Oh My

As our friend Cindy would say "Oh My"......today was an "oh my” kind of day. 

We hired a driver and a guide to take us to a local Parmigiana Reggiano factory and it was so interesting. We had to dress appropriately, just like getting into a Basilica!  Remember, appropriate dress does not always have the same meaning!

We followed the process from birth of the cheese (as our guide called it) to the point where they put the cheese into the molds and then they kicked us out. Extremely fascinating.

We went through the storage area where the cheese sits for 12, 24 or 30 months. After tasting, we decided the 30 month cheese should come home with us!

In the bottom picture, I am testing the wheel to make sure it deserves the brand of Parmigiana Reggiano. It passed the test!

From here we were driven to a Traditional Balsamic factory. We were astounded at the difference in taste between the industrial balsamic vinegar (her words) that we can buy at home and the Traditional Balsamic vinegar made here. We were told that this vinegar is not even sold in Canada. It was so good that I bought 100 mls of a twenty five year old vinegar for $135 Cdn. That was my gondola ride! It will be on display October 20th at Fred's mom's place! Just five drops each!

At our sampling of the balsamic...only five drops allowed!

Just when we thought we were too overwhelmed to continue, we were taken to a place that produces Prosciutto de Parma. No pigs are raised in this area because of the cross contamination of pigs/milk/cheese so only the back legs of the pigs are brought in from a pig producing area elsewhere in Italy.

The producers have extremely strict rules that they must follow before they can claim that they produce Prosciutto de Parma and just like the cheese factories, every piece of product is tested before it is stamped.

We had a glass of wine after this last tour so that we could taste the ham in the traditional Italian way...bread, ham and wine.

Elizabetta is using a piece of bone to insert into the ham and if it comes out smelling okay then the ham is good to be branded. So many regulations!

No Pictures

We decided to give the camera a break today and leave it in the bag....in other words, today was a travelling day.

We are now in Parma, somewhere between Milan and Bologna. The area around Parma is known for the "big three".... Parmesan cheese, prosciutto and balsamic vinegar production.

Looking forward to spending four nights in this place and tasting different ages of the cheese and vinegars. This will be my gondola ride!

Last Day

Yesterday  in Venice was not anything like it was supposed to be. We had planned to sleep in a wee bit and that we did, but after that we went off track.

A gondola ride was on my bucket list, but the Irish in me came out and I just couldn't pull the plug on that much money....so we walked many canals and watched from the sidelines. Yes, I know we will regret it!

Fred, on the other hand, has no trouble spending Euros on anything Italian made, especially leather and runners. I must admit, the runners are pretty nice!

We spent a great deal of time away from the Grand Canal visiting the other parts of Venice. Not as touristy yet still a fun place to see.

Today we move on to Parma for four nights. We take the 10:25 am speed train to Bologna and then a regional train to Parma, arriving around 1:30.

We had lunch at a restaurant on one of the working canals...no gondolas, only taxis and cargo haulers. Quite a different atmosphere and so busy.

The only way to eat tortellini! As you can from the picture, I am thoroughly enjoying the olive from my drink, the drink not so much. I will give it one more try as everyone around here seems to be drinking them and they look so good. Billee says they have a sparkling wine in them, but I'm pretty sure I must have ordered the wrong thing because this one tasted like a watered down martini. I didn't order by name...I just pointed to another table and said I will have what she is drinking.

Medic Needed

We arrived in Venice yesterday afternoon and forced ourselves to stay close to our hotel....no wandering about!

Today we went full force on the touring and now we are thinking that may not have been the wisest move. We had a "skip the line" reservation for the Basilica at 9:45 and to get there on time we had to catch the 7:54 train to Santa Lucia Station and then walk 1/2 hour from there. Believe it or not, Fred got us there without one wrong turn!

Below is the line up for people who didn't have a reservation and there is Fred sitting in the "skip the line" line up.

We wandered around for hours and I have to admit we were impressed. It is a unique city...we struggled to make a comparison and could only come up with Amsterdam, which is a distant second.

The pictures don't do the city justice, but you can see why we are glad we made this stop...at a city we have never seen before.

Now we are exhausted after ten hours of walking, shopping and train rides...a hot bath helps!

A Little Bit of Everything

This being our last day in the Cinque Terre area we wanted to see as much as we could. We decide to take the ferry to the farthest of the five towns, Riomaggiore, visit it again and then take the train back Vernazza. We intended to spend some time there before catching the train back to Monterosso, never thinking that the hiking trail would be open. It was and we were unprepared. Does that ever stop a Ukrainian and an Irishman? Sandals will work!

They did work, but Fred thinks this is how I will be moving tomorrow. 

And you wonder how we made 45 years?

The views from the trail were quite stunning and we tried to get some nice pictures to show that, but unless we bring Jerry along our pictures will have to do.

Hiking Today....I think this one was left out!

We had planned to do a few different hikes today and maybe more tomorrow. Again, things just didn't turn out the way we wanted, but we saw a lot of different areas and some wonderful scenery.

Two of the hiking trails were closed for some reason (not weather related) so we spent more time in Riomaggiore and Manarola and loved it, especially Riomaggiore! What scenery!

We walked the back streets and found some locals just carrying on with their day despite the hoards of tourists watching their every step.

Our train/hiking pass didn't really work out in the hiking department, but our train use increased immensely. It was a great day with great weather, ending with a great meal.

On a More Positive Note

This morning we took the train to Monterosso, only missing one connection that was not of our doing. Trenitalia changed the destination while everyone was on board and just minutes before we were to depart....you should have seen the scramble!! Us included!

Alice can attest to the fact that I almost always book a room in the historic centre of a town. This time we decided to skip that part and book a room on the water....still uncertain of the choice.

As uncertain as I am, I have to admit that the scenery is beautiful and we are very comfortable in this seaside town.

More from Monterosso tomorrow.

How Fred Thinks

This is what Fred thinks of Asian and European bidets!  Obviously he doesn't like them in the bathroom, nor does he like the room they take up in a tiny European bathroom.

Great Last Day

We missed the Pitti Palace the last time we were here so we made sure we spent some time there today. I thought it was the best museum/palace we have visited so far. The paintings and statues really appealed to me.

The gardens around the Palace were interesting, even though we had to do some serious climbing to get the view.

We stopped for some gelato on the way to the Duomo and were amazed at the size of the servings. I probably won't have another one, but I'm sure the ice cream lover of the family will be making many more gelato stops.

Our Hotel

We booked a special hotel in Rome in order to celebrate our anniversary in style. That didn't happen as the place was extremely small and uncomfortable. The balcony we ordered was so small you almost had to back into the room to get inside again. Wish we could blame our travel agent for that booking, but she was only following orders!

On the good side, the hotel was in an excellent location just two minutes from the Spanish Steps, Borghese Gardens and a Metro Station.

But...we love our hotel in Florence. It is an older building completely redone and in another great location. The neighbourhood us quiet and full of family run restaurants. 

We did not get the street view we would have liked nor did we get a balcony, but we do see and hear the church right behind us. Fred took a few pictures of our lunch yesterday so his mom could see the steeple. We do have a kitchen so the wine was chilled! 

Early Risers

Yesterday we went to the Accademia Gallery to see the statue of David and found that the lines were too long for our weary bones. We had purchased the Firenze Card which allows us to enter most of Florence's sites without reservations and there is not supposed to be any standing in line...not always true.

Today we got up early and walked to the Gallery for the 8:15 opening and of course we weren't the only ones who came up with this brilliant idea. Even so, using our card, we got in shortly after opening and stood observing this magnificent statue before the crowds took over. 

In our afternoon wanderings we found a school that teaches students the art of leather making and just had to tour the facility. Very interesting and too expensive for us. One purse sold for $1000 USD. We were able to scrounge up a few Euros and buy a couple of items....not the purse!!

The area we are staying is very quiet and home to many Trattorias and Osterias. Tonight we tried an Osteria just around the corner. I'm sure many of you have heard the stories about the loud and family run Italian restaurants....well, we found one tonight!  So much fun and such a high noise level for someone who didn't even bother to bring her hearing aid remote to Italy. Why would I bother? By the way, most of the noise was from the servers....they all looked like one big happy family.

We also spent time at the local market watching pasta making at its finest. Billee, we need these machines!

Things seem a little subdued on this trip without our usual travel partners....I think we will have to force them into retirement so they can join us on our next trip.