wine)

You can’t go wrong with anything that you order at Il Travatore Ristorante. 

They serve two free appetizers when you sit at a table:  champagne and a slice of toasted bread with a basil ricotta spread and some julienned vegetables.

The service was amazing.  Our waitress was attentive and great with her wine recommendations.  Prior to dessert, she comes by and cleans the table.  If you don’t have dessert, she comes out with a tray of lovely cookies prior to the bill.  These are all at no additional cost to you.

Last night, we decided to order the limoncello prior to dessert.  She brought out this icy cold bottle and two glasses after pouring the glasses she left the bottle on the table for us to decide if we wanted more.

We highly recommend that when you are in Parma that you dine at Il Trovatore Ristorante located at Via Affò 2/A in Parma (cross street is Strata Giuseppe Garibaldi, on the north side of town).  You don’t need reservations, but if you choose to make them their telephone number is 0521.23.69.05.

Oh, one last thing, they don’t open for dinner until 20:00 (or 8 p.m.), so don’t go before that.  Also, the interior of the restaurant is air conditioned.  So, if it is a hot evening, you will want to choose to go inside.

For more information about this great restaurant visit:  www.iltrovatoreristorante.com

Bravisimo!

AN INTERESTING PHENOMENON

Throughout our trip we have seen clothing items and jewelry left prominently in the place of loss.  We have seen a pair of brand new women’s shoes (still in the box), kid’s shoes and socks, jackets, jewelry, and even parts of bikinis.  Everyone walks on by without taking the items.  Maybe I am wrong, but I don’t think that the items would still be there for the person that lost them if we started doing this in the United States.otHoHo

THE PARMESAN CHEESE FACTORY TOUR

 

We watched a master cheese maker make parmesan cheese today.  It was part of a tour we took of a factory that makes certified Parmigiano Reggiano cheese.  What an interesting experience!  We had to put on a poncho, hat, mask and even shoe coverings before we entered the factory.  Here’s us posing in our lovely attire.

Cheese gets made here every day.  There are no holidays for the master cheese maker, although the factory workers do get one day a week off and vacation time.  This is very manual work.  There is no automation; it is all done by hand and the expertise of the master cheese maker.  The cheese making process is all part of a co-op of dairy farmers from the region and the cheese factory.  The master cheese maker is ultimately responsible for the factory’s finished product.  The higher the quality of the product, and the more profitable the co-op, the master cheese maker then makes his salary through a share of the profits. 

After the cheese is set in molds, it has to age in a brine solution for 25 days where it is flipped once a day.  We got to flip the cheese:

Some interesting facts about the Parmigiano Reggiano cheese making process:

•  270,000 cows are milked twice a day.  The milk has to be at the cheese factory within 2 hours of milking.
•  One wheel weighs approx 40 kg (88 lbs) and costs approx €600 ($840).
• It takes about 600 liters (160 gallons) of milk to make one wheel of cheese.
• Each wheel ages for a minimum of 12 months and then inspected again every 12 months to determine which level of Parmigiano Reggiano it will be sold at.  For more info, go to www.parmigiano-reggiano.it . 
•  At the end of the tour we went into the “aging” room and saw over 10,000 wheels of cheese aging on massive sets of shelves.  It was truly one of those awe inspiring moments.

THE LAUNDRY FIASCO

We decided to take an hour to take care of some laundry at a nearby lavanderia (laundry mat).  Our clothes washed, however when the dryer completed its cycle our clothes were still wet.  Oh Joy!  We had to pack them into our duffel and lug them back to our room.  Our room is now a pig sty with clothes hanging everywhere.

PARMA

We took the train to Parma this yesterday (July 13).  We checked into our Hotel, the Hotel Palace Maria Luigia.  It is a lovely hotel, with air conditioning (yeepie).  However, we have to pay for the internet connection.  Bollucks!  We will search for an Internet Café to be able to continue to keep you updated or we will just breakdown and pay the fee.

This town is full of great shopping and cathedrals, if you are into that sort of thing.  Otherwise, most things are closed down for the summer holiday.  Even some of the great restaurants are shut down.  High season must not be the time to visit Parma.

We have a Parmesan Cheese Factory Tour tomorrow morning (July 14).  We hope there will be a tasting.

HAPPY FEET

Wow, I have discovered “toe hose.”  We were spending 4,60€ on bandages for my feet.  I had to buy three boxes of bandages to get the ones I needed. 

However at the Santa Margherita train station I found little nylon slips that only cover your toes.  I understand that the Chinese have been wearing them for awhile but I haven’t seen them at home.  They are brilliant little things.  The ones I bought were only 2,90€ and they are perfectly protecting my feet from blisters.  They are perfect for most all sandals. 

Click here to buy yours for your next trip > HUE Women's Toe Cover

THE ITALIAN RIVERIA

We’ve spent the past two days at La Cinque Terra or 5 Terre.  This is an area on the west coast of northern Italy.  It is made up of 5 small towns on the water.  We stayed in Monterosso, the largest of the 5 towns.  It is primarily a beach town where hundreds of people escaped the heat by playing in the water.  We wanted many times to jump in the water to cool down, but packing light, we left the swim suits at home instead opting to partake of the popular Italian gelato, or to continue our afternoon siestas to stay cool.

The 5 towns are all connected either by walking trails, train or ferry.  Due to the heat, we chose to ride the train between them, except for the shortest walk between Manarola, and Riomaggiore.  It is called Via Dell'Amore, or “Lover’s Walk”.  It was a nice walk with a beautiful view of the sea.  Similar to the Lover’s Bridge in Paris, it is common practice for people in love to connect a lock to the railing of the path and then throw the key into the sea.  This is said to seal their love forever.

We leave Montorosso tomorrow (July 12) and travel next to Parma, Italy.  Hopefully the temperatures cool down a bit as we get away from the coast. 

AMERICAN MUSIC EVERYWHERE

We are finding it strange that everywhere we have gone so far they have played American music, or at least music in English.  There have been the crooners, like Harry Connick Jr., top 40 music, and a cab driver with an Elvis Presley ringtone.  It just seems odd that there wouldn’t be French or Italian music played locally.  We have just never heard it.  It is all in English and often not even edited for content like it is in the US.  We are learning that the “F” word isn’t as taboo here as it is at home. 

THE CINQUE TERRE, ITALY

These are five little towns along the north-western coast of Italy connected by walking trails, but you can also move between them by train or boat.  It is a very cute place.  They are beach towns and lots of people are taking advantage of the hot summer weather and enjoying a day at the beach.  That is, everyone but us.  We didn’t pack for beach weather, so we are taking daily siestas during the hot afternoons and staying inside our hotel or enjoying a cool drink in cafés with shade.  Being so close to the Mediterranean Sea, it is quite humid and being spoiled northern Californians, neither of us do very well with the humidity.  We plan to go back out later and do some exploring when it starts to cool off.

Again, we have a great hotel with air conditioning.   It's called the Hotel Villa Degli Argentieri, monterosso Our hotel was a villa built in the 1950’s and was renovated in 2003.  It is very quaint and right across the street from the beach.  Well, if you can call large gravel a beach.  We are so spoiled with our silky soft sand.

NO EYEBALLS PLEASE

Tonight (Sunday, July 10, 2011), we had dinner at Café Del Porto.  This restaurant doesn’t have a waterfront view, but I can say the food was wonderful.  We both started with a pasta.  Mine was Bolognese and Rex had spaghetti with clam sauce.  There were so many clams in this sauce, I think it was clams with sauce.

For the main dish, I ordered the Sea Bass with olives and tomatoes and Rex ordered the Scaloppini.  When my dish was served, I was surprised.  I wasn’t expecting my Sea Bass to be looking at me.  I will need to make sure in the future to order my food with the caveat of “neinte con gli occhi, per favore!”  In English, “nothing with eyeballs, please!”

The fish was great once Rex took the skin and bones off for me. 

SUNNY SANTA MARGHERITA

The train trip to Santa Margherita was uneventful.  Once here we walked along the bay to our hotel, which is a lovely Best Western with awesome air conditioning.  This hotel and our hotel in Paris are both Best Westerns and I can say honestly they are the best hotels thus far on the trip.

We have a huge room and a large covered balcony overlooking the yacht harbor. 

MY DOGS ARE BARK'IN

Not sure if it is the heat, the humidity or the amount of walking we have been doing, maybe it is a combination of all three.  Whatever it is, my dogs are bark'in.

I am wearing 4 bandages per day.  And my feet, ankles, legs, and arms are so swollen.  I wake up with a mild case of the swelling, but then by nighttime I have cankles.  Yesterday it was so bad that I couldn't close a fist or open my hands all the way.  This is a crazy phenomenon.

I hope that once we are home the swelling goes away.  If it does I might be a whole size smaller.

I WANT MY ONE EURO!

Do you remember the movie, “Better Off Dead?”  In that movie, a young boy chased a teenager around for the $2 he owed him for the newspaper.  Well, in Varenna(a little town down from Belliago) yesterday, I had an old woman chase me down for one euro because I used the toilette in the hotel.  Not our hotel, but it was the closest toilette to the ferry station. 

When I went in I asked where the “bagno” was.  A nice lady told me where it was.  After using the bagno (toilette), this old woman said to me, “one Euro for the toilette!”   

You really need to tell someone that there is a pee charge before they pee.  I think it is unethical to allow the person to pee, and then inform them that there is a charge.  I may not have chosen to pee in that location had I had then information ahead of time.

 Annoyed, I told the old woman that my husband had the money and would come back. I was not planning to return to pay the one Euro, so I walked out the door a different way from where Rex was waiting and then signaled him to come to me.

However from around the corner she came with her hand outstretched saying, “one Euro for the toilette!” 

I was stunned.

Lesson – always order something, even if it is a small something, and use the toilette after the purchase.