Parma, Proscuitto and Parmegiano!

So, today I woke early and caught the train to Parma.

What is so outstanding about Italy (maybe all of Europe) is the proximity of the train stations to the great parts of town. It's not like you have to figure out "how" to get to the train station. They are always walking distance away.

And so, walked to the train station, purchased my ticket for 5.8 euros to Parma and I would be there in 1 hour. I had only 2 goals: 1) to have lunch there (famous for prosciutto and parmigiana reggiano; and 2) ideally to take a tour of one of the dairies that makes the cheese. By the way, this cheese has been made here for 700 years and it's made with the skimmed "evening" milk and the full cream for the "morning", then cultured, heated and then aged for 2 years Now that is a process.

Upon arriving, with my handy 3 pages about Parma, ripped from my 2004 Lonely Planet guide, I set out for the Tourist Information to 1st organize my tour of how one makes the cheese.

Well, this is the 1st time my 2004 guide failed me. The farmers (?) are no longer offering the tours as they were hugely interrupting the work and so no tour today. Slightly disappointed. Oh well, I'll just have to eat the stuff.

Did my usual walk everywhere without knowing where I was going, took a few photos as it was a bit cloudy today (but still warm) and found my way to the Piazza Garibaldi to dine for lunch.

My needs were simple and sure enough I found a cafe with a salad of rustica prosciutto, mozzarella, pomedoro, parmigiana. This of course came with bread. What more can a girl want.

It's true that this prosciutto really does melt in one's mouth. I love this stuff. I'll be on a mission when I return to Santa Fe to try to find some of this imported.

It was a full day in Parma; I liked the town. Smaller than Bologna and everyone is on a bicycle. Pretty cool. But, I have to say, thus far Bologna is my favorite. It's just so beautiful and busy and full of live and character. Tomorrow I will check out some language schools and hope they meet my expectation.

All and all it was a simple day. Returned to Bologna around 4pm and hung out in my room for a bit...showered, organized, etc.

Went back out around 6:30p and decided on having a "couple" (yes, a couple) of beers. This is unheard of in my world! But, the moment seized me and there I was sitting in an outdoor cafe, feeling pretty hot in my summer skirt and top (I think I'm tanned too??) and wanting some attention but really didn't get any except from the pigeons. Oh well! Two beers later and a bowl full of salty potato chips (I've really been craving salt), I headed home (I'm actually in an apartment).

My long time friend, Suzanne, who is British living in London, she and I have a date on Skype tonight and so I wanted to get back to my place to make that call.

On the the way, I stopped at reception and ordered a pot of tea for my room. I like this place. If you ever come to Bologna, I highly recommend Hotel Paradise. Bologna books up quite fast and so I've had to change rooms a few times but the people are really friendly and incredibly accommodating and don't forget, they serve hard-boiled eggs for breakfast!

Today was also a shopping day. i felt a sense of freedom since I saved some money in Sicily that I could spend some in Bologna! The real craze here are sandles that are actually boots; they're wild. Not for me but I think I may go "half-way" and purchase a modest (for Italy that is) pair of Gladiator sandles....there's so many to choose from and I'd like to get something that clearly is not from the U.S. Also picked up a cute dress and some short sexy skirts....I need a new wardrobe now that I'm "single"!

Mostly, haven't really spent much beyond hotel, trains and food....tomorrow may be different though with my new buddies coming to Bologna for Tango!

That's all for now, will chat domani!

Give me eggs!

Okay, so I'm an egg girl. My Italian DNA is missing the "dulce" chip! I want my egg breakfast! Done with sweet pastries, chocolate croissants, etc. as finger-licking as they are (literally). Fortunately, my hotel in Bologna offers a breakfast that has hard boiled eggs! Yeah! Who knew this would make me so happy.

Out walking again today but in an entirely different direction as I head out to the MoMBA which is the Modern Art Museum. It's Sunday so the high-end shops are closed but all the markets are bustling and so I got a bit distracted at the "sun glass stand". Purchase made and moved on....

Really, really enjoyed the Fellini retrospective. What an interesting, provocative man. Can't wait to re-watch some of his films, especially, La Dolce Vita! Maybe we'll do a movie night at my new abode when I get back. Did you know that in the 50s, when Hollywood went to Italy to save money, the movie sets were kept in tight secrecy. This secrecy inspired the common man to grab his camera and taunt the movie stars at night when they were off set and dining, etc. Fellini coined the word paparazzi for one of these camera men. This is how and when this obsessive photography profession began.

This was a well presented retrospective. Fellini began as a sketch artist for comedy magazines and so many, many of his sketches were on display. He also wrote for these comic books as well and then started to write screen plays collaborating with a friend. His directing took off from there. He went into psychoanalysis for a while to recapture his dreams and step into his subconscious...a lot of these experiences are evident in his direction, etc., especially his fascination with the circus. For a while when he was younger, he almost ran away to the circus due to his love of acrobatics. Trippy guy. Anyway, having some historical knowledge of him will make watching his films more interesting.

Timed my departure from MoMBA to walk across to another part of town and have some famous pasta Bolognese. Hmmm, good. Home-made fettucini with a meat based tomatoe sauce, some pane rustica (whole wheat bread) and a simple greens and tomatoe salad. I was quite content. I chose a street with outdoor dining that seems to always have some street musicians there to entertain. I was in Bolognese heaven.

Today, I decided to return to my habit of taking an afternoon siesta (pardon the spanish) and give me body, legs, feet a rest before going out tonight for some gelato.

I've looked up 3 Italian Language schools in Bologna that I'm going to check out and see what they "feel" like. I'm not sure I've expressed in this blog my disappointment at the Ascoli "Accademia", but it just wasn't what I was expecting. No problem, but I do want something more structured with the right atmosphere as well as social and cultural outings. I can see myself returning each year to the "right" community and continue to study the Italian language. I've really loved the exploration of this language and hope to continue some sort of study when I return to Santa Fe.

Finding the right community is part of this process. Now that I have made a fairly confident assumption that the North is right for me, I want to check out some of these communities and see "where" exactly. So, I will look into the schools here in Bologna and tomorrow I'm doing a day trip to Parma as this is a town that Lonely Planet says one must not miss if in this region and they have a language school there too.

Parma's population is about 170,000 while Bologna's is 370,000 and so I'm curious at what Parma's population size feels like in comparison to Ascoli and Bologna. What is helpful to Bologna is that the "center" has such little traffic allowed and so although it's big, it doesn't feel crowded or noisy. Pretty remarkable.

Didn't carry my camera today and so will bring to Parma and do a photo ops day in Bologna on Tuesday.

Almost pistacchio gelato time! Caio for now.