Tag Blog

Final recap

2022-07-24T12:00:00.003-04:00

Some random tidbits:

In Italy, we drove a grand total of 3370 kilometers. That's 2094 miles.

The cheapest gas I bought was €1.96 per liter, which is $7.58 per gallon.

Yes, Italian drivers drive fast. Yes, the concept of lanes is loose in the big cities. But by far, the most annoying thing about driving in Italy is merging on to highways. No one knows how to merge. The cars don't let you in, they don't get over for you, and the on-ramp is so short that there's not enough time to gain speed to integrate into fast moving traffic. When I would slow slightly to allow someone to merge in, they usually just hesitated or stopped, like they didn't trust that I was actually letting them in. It was bizarre. But it fits with the advice the taxi driver told us on our very first day in Italy: Just focus on what's ahead of you, not to the side of you. If that's the driving style, then it makes sense that merging would not be a cooperative affair.

On a positive note, the roads are generally in very good condition. They were a pleasure to drive on for the most part. And the tunnels are amazing and fun.

I thought I'd be able to say where my favorite pizza was from, and favorite gelato, but honestly it was all so good. Which brings me to my point that the ingredients in Italian food are on another level. Everything seemed to taste better than the States. Obviously the olive oil tastes better, much more fragrant and fruity. And cheeses and pastries and cured meats, even in cheap grocery stores like Aldi and Lidl, were top notch.

Coffee--real espresso--and all the drinks you can make with it is incredibly affordable in Italy. I had read about this before we went, but I didn't fully believe it until I saw it. It's true. And gelato is reasonably priced in most places. There were a few touristy places where they had inflated gelato prices, but on the whole, you could expect to get a medium with three flavors for about €3. Drinks, like beer and wine, were inexpensive in grocery stores (especially wine!) but not so cheap in restaurants. About on par with the States. Maybe even a little more expensive.

There are a few things I guarantee we'll be making more of at home. Caprese salads and Hugo spritzes come to mind.

In Ireland, we drove a grand total of 975 kilometers. That's 606 miles.

I paid for prepaid diesel with Sixt, so I didn't need to buy very much diesel at a station. The diesel I did buy was €2.12 per liter, which is $8.19 a gallon. Yeah, stop complaining about the price of gas in the States!

Back to Florida

2022-07-23T23:30:00.167-04:00

This was just a travel day. We had no hopes that it would be anything special, and it wasn't. We just hoped that there would be no surprises. No delays, no lost luggage, etc.

The taxi arrived on time and got us to the airport. Bella was flying from Terminal 2, and we were at Terminal 1. Each terminal has its own security lines, though, so unfortunately that meant the three of us couldn't hang out at the airport and have a coffee together. We said goodbye to Bella and the checked bag from Scarpamondo and headed to our terminal with the big black bag with no handles (they broke off on the flight over. Can't remember if I mentioned that in those early posts).

The security line was not nearly as long as we expected. And I remembered to pack my knife in a checked bag, so we didn't have to worry about that. The one thing that took a long time was the travel Berkey, our little water filter, which admittedly, looks a little like a pipe bomb on the X-ray machine. They checked it out, rescanned it three times, and finally had me completely disassemble the filter so they could swab it for explosives. That took a while. But otherwise, it went fast.

We got to our gate and then I got two coffees and a beetroot/ginger shot for Cristina. We ate our sandwiches from Lidl. They were great.

Our plane was about two hours delayed to board, and then we sat on the tarmac for another couple of hours. I watched an entire movie while we just sat on the tarmac. So that sucked, but at least we were on the plane. I think the issue was something to do with the baggage loader. Of course, the Canadian pilot was very "soory," and even included in his remarks, "it's times like this where I think it's good to remember the miracle that modern aviation is. 100 years ago, Dublin to Toronto took weeks, and today we can do it in around 7 hours." Well played, pilot. Well played.

During the flight, I watched Last Night in Soho, Licorice Pizza, and Belfast. We had bought a bag of chocolates to give the flight attendants, but there was never a great time. They were so busy it felt like it would have been an imposition. "I know your hands are full of trash, but here's a bag of candy for you. Take it!" And before you knew it, we were arriving in Toronto.

The Toronto airport experience was...annoying. Basically, when you're flying to the US, they have to pull your checked luggage and inspect it. But here's the kicker: they won't let you go to your gate until your luggage has been cleared. So they herded us into this big waiting room with a screen and we had to watch for our initials. Only when we saw our initials on the screen could we scan our passes and go through to the gates. Originally we had a six hour layover, which would have been plenty of time for a nice leisurely meal and a drink, and even a walkabout to get the blood pumping. But because our flight from Dublin left four hours late, we only had two hours in Toronto. And then an hour of that was in this holding cell, away from the restaurants. By the time we got out, we only had 20 minutes before our flight started boarding, so we had to settle for a quick and unsatisfying roast beef panini from a little snack stand near our gate. Which sounds better than it was. But...first world problems.

And then, of course, the flight was delayed 30 minutes. But at least we got going and were headed to Orlando. We sat in the very back row, which was only 2 seats wide. Cozy. Several flight attendants were hanging out near our seats when we boarded, so I gave them the bag of chocolates. We didn't get any special treatment from them during the flight, but I reminded myself that that's not why we do it.

I had a rental van reserved for 11 pm, even though we were scheduled to arrive at 11:30. We got in to Orlando closer to midnight. Bella was waiting near the baggage claim with the Scarpamondo bag. Excellent. We got our black bag and headed to the Avis counter.

I don't know exactly why the line was moving so slow, but I was about 6th in line, and it took about an hour and a half to get to the counter. Everyone in line was exhausted and cranky, and there was only one guy working the counter. Every transaction seemed to take 15-20 minutes. I couldn't comprehend why it would take that long to get a car. Surely the people had reservations. When I finally got to the counter, I checked the time on my phone. It took me three minutes to get the paperwork and be heading to the parking garage to get the car. Three minutes. I wonder what all the other people's situations had been.

The drive home was an effort. I was shaking my head repeatedly to clear my blurry eyes that were trying so hard to close. I stopped in Wildwood and got a sandwich and bag of chips at a gas station, not only because I was hungry, but because it kept me awake.

We finally got to our house around 4 am, which interestingly is around the same time we left home on June 16.

Our Ireland-Italy trip was complete.

A Dublin Day

2022-07-22T23:30:00.112-04:00

We got up at a reasonable time considering the late night, and Bella and I walked to Lidl, about a 15 minute walk. It was cool jacket weather, but before too long, I took off my jacket because the walking warmed me up. Because of this, I made the decision to not take my jacket into Dublin for the day. A decision that would prove to be a mistake.

This photo was actually taken in Dublin, but it fit nicely with this part of the post

We bought pastries and yogurt, enough for both mornings. We also bought some premade sandwiches to either eat for a late dinner tonight, or to take to the airport and eat as a lunch before our flight. We also popped into Costa and got cappuccinos (so overpriced compared to Italy!) and a chai latte for Cristina.

Back home, we ate breakfast and got ready for our trip to Dublin. We walked to the train station (about a 15 minute walk) and caught the train into the city center.

The stylish guy with the bell bottoms complimented Cristina's hat

In Dublin, we headed to the Chester Beatty Library to meet Jackie for a few hours. The Chester Beatty is a museum and library established in Ireland in 1950, to house the collections of mining magnate, Sir Alfred Chester Beatty. The present museum, on the grounds of Dublin Castle, was named European Museum of the Year in 2002.

The museum's collections are displayed in two galleries: "Sacred Traditions" and "Arts of the Book." Both displays exhibit manuscripts, miniature paintings, prints, drawings, rare books and some decorative arts from the Persian, Islamic, East Asian and Western Collections.

Without any context and with the weariness of five weeks on the road, Bella and I walked through fairly quickly and then, unimpressed, found a comfortable couch to sit on while we waited for Cristina and Jackie. Then, when we went back inside with them, a guy with an American accent and a name badge for the museum asked us if we had any questions. Jackie asked him what his favorite book was, and he launched into an explanation of Chester Beatty's wonders that quickly turned into an impromptu guided tour. We told him we only had 15 minutes because we only had one day to see all of Dublin, and he tried to keep it shirt, but his enthusiasm was intense and we went along for the ride. It definitely enabled us to see the collection in a different light, and it was much more impressive than the casual pass-through Bella and I had initally given it. He even took us into the Reading Room, which is where the curators, conservators, and researchers can examine the original artifacts. Before we finished up and moved on, we finally got the story on this guy. He retired from the U.S. Army and married one of the head manuscript conservators at the Chester Beatty. He's learned so much in the years that he's been married to his wife that he loves to talk to tourists about all the amazing things they have there.

We had coffee outside the mesuem with Jackie and chatted about our trip, until she had to go. YOu could say our day in Dublin could be fividing into three parts. Part one was the Chester Beatty. Part two was walking around the Temple Bar area (a very touristy part of Dublin with bars and restaurants and shops), and part three was walking around the Christ Church area, where we ate lunch.

The famed Temple Bar. We didn't go in.

We were joking that this was the Roman Colosseum, and then a double decker blocked the shot.

The Clarence Hotel, co-owned by Bono and the Edge of U2

By the time we got to Christ Church, I was getting a little chilly (the temp was in the low 60's F, or 17-18 C). Cristina told me to wear her jacket, which I did for a while, but it was too small and felt kind of silly.

Bella sitting with homeless Jesus

The labyrinth outside Christ Church

Last fish and chips in a pub called Darkey Kelly's

We took the train back to our neighborhood and flopped on the beds with exhaustion. Cristina really wanted to take some Irish soda bread home, which would mean a walk to a market, but we were all too tired. Cristina asked our host if she had bikes we could borrow, and she did, so Cristina and I rode the mile to Tesco. The tires were a bit flat, so we topped them off at a gas station/laundrymat. But they were a bit flat by the time we got home, so they have slow leaks.

It looks like an airport, but that's Tesco in the background.

Back home, we had to do one final packing job of the suitcases, but this time with Air Canada's requirements instead of Ryanair's. Which made it easier. I booked a taxi for the morning with an app called FreeNow. I had trouble falling asleep again.

I woke up at 2 am and checked my phone and saw that our flight was delayed about 45 minutes, so I changed my alarm and rescheduled the taxi. What is it with Air Canada delaying flights in the middle of the night? Second time. At least I caught it in time to get a little extra sleep.

Leaving Italy

2022-07-21T23:30:00.001-04:00

Today was primarily a travel day, as we would fly back to Dublin. But our flight wasn't until the evening. In the meantime, we still needed a second suitcase, one last meal in Italy, and to return the rental car. We had this odd (large) window of time between checking out of our Airbnb and going to the airport. Cristina didn't just want to spend all those hours at IKEA. Alessandro suggested visiting the Abbey of Grottaferrata, very near us, for free. Problem is, it closed at noon and reopened at 3:30.

So the night before, I came up with this plan and sent the breakdown of the day to Cristina and Bella through Whats App:

9:30 Scarpamondo opens - I'm there when they open to buy suitcase
11:00 pack up and check out of airbnb, drive to abbey of grottaferrata
12:00 Abbey closes, find restaurant for leisurely lunch
2:00 Head to IKEA
5:30 Eat meatballs, leave IKEA, fill gas tank
6:00 return car
6:30 shuttle to CIA (Ciampino Airport)
9:30 flight departs
11:30 (Dublin time) arrive, get bags, catch taxi

So I launched the plan into action. I was at Scarpamondo by 9:30, but I went to the Ipercoop near it first to check on suitcases there. I got a few other items, but no suitcase. Then I went to Scarpa and got the suitcase we needed. Both stores were in a mall, and it appeared that the mall opened at 8:30. An extra hour would have made this plan a lot easier. As it was, I didn't get back to the Airbnb until about 10:30. There was no way we were going to get the suitcases packed in 30 minutes, but Alessandro had another guest coming, so he couldn't let us stay late. We threw everything into the cases, even though they were way overweight, got them into the car, and checked out.

We drove to the Abbey, since it closed at 12. While Cristina looked around, Bella and I brainstormed our baggage issue. We finally decided that we could get away with just paying for an extra carry-on. We could find some kind of duffel bag at IKEA.

The Abbey closed and we headed to IKEA. Our first deviation from the plan. IKEA did have an underground parking garage (yay) but the parking was way more crowded than Florence had been (boo). We managed to find two empty spaces next to each other, parked in one, and laid our suitcases out in the other. For about an hour, we played the suitcase game: arranging items, closing up the bag, weighing it, then figuring out what can go in another bag to lighten it. Ryanair is more strict on weight and size of baggage, but we knew that was their racket and we were playing the game. We got a few strange looks from IKEA shoppers going to and from their cars, but that didn't bother me.

Cristina was getting hangry and needed coffee (as we all did) so we got to a good place with bag weight and went inside to get a coffee and buy a bag to use as a carry-on.

For some reason, when we got our three cappuccini, they also gave us a small cup of milk. Not sure why.

We found the bags and settled on a little backpack that had a removable dolly for wheeling around an airport. Perfect size, and it was on clearance for just €24.90. When we got to the check out though, it rang up for €39.99. We asked, and the guy looked it up and said no, it's €39.99. Annoyed, we walked back to the place where the bags were to double check the item numbers. Maybe we had seen the wrong item. Sure enough, the bag should have been €24.90. We're budget travelers in every way. We weren't just going to let this stand. We took photos of the sign that had the marked down price, and then went back to the cashiers and showed the same guy the photos. He had to call over someone else and they had to make some calls and enter a bunch of codes and stuff, but we finally got the bag for €24.90. Victory.

We headed towards the area of town where the Abbey was to find our last restaurant in Italy. First we stopped at the Airbnb again to give Alessandro our refrigerated items that we thought we might eat, but realized we were not going to be able to. Glad they didn't just get chucked in the trash.

Near the Abbey, I made sure to pay for parking, and we walked to the restaurant, called Fondi. I got a pizza sampler with fries, and the girls got pasta. Then we walked to a gelato place and the girls got their last gelato in Italy (I was too full).

Last gelato

Finally, it was time to top off the tank and return the rental car. I couldn't get the gas place to take my card, so I gave up and found another place near the rental return. I just paid for full service, so I wouldn't have to deal with the card issue again.

We turned in the car, and because we had full coverage, all he needed to see was a full tank. We shuttled to the airport, checked our bags (perfect weight), got our boarding passes, got through a ridiculously short security line (not complaining), and found a place to sit and wait. Oh, I forgot to put my Swiss Army knife in one of the checked bags and didn't realize I had it in my pocket till we had checked the bags and were emptying out rpockets at secutiry. I thought I'd have to surrender it (i.e. throw it away), but I just put it in the bin with the rest of my stuff and played coy. They either didn't see it, or didn't care. So I didn't lose my knife, which I got in Switzerland in 2014.

Waiting to board

Now we don our Ireland apparel. First time I'd worn long pants since June 24.

Goodbye Italy!

The plane left about 30 minutes late, but that wasn't bad all things considered.

We got to Dublin around midnight, collected our bags, and got in the taxi line, which moved efficiently unlike the taxi line at Ciampino on June 24, which felt like forever ago. Our taxi driver was a former chef who'd lived in Ireland for about 20 years. I think he was Pakistani. He made it to the Airbnb address in pretty good time, but we had a hard time finding the actual house because we couldn't see the house number, it was dark, and there was an RV blocking our place. The driver waited until we found it for sure, which was nice, but also resulted in another €3 to the fare. I think the total fare was around €24.

The Airbnb was pretty tiny, and the sofa bed wasn't made, which was annoying. The place was definitely just a no-frills airport stopover kind of place, and a bit overpriced, but at least the shower was hot and the beds were moderately comfortable. I had a hard time falling asleep, despite being very tired.

Another European birthday

2022-07-20T23:30:00.136-04:00

I turned 42 in Switzerland, and I turned 50 in Rome, Italy.

Today's goals were to mail postcards, pay our parking fine, buy a suitcase, and tour the Vatican.

We mapped out our route. We found a post office in roughly the same part of the city as a Scarpamondo and the parking lot for the metro. So we'd hit the post office, mail the cards AND pay the parking fine there, then drive to Scarpa for the suitcase, then park at the Anagnina station and catch the metro to get to the Vatican Museum by 3 pm.

It was a solid plan except for how long the post office took. The post office had a strange entrance of double doors that only allowed one person through at a time. I think it took your temperature and only let you in if you didn't have a fever. I'm not 100% sure, but I saw a sign that made me think that may have been the case.

Inside, it was akin to the DMV. You took a number and the wait seemed very slow. I asked a guy that worked there if I could pay my parking fine there (it said on the ticket that it could be paid at any post office) and he said no. We finally got called and, by using Google translate, got the postage for the postcards. I also took a shot at asking about the parking fine again and though she seemed very unfamiliar with dealing with parking fines, she was able to process my payment for it (plus a €2 convenience fee).

It was interesting how something as simple as mailing postcards to other countries seemed to be so difficult here. In the States, you can buy an international postcard stamp for $1.40 and it's good for sending a postcard to any country in the world. Here, they had to use different stamps for USA, Germany, and South Africa. And the girl disappeared into the back for a good 5 minutes before coming out with the stamps. And the total came to over €2 each. A little bit of perspective to help appreciate the oft-maligned USPS.

The postcards and parking fine dealt with, we unfortunately had no time for the suitcase, so we headed straight to the Anagnina parking lot. Parking was very full, but there was one spot that was very tight because a car had parked too close to the line (the parking spaces in Italy are tiny to begin with). It took a lot of back an forth, but I finally squeezed in. We got our tickets and caught the train.

We were taking the metro almost from the start of a line to the end, so we were on the train for a good 30-40 minutes.

We got off at Ottaviano and once we got our Google maps working, heading off on foot towards the Vatican Museum.

We made it there just a little before 3 pm.

Grand Central Vatican

The tickets we got thru email were a little vague, but it wasn't hard to figure out what to do once we got there. The Vatican tours are a well-oiled machine, cranking out millions of visitors each year. We got together with our guide and she started off the tour at a large video touchscreen to discuss details of the Sistine Chapel, since she wouldn't be going inside it with us (there's no talking or photography allowed inside). We were also given little earpieces to listen to her with, which was handy because there were so many tours and noise all around, it would be impossible to hear her without it.

Our guide on the left with the touchscreen visual aid

Once we felt well-versed on the Sistine, we followed her into the museum, which is essentially gigantic halls filled with priceless sculptures, paintings, and tapestries. It was overwhelming. The Vatican has a serious art hoarding problem.

I know I sound like a broken record, but it. Was. Hot. A few parts of the museum were air conditioned but most of it was not. Except for one photo op outside, at least it was all indoors.

Usually the photos don't show how hot it was, but we do look hot in this one

The tapestries had to be air conditioned. Not complaining.

Raphael's Disputation of the Holy Sacrament

And finally, we reached the main event. The grand finale. Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel. The chapel ceiling is one of the most influential artworks of all time and a foundational work of Renaissance Art. Painted directly on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, the masterpiece depicts key scenes from the Book of Genesis. The complex narratives and skillfully painted human figures were first unveiled to the public in 1512 and continue to impress the thousands of us tourists from around the world who visit the chapel every day.

We weren't allowed to take photos inside, but here's one from Google:

It was pretty cool that they let you stay inside as long as you wanted. It was crowded, but it was air conditioned, and there are benches along the walls, and if you wait long enough, eventually someone will get up and you can take their spot.

Funny, you think this is such an amazing work of art, such a holy location, so famous... and it is. But when you're there, crammed in with so many other tourists, it definitely takes some of the mystique away. For example, at one point after we found a spot on a bench where we could marvel at the paintings and rest our necks a bit, I was sitting next to some guy that kept burping. Like, a lot. He was doing it kind of quietly, and he was wearing a mask, but as I studied the Fall of Man fresco, I just kept thinking what did this guy eat?

We spent a good 45 minutes in the Sistine Chapel (Bella kept track) then made our way through the last remnants of museum and of course the gift shop, where you could buy poster-size images of the Sistine Chapel that you weren't allowed to photograph.

As we were in the last parts of the mueseum, Bella and I had left Cristina behind. When she caught up, she had made a friend, an American from Tampa who graduated from UF and had done a year in Italy as an exchange student in high school.

Vatican parking lot. You won't find posters of this in the gift shop. You're welcome.

These stairs were kind of a work of art themselves. The steps got progressively deeper and shorter as you went down. The staircase was built in the 1930's to mimic the famous Bramante staircase, which was actually two staircases intertwined like a double helix (long before DNA was discovered) that was built for the same pope that commissioned the Sistine Chapel to be painted.

We hadn't had time for lunch or even a snack, so once we left the Museum, we looked for a place to eat. We tried to get a bit away from the Vatican Museum in hopes that the prices would be more reasonable. We found a nice little cafe and had pizza, french fries, and suppli.

We hit a few gift shops near the Vatican to finish off some of our shopping list, then caught the metro back to Anagnina (no parking ticket, thank goodness). We drove home and stopped at a grocery store to get a few items to take home as well as some pizza and farro salad (and tiramisu) which we ate at the Airbnb for a late dinner. Our last night in Italy.

All roads lead to Rome

2022-07-19T23:30:00.025-04:00

Our final long drive in Italy: Pitigliano to Rome. Two hours to the girls' Airbnb, another 30 minutes to ours. This was also the one and only drive with five people's stuff PLUS an extra bag crammed into the Megane. Tight to say the least.

A quick explanation of why we were dropping off the girls. Sofia and Anna both flew in and out of Fiumicino, which is Rome's bigger airport on the west side of Rome. We, because we took Ryanair to and from Dublin, flew into Ciampino, on the south side of Rome. Since they flew out the day before we did, and we had booked a place that only slept three, it made more sense for the two of them to get a place near their airport for the night before they flew home.

Knowing that so many places close after 3 pm, we looked for some food before 3 and settled on a little pizzeria. We bought pizza by the slice. Our last meal together as a party of five. The pizzeria had a coin-operated coffee machine which we toyed with the idea of trying but didn't.

We got to the girls' Airbnb and unloaded their stuff, met their host. We said goodbye and headed to Grottaferrata (and passed the Rome IKEA on the way, fairly close to our Airbnb). The directions took us to a large gate, and after Alessandro opened the gate for us, he ushered us along a very serpentine, winding driveway. We got settled and Cristina trued to buy ticket to the Vatican Museum. It looked like there were a few tickets available for the next day, but when she tried to purchase, she'd get an error. And then the tickets would be gone. She asked Alessandro for help and he tried to help her by doing it on his laptop. No dice. But when we thought it was hopeless, Cristina tried one more time around 2:30 and got tickets. They were guided tour tickets instead of self-guided, so a little more expensive, but at least we'd be able to see the Vatican.

We went to dinner at a place Alessandro recommended, though he told us to make a reservation. We didn't and took our chances.

It was an ordeal to get to a parking space for this place, which was in a part of town like a tiny-lane pedestrian type area, but hilly. I finally found a little parking lot and was about to put coinage in to pay for parking until Cristina said that she thought the sign said no enforcement after 8 pm. Since it was after 8 pm, we didn't pay.

There was no table for us at the restaurant, so we settled on a nearby tratteria called Ovosodo. Cristina and I split an Ovosodo antipasti, which included coldcuts, cheese, sliders, eggplant, bufala with tomato, and a plate of tripe in sauce (I am not a fan of tripe). For the mian course, Bella had ravioli, and Cristina and I split fettuccine with mushrooms and cherry tomatoes. Our table had a beautiful view of Rome at sunset, which was infinite twinkling lights by the time we finished our meal.

On way back home, we saw a fluttering paper on the windshield. I pulled over and Cristina grabbed it. Parking ticket. €32.40.

Home and bed.

Beach Day and Saturnia

2022-07-18T23:30:00.032-04:00

The girls wanted a beach day, but no one wanted to get up early, so we slept in. Bella and I walked down to the Carrefour grocery store and got eggs and grapes and potato chips and a big bottle of tea. After breakfast, we loaded up with towels and sunscreen and headed to the beach, an hour's drive.

At the beach, after a few harrowing traffic moments with a semi-truck in a roundabout and a car that was refusing to let me merge, we found a free beach access with free parking. We opted for renting an umbrella and two "beds" (lounge chairs) for €20. We spent a few hours at the beach.

We rinsed off our feet and loaded up, headed into the nearest town to check the Coop for suitcases. None. Our next best try was to drive north to Grosseto, where they have an Ipercoop. It was in a big air conditioned mall with an amazing wood-lined ceiling. But the Ipercoop only had medium-sized bags for €40. We wanted a bigger one. Before we searched for another place, we grabbed some focaccia pizza by the slice and ate it in the car.

The next choice for luggage was a store called Scarpamondo which had a luggage section comparable to a Ross. We found a good-sized (but not the biggest) bag that could hold a lot of stuff but Sofia could handle for €60, which Sofia paid for. She would make this her own suitcase for future traveling.

We headed to Saturnia, running a bit late, and just missed sunset. The view of the waters from the road, though, were still spectacular. The Terme di Saturnia are a group of springs located in the municipality of Manciano in Italy, a few kilometers from the village of Saturnia. The sulphurous spring water is at a temperature of around 37.5°C (99.5°F). The main thermal waterfalls are located at an old mill. We spent a few hours at the springs. The facilities were very nice, considering it was free to the public. And though I knew the water was going to be sulphurous, it wasn't too stinky.

Cristina was the last to get out

We got home very late, took showers, ate a dinner of tortellini and red sauce and caprese salads at nearly midnight, then went to bed for one last night with no air conditioning.

Goodbye to Chianti and on to Pitigliano

2022-07-17T23:30:00.001-04:00

I got up at 5:30 am to drive Adam to train station to catch a 6:30 train back to Slovenia. Bella went with us, of course.

Back at home, I went back to bed and got another hour or so of sleep.

We packed up, and though we could have been out by 11am, Karla came by to say goodbey and said they didn't have another guest that day, so we could stay longer iof needed. We took another hour since we had plenty of time before our next check-in. We finally loaded up the car, filled up the water bottles at the machine, and hit the road a little after noon.

We stopped at a hotel for lunch. The pork leg with roasted potatoes was on point, though the roasted potatoes were actually french fries. Not complaining.

It was a longish drive to Pitigliano, and we arrived on the side of town that was not very scenic. This was our last place with no AC. As I tried to park in the driveway, the car scraped, bottoming out on the steepangle of the drive. It didn't help that it was full of luggage and people. After unloading, we opted to park in a nearby parking lot instead of the driveway.

Elisa showed us around the house and we got settled. Then we drove into town to find some groceries, but everything was closed because it was Sunday evening. We tried a little wine store, but they mostly had touristy items. The girls got grappa to take home. I couldn't find a parking place, so I circled around and drove down a winding road that revealed an epic view of Pitigliano that we hadn't even realized existed. Once I picked up the girls, we drove it again and enjoyed the view. The town in that area was the quintessential little Italian town center, with cobblestone streets, restaurants, shops, and gorgeous views. But we needed to eat, and Bella was at home.

At home, ravioli and leftover pizza and Sofia's lunch leftovers. Then we all drove back to the parking area near the overlook and walked around Pitigliano.

Bella was exhausted after almost no sleep the night before, so we called it a night and went home to sleep a hot night under fans.

Finally a real waterfall

2022-07-16T23:30:00.090-04:00

Sofia and Anna booked another wine tasting tour in the same direction as the waterfall the server told us about. So we decided to take them to their tour, kill some time, and then pick them up and continue on to the waterfall.

After sleeping in and breakfast, we loaded up in the car and drove to their wine tour. After dropping them off, we stopped at an overlook that had a gigantic wine barrel converted into a photo spot.

We drove to the nearest little town, Radda in Chianti, and got some picnic groceries at Coop. We parked near a park and had our picnic lunch in the park. We brought a table cloth from the Airbnb and laid it out on a bench.

We paid for an extra 30 minutes of parking and walked over to a gelato shop. Soon it was time to head back to get girls. But when we got there, their tasting was not finished, so we moved some chairs into the shade and waited till they were done.

Girls collected, we drove onward to the waterfall the waiter told us about. More very lengthy, curvy mountin roads. When we got to the spout, it was a good sign to see people emerging with towels and picnic bags.

We parked and walked down to the river, which was indeed a good sized river with several falls of different sizes. It was busy with locals (also a good sign) but we found a little patch for our stuff and spent a few hours enjoying the waterfall.

We went to a pizza place near the waterfall for dinner.

Coffee after dinner? Usually a recipe for insomnia, but needed when I have a late hour-long drive on mountain roads.

On the long drive back to Ponte Agli Stolli, the kids were singing to Bohemian Rhapsody and other songs at the top of their lungs. It was a nice moment to end a great day.

A no-waterfall, redeemed by olive oil, wine, and a scenic dinner

2022-07-15T23:30:00.129-04:00

Some days that you think might be a fail can turn into one of the best days. Today was one of those.

After scrambled eggs with onions and Moka pot coffee, we put on our swim suits, packed up some cold drinks and snacks, and walked down the street to find the waterfall that Mario described in his Airbnb info. To our dismay, the creek was mostly dried up with no sign of enough running water for a fresh looking swim hole, let alone a waterfall. So our hot trek was in vain.

Back at the house, we ate a lunch of pesto ravioli and leftover carrots and leeks. Everybody chipped in to hang laundry, or fold the laundry that had dried (clothes dry quickly here).

Cristina had managed to book a wine/olive oil tour and tasting for the six of us, so we loaded up into the Megane for the roughly 30 minute drive. We put Adam in the trunk ("I see, you put the African in the trunk," he said jokingly) and made it to the winery for our tour and tasting.

The road was very rural, and very curvy. Anna got quite carsick on the way there, but was feeling better after we arrived.

First, they took us through their wine-making process. The reason it has been hard to find olive oil tours is because most farms only make oil from one kind of olive. Hardly enough for a tour or tasting experience. But this farm, in addition to producing Chianti wine, made three kinds of olive oil. The process for making oilve oil is not very complicated, so there's not much to see in terms of production. But she did show us the terra cotta pots that were formerly used for olive oil before they were replaced for more sanitary equiopment.

For the tasting, they brought out four wines and three olive oils, with little pieces of bread to try them with. This had the advantage of cleansing the palatte between wine tastings. After we were done, we bought some wine and olive oil which they boxed up nicely, and we loaded back up to head to dinner.

Instead of riding in the trunk again, Adam squeezed into the back seat with the girls. Bella sat on his lap. It was snug and Bella would hit her head on the ceiling whenever I hit a bump, but I guess it was better than the trunk.

Our host Mario also owns a restaurant, and he invited us to dine there even though it was booked full. He even said he'd give us a discount. The restaurant was higher up in the mountins, but only five minutes from the Airbnb. All the tables were outside, and the night was refreshingly cool. In fact, it was almost chilly enough to need a light jacket, which I don't think I'd felt since Ireland. The food was good, the sunset view was nice, and when Cristina told our server about the waterfall fail, he suggested another pace about an hour away that his wife had just viited and defientely had plenty of water. We made a note of the location.

Back home, it was still so cool that we turned off the AC for the night.

Heading to rural Tuscany

2022-07-14T23:30:00.002-04:00

We packed up and checked out on time, then drove to OVS to pick up the girls (from tram). This OVS had 3 stories, and the second story was men's clothes and housewares, like a giant hardware store. It even had some lumber. At OVS.

We drove to IKEA (13 min drive away) and parked in their gloriously shaded underground parking garage. We got lunch (Swedish meatballs mostly, but I got lasagna...because when else can you get lasagna at IKEA?) and coffee. Unlike the IKEAs in the States, this IKEA had a legit coffee bar. I suspect they know that Italians wouldn't stand for automated espresso machines.

We walked around, enjoying the coolness of the store. Bella and I sat in a "bedroom" and watched a video loop, exhausted by the heat and not enough sleep. In the bedroom section, we all lay on the beds. We were trying them out to see which one to buy. I swear.

We got a few veggie dogs and fries on the way out, then drove back to the same OVS, because Bella was catching the tram back in to the city center to meet Adam at 3 pm. They met at McDonalds and chilled for a few hours. Then they took the train to Figline Valdarno together.

The four rest of us stopped at a giant Coop in Figline and stocked up. The Coop had suitcases, but we'd need to wait due to car space, so we didn't even ask how much they were.

We drove to our Airbnb which was technically in a tiny little village called Ponte Agli Stolli. We were greeted by Karla, the mother of our host Mario, who was currently in Turin. Karla was a character. She's in her 80's, spoke pretty good English, and was happy to tell us about her past. She even sang us the English songs she knew (and we joined her): My Bonnie, and another one we didn't know as well. Karla left us to get settled.

Cristina and I drove to the train station to pick up Bella and Adam. At home, we made a dinner of carrots, leeks and onions, mashed potatoes, and Anna's oven-roasted tomatoes. Dessert of cheesecake and tiramisu. We washed clothes, and just hung out until time for bed.

Florence Day 2

2022-07-13T17:30:00.234-04:00

After a day of rest and two chiropractic adjustments, Cristina was ready for a day in Florence. We set alarms for the first time in a while, ate some breakfast, and hit the T1 tram to Renaissance town.

As expected, everything went smoother, since Bella and I knew how to do things like catch the tram. We got to the Duomo, the Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore and marveled at it's enormity and ornate decoration. Like, what kind of church has paintings on the outside? This one.

We got coffee at a little café. As we were leaving, we spotted a girl with a Neptune Beach shirt and had a small chat with her. She was a student living in Florence and she said meeting other people from Florida "made her day."

We went down the street that had the places that sold those sandwiches we missed out on. The place, called All'antico Vinaio, was open for business with no lines, so even though it was a little early for lunch, we bought one to share. It was called the Favolosa, and was labeled as the "best in the shop." We watched the guy build it, slathers of a homemade pecorino cream, an artichoke cream, a generous layer of warm Tuscan salami called sbriciolona, and a big handful of what looked like mushrooms but turned out to be (to Bella's relief) something else. We thought it was maybe olives, but checking the website later on, it was spicy eggplant. All wrapped in warm fresh focaccia. It was great, and would have been worth the wait.

In the Piazza Vecchio, a large military band was playing Hollywood themes (playing stuff the tourists would recognize, like Rocky, Pirates of the Caribbean, James Bond). One particular highlight was Bridge on the River Kwai, complete with a guy whistling.

As we continued to walk around Florence, we made our way to the Ponte Vecchio, which is a memorable bridge with shops actually on the bridge. Seemed like many of them were jewelry shops. We stopped at one picturesque spot, and a sudden feeling of deja vu hit me. I quickly realized that the exact spot we were standing at was the spot that a photo was taken that I've used to teach Photoshop for years. Having used that photo as an example for multiple classes over six years, it was bizarre to suddenly be standing in that same spot. Here's the photo from the Photoshop lesson:

And here's us there:

This is the other side of the bridge, the view I'd never seen before.

We met up with Sofia and Anna at their rental place and then Bella went to a museum with them, and Cristina and I went back to the Duomo to go inside. While we waited in line, we chatted with a few American high school students who were there on a four-week cultural-exchange trip. It only took about 15 minutes to get inside the cathedral. Surprisingly, it wasn't super ornate on the inside. Dare I say it was kind of plain. But the outside was one of the more fancy cathedrals I'd seen, so I guess they went for outward opulance instead.

After the cathedral, we met back up with the girls at a cafe near their apartment and had some cold drinks in the air conditioning. Then we grabbed some french fries from a small shop. We went our separate ways again, because Cristina had one more adjustment scheduled with the chiropractor. So Bella went with the girls to the botanical gardens and Cristina and I went home. We had leftovers for dinner and then drove to the chiropractor for the adjustment.

As it got close to sunset, we drove up to the pretty view that every single tourist goes to watch the sunset at. Yep, it was crowded. Took a while to find a parking spot, but we got there in time to take some amazing shots.

Back at home, I worked on my blog. The plan was for Sofia and Anna to take Bella to a nightclub called the Space Bar, and then around 2 am, I'd drive into the city center and pick her up. But the bar was closed, so she was ready for a pickup by 12:30. It was weird driving into the city center that late. Almost no people. It was like the cool, dark ghost town version of the hot, bustling city we'd walked around all day with thousands of other tourists.

Florence and an Italian Chiropractor

2022-07-12T17:30:00.142-04:00

We slept in, then showered and had an egg breakfast.

For the past couple of weeks, Cristina has been dealing with back pain and dizziness. It has gotten progressively worse, so she finally decided to seek help. She found a chiropractor in Florence that went to school in Georgia, spoke English, and had an office just a mile or so from our Airbnb. Unfortunately, his website said it was appointment only, and she couldn't get her phone to make a call, so we just took our chances and walked in. He was kind enough to squeeze her in between scheduled clients. A rack-and-crack later, she was feeling much better. Not 100%, but better. He said she could come back later in the day for a check up and readjustment for no extra charge. And now that she had his What's App, she could contact him despite the international phone issues.

So Cristina decided to stay home to rest, and Bella and I took the tram into the city center. The adventure allowed us to work out the kinks of figuring out the tram, and navigating the city before Cristina joined us the next day. But it also meant we skipped things that we knew she'd want to do, like the churches and botanical gardens.

The first thing we did after getting off the tram was find coffee. A hipster little cafe even had iced coffee, which the barista made in front of us, violently shaking the espresso in a cocktail shaker with ice. I got a smoothie.

The next few hours were a hot, sunny blur of walking, looking at church exteriors, piazzas, and statues. Our attempt to find lunch meandered from idea to idea. We even sat down in one place, and then decided to leave (they hadn't even brought place settings yet, but we still felt a little guilty for leaving). Lots of people were walking around eating gigantic sandwiches wrapped in wax paper that looked good, and we finally found the place, but the lines were super long. We decided to commit, and then the line we were in got cut off because the place was closing. So we finally ate at a little café with a slightly annoyed server who, even though we ordered two sandwiches and a drink for me, said that Bella needed to order a drink also because "it's expected that you order a drink." But then a big family sat down beside us and he got busy with them, so he forgot to follow-up on the drink requirement. The sandwich was okay, but it didn't look as good as the ones we'd seen.

After lunch, we got to the central market, which is a big section of vendor booths, mostly selling the same stuff, lots of scarves, leather goods, and the typical souvenirs. The better part of the central market was the food court, which was indoors and had every of food you could want in Italy, for reasonable prices. We got gelato.

We took the tram back, and I made big veggie dinner of mashed potatoes, leeks, purple carrots, broccoli, and orange cauliflower. While I cooked, Cristina drove herself to the chiropractor for the follow-up adjustment around 6:30.

We ate dinner on the sofa while watching Storage Wars dubbed in Italian.

I blogged for a while before going to bed.

Balsamic tour, a bag finally collected, and arrival to Florence

2022-07-11T17:30:00.348-04:00

We ate a nice breakfast of fresh fruit and toast and packed up. We dropped off the keys with Robert promptly at 10 am and headed into town to get some coffee before hitting the road. As we parked for the coffee, I saw a bank with an ATM (Bancomat) so Anna and I both got some cash out. I got some for Sofia too, since her card is likely still blocked.

At the coffee place, the barista gave us each a shot of water with our cappuccino. I had seen a shot of sparkling water given with an espresso to someone at the coffee place in the mall near H&M and wondered what the deal was. And here we were, for the first time getting a shot of water with ours. I watched someone else drink there water first, then the espresso, so I did the same. From what I now understand, it's a palate cleanser, so you can fully appreciate the bold flavors of the espresso. This coffee place had some kind of lottery machines behind the counter, or something that looked like a place I could pay my toll, which I did.

We drove to our balsamic tour which we had booked through Airbnb. We wound up getting there 45 minutes early, so we found a bar to have a drink and waste 45 minutes. We've gotten good at killing several hours, so 45 minutes was nothing.

We got to the tour and immediately I could tell this was a fairly posh, well-organized tour. We drove through the motorized gates and were greeted at the large farm house by our tour guide, Ana. She invited us for drinks before the tour began, rosé or sparkling water or natural water. Or all.

Ana brought a large vinyl banner to our table and began the tour by explaining the farm and the production process (the banner had a diagram of the farm and helpful photos of what she was explaining). Honestly, I had no idea how time consuming it is to make real balsamic vinegar. It's way harder than making wine! And what we buy at the grocery store and use as balsamic vinegar...isn't really balsamic. The cheap stuff is mainly a wine vinegar that's only been aged a year to three years and has additives to make it dark and thicker, like corn syrup and caramel color. Its fine for using as a salad dressing or, in my case, frying chicken cutlets, but it's not the real thing, and we were going to try the real thing today.

Next, Ana took us into the house and talked about the family that runs the farm (her bosses). Then she led us up to the attic where we saw about 25 batteries of balsamic vinegar. A battery is a row of wood barrels that are progressively smaller. They keep them in the attic, because there are strict rules that have to be followed to have the D.O.P. classifcation. For example, DOP balsamic has to be made with very specific grapes from the Modena area.

D.O.P. stands for Denominazione di Origine Protetta (literally Protected Designation of Origin and often indicated as P.O.D.). It's assigned by the European Union to the name used to indicate a product that owes its characteristics to its place of origin, and its production, modification and processing occur within that geographical area. So only the true balsamic vinegar made in Modena (or Reggio Emilia) with the very specific methods of production can be labeled DOP. It even has to be sold in a very specific shaped bottle.

DOP balsamic barrels have to be kept in open air, so in the attic, there was no AC and no glass in the windows. Just bug screens. DOP balsamic must be aged for a minimum of 12 years. The battery of barrels of descending size work like this: the largest barrel receives the grape must that has been cooked to specifications. As it ages, part of it evaporates and the level gets lower (and the wood of the barrel gives it a bit of flavor). Once a year, it gets transferred to the next smaller barrel. The barrels must remain 90% full, so once the largest barrel has been transferred, it gets topped off with new must. So the smallest barrel is the oldest aged vinegar. She pulled samples out of several barrels with a glass pipette (she sucked the vinegar out of the barrel by mouth into the pipette) and let us see the "shirt" (the coating when you swirl it in a glass bottle) and we smelled it. It was like no balsamic I'd ever smelled, sweet and just a hint of sour. A deep, earthy smell, with hints of molasses.

Then we went back downstairs and outside for the main event. The tasting. A table was set with two kinds of red wine, and a table with assorted meats, cheeses and breads. At each of our places at the table were two bottles of vinegar, the 12-year and the very old (25-ish years). First she had us try a spoonful by itself of each, starting with the extra old, which was more smooth and sweet than the 12-year which had a bit more of the sour, tart flavor. She explained that, even though it's ultimately a matter of personal taste, they recommend the very old balsamic with the younger cheeses and fattier meats, because the more delicate flavors of the foods are balanced with the more delicate vinegar. Stronger cheeses, like older ones, and spicier meats, balance better with the brighter, stronger 12-year balsamic. We ate so much meat and cheese and bread and wine, as well as little hors d'oeuvre sized bites of omelette, trying everything with the different balsamics. It was, perhaps, close to what heaven might be like. Suitably stuffed, she then brought out a platter of risotto, to try the balsamics with that. So good. And finally, dessert. How do the two balsamics pair with cheesecake and a milder ricotta cake? We got to find out. With coffee of course. I knew the tour would essentially feed us, but they don't have the license to be an actual restaurant, so they don't describe the tour as including a full meal, per se. That said, it was one of the best meals I've had in Italy. It was completely the experience that meals are supposed to be here. Leisurely, sitting in an outdoor beautiful garden beside a gorgeous Tuscan farmhouse. The tour was supposed to be 2 hours, but we stayed till 4. I joked at one point that this was like Circe's island. Perhaps we thought four hours had gone by, but in actuality, it's now October and we're still here.

They are smart to make the tasting experience so pleasurable, because how could you leave that without buying a bottle or two of the vinegar? It is pricy, but we bought the set: one 12-year and one very old. And as pricy as it seemed, I googled later on and found that our price was on the reasonably side. A 100 ml bottle of very old DOP balsamic (gold label) sells for 100-150 euros. The silver label 12-year sells for 60-100 per bottle. Along with the tour, this farm sold the silver (12-year) for €40 and the gold (25 year+) for €60. Or if you bought both, you got the combo for €90. So I was pleased that we got the price we did.

I look forward to trying the gold label balsamic on ice cream. Yeah, that's a thing!

Stuffed, we finally left the balsamic farm and our wonderful guide Ana and headed to the Bologna airport to get Anna's bag. The airport traffic was insane, so I dropped Sofia, Anna, and Cristina off and tried to park in a free area called "Kiss and Fly," but because of traffic I couldn't get out of it before the free 10 minutes ended and I had to pay €4 for about 12 minutes. Disgruntled, I drove out of the airport and parked on the side of the motorway, where a bunch of other cars were doing the same thing. I was going to wait there till they had the bag, but Bella had to pee really badly, so we drove until we found an Aldi. The bathroom there was locked, but the lone cashier was nice enough to unlock it for her, despite her very long line (I think all Aldis must have long lines).

Bag recovered!

Anna got her bag, and I headed back and picked them up just outside the Kiss and Fly turnstile. We headed to Florence and dropped Sofia and Anna at their hotel, in the city center. Then we drove to our Airbnb, met our host Cesare, and got oriented to the new place, which was large and very well-stocked, especially after our experience in San Venanzio.

Cristina and I went to Esselunga for groceries, but we were all still so full from lunch, I just had a banana for dinner.

Visiting the homeland

2022-07-10T17:30:00.189-04:00

We slept in, then had breakfast and got ready for our journey to the homeland. Cristina's great great grandparents were from Italy. Her great-great grandfather was from a town called Sermide and her great-great grandmother was from a nearby town called Carbonara di Po. We picked San Venanzio as a stop on our trip especially because it is near both these towns and we wanted to visit, even though we didn't have a whole lot of info about them or specific places to visit. But it felt like we needed to at least visit the towns while we were in Italy.

So a bit of genealogy:

Cristina's great-great grandmother:

Domitilla Campi D'avanzo
Birthdate: July 15, 1860
Birthplace: Carbonara di Po, Lombardy, Italy
Death: April 17, 1933 (72)
Domitilla was the:
Daughter of Claudio Campi and Adelisa Davanzo
Wife of Ermenegildo Molinari Zucolli
Mother of Güelfo Ermenegildo Molinari Campi; Cesare Roberto Molinari Campi; Maria Teresa Molinari Campi; Virginia de Jesus Molinari Campi; Juan Luis Marcelo Molinari Campi; Angela Elena Molinari Campi; Victor Manuel de Jesus Molinari Campi; Manuela Victoria de Jesus Molinari Campi; Hugo Mariano Bruno Molinari Campi; Oscar Amadeo Molinari Campi; Claudio de Jesus Molinari Campi; Giovanni Molinari Campi; Roberto Cesare Molinari Campi and Juan Molinari Campi

Cristina's great-great grandfather:

Ermenegildo Molinari Zucolli
Birthdate: ____ 04, 1858
Birthplace: Sermide, Lombardy, Italy
Death: August 17, 1920 (61) in Alajuela, Costa Rica
Ermenegildo was the:
Son of Giovanni Molinari and María Zuccolli
Husband of Domitilla Campi D'avanzo
Father of Güelfo Ermenegildo Molinari Campi; Cesare Roberto Molinari Campi; Maria Teresa Molinari Campi; Virginia de Jesus Molinari Campi; Juan Luis Marcelo Molinari Campi and 9 others
Occupation: Relojero, Mecánico

Domitilla and Ermenegildo's first three kids were born around 1885 in Carbonara di Po, Mantua (Mantova), Lombardia, Italy before the family moved to Costa Rica. Their fourth child was born in 1891 in San Jose. Angela (Cristina's great grandmother) was child #6 and was born in San Jose in 1895. All children after Angela were born in Alajuela. The last child, #10, was born in 1905. 3 still-births for 13 total births of children.

Okay, so that's what we know.

Before getting far, we got coffee, of course. The little place in San Venanzio that we stopped at was just okay. The Asian lady behind the counter made a decent cappuccino, but while we were drinking, Bella and I noticed her refill the hopper with coffee beans, and then stir them around with her bare hand. That just didn't seem like the most hygienic practice, even if they are destined to be ground up and scalded with hot pressurized water.

It took about an hour to get to Carbonara di Po. We decided to go all the way to Carbonara first and then do Sermide on the way back. We stopped at the sign for Carbonara di Po and got a photo of Cristina with the sign.

We drove to the church and Cristina explored it as best she could on a quiet Sunday afternoon. There was no sign of anyone in this little town. We assumed they were all at home, resting through the hottest part of the day. But not us! We were bound for a little nature area on the River Po to have a picnic lunch.

There was one other car parked at the nature area near the river. We parked beside it, then trekked in with our food. Just a little ways in, we found a clearing with some picnic tables. While we ate our prosciutto and cheese, a couple came up the path and passed by us, obviously the owners of the other car. So we had the "park" to ourselves from that point on.

If you look closely, you can see Cristina far back on the path, going slowly thanks to her Seek app

The park was as desolate as the town. I don't mean that in a bad way, it's just that there were no signs of people. At one point Bella and I walked down a path and found a clearing where we could finally see the river (it had been obscured by trees). In the far distance on the other bank, we could just barely see a couple of people.

We headed back into town and then stopped at Sermide. Did the same: found the church, let Cristina explore, took pics. Sermide had much more life than Carbonara di Po.

We drove back to San Venanzio and got a little rest before heading to dinner at Trattoria Pippi. Anna got on the phone with the airline, who had informed her through email that her bag had been located and was at Bologna airport. It was supposed to be delivered to us at the Airbnb, but it hadn't arrived while we were gone, so she was trying to get the current status on her bag. Frustratingly, she kept getting disconnected. She tried over and over. Perhaps because it was Sunday, they were transferring her to a department that wasn't open. She finally gave up and planned to call first thing in the morning.

I tried to pay my toll online but couldn't get anywhere with their website. Maybe I'd find a shop to pay in person.

Pippi being our second trattoria experience, we thought we knew how it worked. We knew it was a fixed price of €15 per person. We assumed there would be antipasti, then a primi, then a secondi. But when they brought the antipasti, giant platters of fried bread and meats and pickled veggies, we thought we were never going to have room for everything. So we ate as much as we could, but we tried to save room for the next course. They finally took away the platters (with lots of meat and bread leftover). Bella had opted out of the fixed price experience and had ordered a lasagna. So when Bella was done, the server asked her if she was ready for dessert. She was a little confused, but said sure. So then the server brought all of us dessert. Then we finally figured out (by asking the server) that all those meats and breads WERE the meal. They weren't just the antipasti. So we chalked it all up to a learning experience. Sofia, still struggling to regain her normal appetite, hadn't eaten very much of the meat and bread, so she needed a bit more food. We ordered some tortellini in broth, which was very similar to a wonton soup. She couldn't eat very much of that either, so we just finished our desserts and called it a night.

Tomorrow, we would be leaving San Venanzio and finally heading to Florence, with a balsamic vinegar tour on the way and hopefully a trip to Bologna airport to get Anna's lost luggage.

The Glass Museum

2022-07-09T17:30:00.144-04:00

Having figured out the bus to Venice the day before, it was a piece of cake to do it again the next day. We got the car completely packed by 10 am, but with permission from the host, we left the car in the parking area of the Airbnb and took the bus to the Santa Lucia station. Once we got there, we went to an information booth and asked how we take a ferry to Murano, the island where the famous Venetian glass is made. She sold us the tickets (€15 each round trip) and showed us where the loading dock was. Easy.

We sat in the front of the ferry to Murano. The windows were open and the breeze felt good. Occasionally a little mist of water would splash in. The ride to Murano took about 20 minutes, some of which was spent going through canals before hitting the open lagoon.

On the ferry to Murano

We disembarked and walked to the glass museum (€10 per adult, €7.50 for students). We haven't done very many museums, so it's nice to not have museum fatigue. It was enjoyable to walk around the museum and read about the history of glassmaking in Venice/Murano and see lots of examples.

After getting what we wanted from the museum experience, we headed out to find some lunch. We thought about a cafe or restaurant, but we passed a little Coop, so we just popped in there and bought some premade sandwiches and chips. We looked for a nice place to eat, like a park, but couldn't find anything. We found a gelato place and the girls working there (seeing us eating our sandwiches and talking about getting gelato after lunch) told us where a little nearby park was. So we ate at a park, sitting on a proper bench.

The gelato was fantastic as always.

The final goal was to buy a little bit of glass jewelry. Sofia found some earrings and Cristina settled on some necklaces for gifts and an earring/necklace set for herself.

We ferried back to Venice, and just like the previous day had to run a little bit to catch the bus.

We walked back to the Airbnb, loaded up in the car and headed to our next destination, San Venanzio.

For the first time on all these toll roads, my credit card was not accepted at a tollbooth. I finally pressed the red help button and explained. The toll god said he'd print a receipt and I could pay it online. Cool. And even better, I had 15 days to pay it. In looking closer at the receipt later on, I could pay online, or at any place that accepted payments, like the tobacco shops, corner markets, etc.

The Airbnb was on the third floor of an apartment building, a bit out in the country. Very agricultural area. Corn fields and hay bales. Our host Roberto showed us around the apartment with his very limited English (we used Google Translate on the phones quite a bit). I couldn't get any of the AC remotes to work, so Roberto went out to buy new batteries. The place was roomy but definitely lacked a lot of things we expected (like salt, pepper, oil, a Moka pot, etc.). Roberto recommended two eating places, a trattoria called Pippi (which sounded like pee-pee). And a pizza place. He said we could go to the pizza place tomorrow, but we decided to do pizza tonight.

First we went to Lidl and bought breakfast stuff, salad stuff to go with our pizza, and picnic supplies for the next day.

I'm not totally sure why he said to go to the pizza place the next night, but when we got there, I think we understood why. This was Saturday night and the place was packed. We asked the guy at the front check-in area if we could get takeaway pizzas, and he ushered us to the back bar where we ordered four pizzas to go. That friendly guy said it would be about 15 minutes (I confirmed "one-five or five-oh?") and then he'd bring them out to us, so it totally worked out. If we had wanted a table, I wonder how long the wait would have been. I'm guessing at least an hour.

People waiting to get a table at pizza place

We got home and ate pizza and salad. It was yummy. The crust was super thin and crisp.

We started washing some clothes and noticed that the washer leaked. We let Roberto know through What's App, but he didn't see the message. He probably had gone to bed already (it was about 10:30). So we just put towels on the floor and made the best of it.

This place had some issues, but the beds were very comfortable. And the AC worked. So all was well.

Our party grows

2022-07-08T17:30:00.088-04:00

It feels weird to sleep in on the one full day you have devoted for Venice, but we were picking up Sofia and Anna from the Mestre station around noon, so we slept in. Unforteuntaely, the airline lost Anna's luggage, so some clothes shopping was required before we'd go to Venice.

We picked them up from the train station and went to H&M in a mall. This was a proper indoor mall, as nice as any of them in the States back when we had malls. "We still have malls," Bella corrected me. Okay, I guess so.

We spent quite a while shopping for clothes, and of course everyone founds things to buy, even those who hadn't lost their luggage.

We grabbed a coffee before leaving the mall.

We got to the Airbnb and the girls dropped off their stuff and refreshed a little. I made a quick lunch of ravioli with pesto.

We walked to the bus stop (first buying tickets at the corner store) and caught the bus to Venice. I think we finally crossed the lagoon and got to Venice proper around 6 pm.

Walking to the bus stop in Mira

We walked around Venice and did the normal Venice tourist stuff: admired the canals, dodged through crowds of tourists, window shopped, and scouted restaurants.

My hat was very faded and stained, and I'd been meaning to buy a new one at some point during this trip. I finally found a decent one in Venice, right at St. Mark's Square. Cristina's hat that she got in Rome got rained on in Padua and was starting to deteriorate, so she also bought a new hat near St. Mark's.

We ate dinner at Ristorante Cico. Sofia was the only one really jetlagged (Sweden is in the same time zone), so she was struggling with energy level and appetite.

We had to have a wee jog to catch the 10:30 bus back to Mira, so we wouldn't have to wait for a midnight bus. We made it home by 11ish, showered and hit the sack.

Heading to Venice

2022-07-07T17:00:00.017-04:00

We packed up and hit the road, heading to Venice.

As is the usual routine, we had a few hours to kill so we stopped at an Outlet mall of all things. We didn't specifically target an outlet mall, but Bella had been told by a friend to get hot chocolate from a place called Venchi, and the one on our path was in an outlet mall.

It was a swanky mall. Not an indoor mall. Outdoors like a typical outlet. But nicer than most US outlet malls. Venchi was pretty darned good hot chocolate. It was kind of like drinking excellent quality chocolate sauce it was so thick. I had a sip because I ordered a cappuccino. She asked me if I wanted chocolate in it, and I'm at Venchi, so I said sure. It was decadent.

Skechers in Italy (Alex currently works for Skechers)

The outlet mall

We looked around in a variety of stores. We realized that this was the perfect place to kill a few hours because the parking was free and safe, we had a variety of stores to look in, plenty of food options, and the nicest public bathrooms I've seen in Italy. They rivaled the London airport bathrooms in that each stall was like a small private room and immaculately clean.

We ate at a cafe and I saw a platter of french fries go by and decided that I needed to satisfy a french fry craving. Since the burgers came with fries, I decided to have an Italian burger. I didn't come to Italy to wat burgers, but it's fair to try at least one for comparison's sake. It was a decent burger. Not the best I've ever had, but a solid burger nevertheless. The fries were good, but they needed salt and ketchup and I ate them all up before I could ask for salt and ketchup, which are not automatically on the tables here.

When we finally got on the road again, I had my first tollbooth debacle of the day. I made a wrong turn directly after picking up the ticket at a tollbooth, so I had to drive to the next exit and pay that toll before I could get back into the same tollbooth and pick up another ticket and then take the right exit. The mistake only cost 82 cents and about 20 minutes of time.

We dropped Cristina off at the botanical gardens in Padua (Bella's town, lol). I went down a one-way road the wrong way after dropping her off and got a disapproving finger-wag from a guy on the side of the road. Whoops. The plan was for Bella and me to get checked into our Airbnb and Cristina could get her garden time in without torturing us in the heat. Then she'd take a train from Padua to Mestre (mainland Venice) and I'd pick her up at the train station around dinner time.

This just wasn't my day as a driver in Italy, because after Padua, I experienced tollbooth debacle #2. At the booth where you get a ticket, I accidentally picked a Europass lane that had no ticket machine. The light was red, but the turnstile was up, and cars were behind me. I was trapped. No way to go but forward. There were no human beings working these booths for me to get help from, so I just drove through. Bella gasped that I was going to get a ticket (of the citation variety, that is). I drove in nervous silence until the exiting tollbooth, where I would normally insert the ticket that, this time, I did not have. I had memories of the old days on the Florida Turnpike when they used tickets and if you lost your ticket you'd be charged the full amount for the longest distance possible. I had images of getting to this booth and being charged 300 euros for my stupid lane mistake. I hoped there would be a booth with a human. No luck. I pulled up to a toll machine and pushed the big red help button. A voice came on and I said something, in English, like "Uh, I went into the wrong lane at the last booth so I didn't get a ticket." He asked me where I got on the motorway. "Uh, there was an IKEA nearby" and then Bella told me it was Padova, so I added that clarification. "No problem," he said. Thank the stars! The screen showed 8 euros due. Sweet. Happiest I've ever been to pay an 8 euro toll. I paid and we were on our way.

As we neared Mira, we filled up the gas tank and got some groceries at Lidl.

We got settled at our new home and I did some blogging while making a dinner of ravioli. Sofia arrived in Rome in transit from Florida, so we were keeping track of her meeting up with her friend Anna (from Sweden). They'd be spending the night in Rome and then catching an early train in the morning to join us in Venice.

Cristina bought a train ticket that would arrive in Mestre at 8:30, but she missed it and had some difficulties with the next train not being there and the staff not knowing anything. She finally got another train that would arrive at 9:47. I drove to the Mestre station and finally found her despite the GPS taking me to a weird part of the station. I think we finally got home about 10:15. She had bought some snacks at the train station, so we went to bed as soon as we could.

Lake Como

2022-07-06T17:30:00.143-04:00

Today's goal was to see the famed Lake Como, and maybe even swim in it. Wearing our swim suits, we drove to Varenna. Luca had suggested we take a ferry from Lecco to Bellagio, then another ferry to Varenna, and then go to a beach at Bellano a little north of Varenna. He said there was a free beach right beside a pay beach.

The tunnels in Italy are extensive, and as we approached the Lakes, the tunnels increased. I like the fast, straight-shot that tunnels give you, and I can't remember if I said this already in another post, but with doing as much driving as we are doing, I'll take the faster route that tunnels give us over scenic but slow mountain roads. We decided to alter Luca's advice and drive to Varenna and see about taking a ferry to Bellagio. As we looked for a place to park, we saw a massive crowd of tourists at the ferry ticket stand. That did not make us excited to take a ferry. We found a t30 minute parking spot right on the street and grabbed three cappuccini. Then we moved the car to a parking garage that gave us more time to explore. We walked along the road and enjoyed the views of the lake. We checked out the tourist center (strangely, the young man working there wasn't sure about any free beaches in Bellano. "You might find a little stretch of beach that will be free, but it won't be like a beach. It will be just grass."). We explored that little corner of Varenna until there wasn't much more to do, so we took the "200 steps to free romantic view" and found a tiny rocky beach where some other tourists were swimming and sunbathing. We spent about an hour there, putting our feet in the cool waters of Lake Como. We had heard Lake Como, being an Alpine lake, was cold, but it wasn't even as cold as the springs in Florida. We estimated that it was about 75 degrees. I'm sure when you go deeper it gets very cold though.

We drove to Bellano, parked, and found a place to eat lunch, Bar Arrigoni. The most memorable thing about the meal was watching two older ladies work on eating two gigantic desserts. We asked the server what it was, and it was something like 8 scoops of gelato and a bunch of fresh fruit and whipped cream. And they each had one! Crazy.

We walked down to the public beach, which was very easy to find, and contrary to what the kid at the tourist stand said, it was very much a beach. It was rocky rather than soft sand, but it was as much of a beach as the private one beside it. And lots of locals were using it, which is a good sign. We all got in and enjoyed the cool water.

Bellano has a gorge with a waterfall so we drove to it (it was very close). It closed at 6 pm, and we got there at 5:40. They assured us that we'd have enough time to see it. Annoying that they charged us full price, but we saw it and it was very pretty.

We drove home and stopped at a market called MD for a cucumber and ice cream. They were closing and the lady seemed annoyed that we were buying stuff right at closing time.

At home, I made a simple dinner of cucumber and tomato salad, leftover tuna toss, beets, bufala mozzarella. And ice cream.

Bella has an outing

2022-07-05T17:30:00.003-04:00

Bella met online a South African college student named Adam who is also vacationing around Europe this summer. They enjoyed chatting with each other so much that they explored the idea of getting together for a date in Italy, each meeting halfway. So the girl who a year ago wasn't sure about flying by herself, planned to get on a train by herself and ride for three hours to meet a guy she'd never met in person. That's brave! I suspect that it's the kind of thing that if she didn't do it, she'd regret it. So best to do it and add it to the list of experiences.

The train station was about a 40-minute drive from our place, so we headed out about 6:45 am (I let Cristina sleep). She made her train in time and assured me that she'd send us updates so we'd know she was safe and sound.

Back at home, we had a leisurely morning. I got the CD player figured out (there's a decent collection of music here...a lot of the same stuff I listened to in high school and college) so I played some music while we ate breakfast. I worked on my blog some. Later on we turned the TV on and I fell asleep on the couch (I only got about 5 hours of sleep the night before).

View from the living room. All the doors had sliding screens, which was great for crossbreeze

Cristina and I finally got motivated to have an outing ourselves. We walked down to Barlá, a local establishment. We got drinks and sandwiches (I got a focaccia, Cristina got a piadina, which is like a wrap). When we were trying to ask questions about the menu, the bartender finally told us to wait and went outside. She came back in with a customer, an older woman, who is an English teacher here in Arlate. She kindly answered all our questions.

Barlá had swings inside

We walked around the village. We found a well which was built as a gift to the city forever ago. In the 50's, the women would bend over to do their wash and expose their legs, so they built a wall around it for privacy.

Our apartment from a distance

We made our way to the church which is literally right beside our apartment. In fact, where we park the car is right beside the drive that goes to the church. It looks like a slightly more modern church, and by modern I mean maybe only built within the past 200 years. In Italy, that's modern!

Since we had an afternoon without Bella, we drove to another church (Bella's burned out on churches) that had a spectacular view. The inside of the church was nothing special, not nearly as ornate as the others we've seen. But the outside views made up for it.

View from the church

On the way home, we decided to try a new grocery store for some dinner and breakfast items, but with a conscientious effort to not overbuy, as soon we will have two more people in our car. We went to a Conad and got some things to finish off some of the ingredients in our fridge. Basically, we were doing another tuna toss. I forgot a buy a lemon at Conad, so we stopped at a Euro Spin, which I thought was a laundromat, but it's another budget grocery store. The line was super long, and I was only buying an avocado and a lemon. The guy in front of me let me go before him, which was great since we had ice cream from Conad in the car.

After dinner, we were invited by the neighbors (Luca and Adele) to come over for wine and cheese. They were great hosts, serving up a variety of meats and cheeses and one of Luca's absolute favorite wines. We chatted about our trip and Luca gave us suggestions for things to do on Lake Como. He recommended the ferry. We got a message from Bella that her train was about 30 minutes from Bergamo, so we said our goodbyes to Luca and Adele and headed out to get Bella.

We both drove to Bergamo to pick up Bella and on the drive back she told us all about her date. The short version is that it went really well and she's glad they did it. Back home, she ate some leftover tuna toss and we chatted around the table until it was time for bed.

Heading to Milan and a concert of all things

2022-07-04T17:30:00.015-04:00

A similar issue today: late check-in at the new place means we need to kill some time. So we decided to do what we did in Genoa: find public parking near the center of Milan and walk around for a few hours.

The drive to Milan from Fidenza was about two hours. We didn't have a firm idea of what we wanted to see in Milan, but there was a massive, ornate cathedral that looked pretty cool even to Bella and me, so we used that as our parking goal. We found an underground garage practically right beside the cathedral (Duomo di Milano), and as it turned out, the cathedral is right beside the big famous shopping district that most tourists visit when they go to Milan: Galleria Vittoria Emanuele II.

Construction on the cathedral started in 1386 and it took six centuries to complete! That alone is mind-boggling. They charge tourists to go inside, so we just admired it from the outside, which is overwhelmingly impressive.

Right next to the Duomo is perhaps one of the oldest and most famous shopping malls in the world. Officially named after the first king of Italy, it is commonly just called the Milan Galleria. Even if you don't plan to shop at the high-end stores there (Prada, Gucci, Louis Vuitton, etc.) just admiring the iconic glass and iron roof and the incredible mosaic tiled floors is worth a walkthrough. Fun fact: in the 90's there was actually a McDonald's in the Galleria. When their 20-year lease was up for renewal in 2021, the Galleria did not renew it (probably because they realized having a McDonald's between Prada and Louis Vuitton kinda cheapened the experience a bit). McDonald's sued but withdrew its suit when it was allowed to build a restaurant near the Galleria. Now there's a second Prada store where the McDonald's used to be.

We spotted some tourists putting their heel on a mosaic and turning around three times, and we remembered seeing that on a Rick Steves episode, but we couldn't remember what the significance was. Bella did it anyway. It turns out that that mosaic is the bull of Turin, which is depicted with large testicles. People spin on it for good luck to improve fertility. Tourists have wanted fertility so much, in fact, that the poor bull's testicles are now gone and there's just a smooth divot in the floor where everyone spins on their heel. Someday when Bella has children, I'll think back to that bull of Turin, and the brave sacrifice he made for the continuation of my family tree.

We found a place to eat (outside the Galleria) and had a light lunch of gnocche and pizza.

We still had some time to kill, so we walked to the Milan botanical gardens to give Cristina an hour to collect plants (in her app). Turned out all we could handle was about 40 minutes. It was just too hot. So we headed back towards the parking garage, stopping for gelato.

A pinch over three hours in Milan and we were back in the car heading to our next Airbnb, north in the tiny village of Arlate. The nephew of our hosts (who live in Canada) would be our liaison. He asked for our passports via Whats App, which is required here in Italy, and he asked when we would arrive. We told him in 15 minutes. He said the keys would be in the mailbox. But when we found the place, there were no keys. We messaged him. No reply. He wasn't seeing our messages yet. So I messaged the hosts and they apologized and said they would try to ping him as well, but they use the same way as us, through Whats App. So we waited. After about 30 minutes of standing outside the gates of the condos, one of the neighbors came out and said they had our keys. So it was a bit of an awkward check-in, but we got in and got settled.

The big surprise, though, was that we got a message from the host while we were waiting to get in saying that the apartment got broken into last night. The thieves drilled a hole in the window frame and managed to get in. He was going to have the window repaired but it probably wouldn't happen before we left. So that was different.

The apartment was nice, but hot and stuffy, and no air conditioning. There was only one fan. We messaged the host about that, and in the meantime we found a small tabletop fan on the top of a bookshelf. That was also the one he eventually suggested. Because of the break-in, our host suggested we keep the windows and shutters closed at night. Oh boy. Hot and closed-up. A recipe for a great night's sleep!

Before we left Florida, Bella had noticed that an music artist she knew of, Alec Benjamin, was performing in Milan on the same day we were arriving, so she bought tickets for me and her to go to his show. I had asked our host for help in getting to the show from the Airbnb, and it was decided that driving would be easiest. To give ourselves enough time for the drive, grabbing a bite to eat, and getting into the venue, we wanted to leave pretty much as soon as we got our bags dropped off. Cristina continued to settle in, and Bella and I headed back into Milan.

The neighbors were outside having a conversation (most likely about the break-ins, which affected more than just our place) so after we left, Cristina met the neighbors and before you knew it, she was being invited to have dinner with Luca and Adele, and their 13-year old daughter Suzie.

With Bella as my navigator, we made it to Fabrique, a nightclub where Alec Benjamin was performing. It's in an industrial zone, so lots of warehouses around it, but we found a good free parking spot and then found a pizza place to have a little dinner. At one point I asked Bella if she thought I would be the only one at the concert over the age of 40 and she said "hmm, maybe." But once we got inside the venue, there were quite a few older people, so it was fine. We scouted out a good place: at the front but on the side, against some rails that could be leaned on and not blocking anyone else's view with my tall self. I'm not sure that I've ever been to a concert that started on time, but the lights went down and they started taking the stage at exactly 9 pm. Impressive.

He played for about an hour and half (until he had no more songs to play). The crowd was enthusiastic, often singing along loudly to the lyrics. I think he's bigger in Europe than he is in the States. But he and his band sounded polished and he had a good rapport with the audience. It was a great show. Fun fact: he's from Phoenix, Arizona.

After the show, we drove home, exhausted. It was hard to believe it was the same day we had walked around Milan. A very full day. Fun Fact: this day is the midway point of our entire European trip!

The Hellish Inferno that is Parma

2022-07-03T17:55:00.015-04:00

We slept in. One of the best parts of any vacation no matter where you are. The sleep-in. Second best is the lie-in, where you are awake but you stay in bed for a while.

I was awake before the girls, as usual, so after an hour or so lie-in, I got up and took my shower. Then I worked on my blog while the girls got up and ready.

The plan today was to take a train into Parma and explore the city. Flying blind. We had tre cappuccini and pastries at a cafe, and finally figured out, after hearing the server repeat our order back to us correctly, that when we order three cappuccinos, the plural is cappuccini. We'll do it right next time!

The cappuccino is so good here that Cristina, who takes two sugars in her tea at home, is drinking cappuccino in Italy with no sugar. Yep. That good.

We went by OVS again to get me a few more shirts (they're organic cotton and so cheap!) and then dropped everything off at home before heading to the train station, which is literally right next to our apartment. The train to Parma was about 3 euros per person each way. We went ahead and bought the return tickets too.

We boarded our train and headed to Parma, famous for its food and rich gastronomical tradition: two of its specialties are Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, and Prosciutto di Parma (Parma ham), both given Protected Designation of Origin status. We didn't book a tour or anything, so this was catch-as-catch-can.

On the train to Parma

I can't emphasize strongly enough how hot it was today. And sunny. Just unrelenting brutal Italian summer heat. What blows my mind is that Parma is roughly on the same latitude line as Minneapolis. I know it's not fair to just compare latitudes, but I can't imagine Minneapolis being this hot.

First we tried to rent bikes. There's a bike rental place right beside the train station, but like almost everything in Italy, it's closed mid-day, from about noon to 3 pm. And we got to Parma right around noon. Bikes would be a way to see more of the city, and at the very least be a fun way to get around and create some breeze. There were some self-serve bikes you can rent thru an app, so we downloaded the app and tried to register, but all three of us hit walls and couldn't complete registration. After messing with the app for a good 30 minutes, we gave up and resigned ourselves to walking.

As we set off on foot, I'm pretty sure the temp was around 300 degrees Fahrenheit. It was hot, ya'll.

We used signs and Google maps to find something remotely interesting. It looked like nothing was open. The very first episode of the Twilight Zone was called "Where is Everybody?" and it's about an astronaut who finds himself in a town with no people and he can't figure out where everyone is. It was kinda like that.

We crossed a large bridge. The river looked the way this day felt. Dried up, stagnant. Clogged with algae, and barely trickling through, it was not the artery of vitality that rivers tend to be.

We finally made it to a big central park, where we sat on a shady bench, where it was only 250 degrees. I don't even remember what we did on the bench. Drink some water, ponder where everyone was, rethink our life choices...

Actually, there were some people at the park. So we weren't the only ones crazy enough to be outside in that heat. We walked on and found a little cafe in the park. It only served two things: gelato and drinks. As we found a table, I saw a server walk by with a platter full of coffee. I love coffee, but how could someone order hot coffee in this heat? I sweated approximately 10cc more sweat just thinking about drinking hot coffee.

We ordered cold drinks and they brought a bowl of potato chips (patatine fritte?) which was a nice touch. Bella ordered something new and now has a new favorite drink: Hugo spritz. She likes it much better than the Aperol spritz. A Hugo is Prosecco, along with a sprig of fresh peppermint. What gives it a distinct, refreshing flavor is elderflower syrup. Cristina liked it too. It was indeed very refreshing in the heat. I did a little research, and even though some think of a Hugo as a German drink, it was invented in northern Italy...by a German. Apparently they are very popular in Germany and Austria too. By the way, the inventor's name was not Hugo. It was Roland Gruber.

We paid the bill and marched on. We looked at some things in the park. Statues. A little amphitheatre thing that was once used for weddings. A pond that some ducks were boiling in.

Parma graffiti artists are very literate

We left the park and came across a massive building called the Palazzo della Pilotta. It's actually a complex of buildings. Several museums, a theatre, and an art gallery call it home. We didn't want to spend 16 euros per person to go inside, so we mainly used it for some temporary shade. And some selfies.

Next, we came across a church-museum thing: Monastery and Chamber of St. Paul. Today was its free day. So we did it. Old frescoes in an old building. Slightly cooler inside, so it was a nice diversion. Not very big though.

We went into a church/cathedral that was way bigger than the one in Bubbio. Gorgeous in an old-school religious iconography kinda way.

We finally found an area that had more people and a few shops open. We stopped at a place that only seemed to be serving drinks and pastries. Best of all, they had indoor seating and cold air conditioning! Bella got another Hugo. Not only did they bring a bowl of chips with our drinks, they also brought a plate with an assortment of little sandwiches and focaccia. What they call in Costa Rica bocas. We stretched this place out as long as we could because of the AC. It was glorious.

Back on the hunt for things to do on foot in Parma, we checked out a Bialetti store. Bialetti is the original brand (and inventor) of the Moka pot. If I'm going to buy a Moka pot, it would be nice to get an actual Bialetti. But these were super pricy. You're paying for the brand name. Not that important to me. I'll probably either get one on Amazon when I get home or buy a cheap one at a Coop before we leave.

I tried to find a farmer's market so we could buy a bit of authentic Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, but everything was closed. We hit one more church on the way back to the train station. This one was the biggest of all so far. I've never yet been in a church in Italy that is smaller than the previous one I was in. Only getting bigger.

Utterly exhausted from the heat and thirsty, we boarded the train back to Fidenza. We got home and took cool showers and drank lots of water.

None of us really wanted to go back out in the heat and find another restaurant for dinner, so Cristina and I drove to Aldi and got stuff for dinner: Caprese salad fixings, ravioli with pesto, and some other odds and ends, like coffee and pastries for breakfast. A simple dinner at the dining room table was great. And air conditioned.

Onward to Fidenza

2022-07-02T17:00:00.004-04:00

The Bubbio Airbnb had the luxury of a noon check-out, so there was no pressure to pack up the night before. I got up and worked on my blog while the girls slept. Our next place also had a 5 pm check-in time, so even with the noon check-out, we'd have a few hours to kill on our way to Fidenza, near Parma.

Our Bubbio Airbnb

I made breakfast of eggs and toast and avocado. Bella liked the coffee-flavored yogurt from Lidl. Coffee is so inexpensive here, if there's a coffee place nearby (unlike at Corsanico) I'd rather just get coffee out. The Moka pot makes good coffee, but it's never as good as what a true espresso machine makes.

We packed up and just as we were loading the car, the host came by. She was very nice. We chatted a bit.

On our way driving out, we remembered the bakery, so Cristina popped in and bought a bag of those hazelnut nuggets of goodness. They came individually wrapped in wax paper. So quaint.

We parked near the church and looked for a coffee place. It turns out there's a whole pedestrian area on the other side of the church, filled with restaurants and bars and coffee shops and gelaterias! We felt dumb for thinking Frankino was our only nearby option. But we did really enjoy Frankino, so it is what it is.

We got cappuccino.

After coffee, we looked inside the church. It's amazing that even though Bubbio is a very small town, it still has a big, very ornate church.

Properly caffeinated, we hit the road and headed east towards Fidenza, about a 2 hour drive. We stopped at a service plaza and we ate the leftover tuna toss for lunch. We parked in a shaded spot and just ate it in the car with the windows down. Then we went inside and checked it out. Italian rest areas, service plazas, truck stops, whatever you want the call them, don't have the outdoor beauty and comfort that Danish rest areas have. But what they do have is amazing quality and selection of items inside. I guess the easiest comparison would be Wawa, if Wawa also had things like prosciutto and formaggio and Italian wine. There's also a section that has non-grocery items, everything from souvenirs to charging cables to hats and toys. And there's one of these rest areas about every 15-20 km on the motorway! I believe you could literally only eat at truck stops in Italy and still come away with a high opinion of Italian food.

We got to Fidenza about an hour before check-in, paid for parking at a spot in the vicinity of our Airbnb, and then found the place on foot. Since we'd paid for 3 hours of parking, we walked to a nearby shopping district to find some gelato. Instead, we found a clothing store called OVS, which Bella went into and started clothes shopping. Fun Fact: right across from the OVS is a 24-hour vending machine area, where you can get the normal vending machine stuff AS WELL AS HOT FOOD, like kabob. Hot food from a vending machine. Mind blown. And no, I did not try it.

While the girls were shopping, I was communicating with the host, who said she'd send her son to meet us at the parking lot. I told her that the girls were shopping, but we'd be there soon. We finally finished up and go back to the car close to 5. We waited for 10 minutes or so, and Bella decided to walk down to the parking lot nearer the actual apartment, in case that's what they meant. She found the son and texted for us to join them with the car. We parked there and he showed us the apartment. Another very spacious place, this time with AC. We said goodbye to Luca, brought all our stuff in, then moved the car to the free parking area across the train tracks. The parking area is covered by solar panels for shade. I wish every parking lot in the States did that. It makes so much sense. People complain about solar farms because they take up a lot of space. But think about all the stupid giant parking lots that we've covered our cities with. That's the perfect place to put the panels AND they provide shade to the cars. Win-win! While I'm complaining about American parking lots, I'll add that several of the big supermarkets that we've gone to in Europe have underground parking garages. Why is that not a thing more often in the States? Again, it's all about the shade. And not having acres and acres of parking lots would be such a different improved look for America.

We chilled out a bit, literally, and Cristina figured out the washing machine. Then we headed back to the shopping district to find some dinner. We checked out a gelato place called Magritte's and the guy behind the counter (may have been the owner) gave us two recommendations for dinner places. We chose a trattoria near the church called Antica Trattoria il Duomo. We didn't really know what the difference in a trattoria and a restaurant is, but the first thing we noticed is that we were given no menu once seated. The older woman serving us explained the antipasti, the primi and secondi. While she was explaining, Bella laughed at something unrelated and the woman kind of scolded Bella in Italian. That was funny, but since we couldn't understand exactly what she was saying, we didn't take offense or anything. It did lay the foundation that this was Mama's show, and we were happy to just go along for the ride.

So later, I looked it up. A trattoria rooted in tradition may typically provide no printed menu, casual service, and low prices. Food tends to be modest but plentiful, mostly following regional and local recipes, sometimes even served family-style, at common tables.

First, (I'll just call her Mama) Mama brought red wine in a little pitcher and a basket of bread. Then, and I'm not exactly sure why, she brought one of the primi first, which was spinach ricotta ravioli. So incredibly light and tender. Then she brought the second primi, which was beans and pasta in sauce. Delicious. Then the antipasta: a plate of three kinds of meat (salami, prosciutto, and something else) plus a bowl of red and yellow peppers marinated in a sweet olive oil, plus a platter of hot, fried bread, which I think is called gnocco fritto. At this point, everything tasted so good and you start to think, what else is coming? Then came the secondo, the protein. A large chicken meatball (I know it doesn't sound good, but it was delicious) with sauce and roasted carrots. The chicken, I think, is called polpette di pollo. Dabbing up the sauce with the last bits of gnocco fritto... heaven. This may have been the best meal I've had in Italy so far. Certainly the most unexpected.

She offered dessert and coffee, but we had planned to get gelato from the guy who recommended this place, so we declined Mama's offer. Having no menu and not knowing the prices was a little bit of a gamble, but the bill wasn't outrageous. It wasn't exactly the "low prices" that the wikipedia description of a trattoria mentions, but it was similar to what we've paid at most restaurants. But worth every penny.

We went back to Magritte's and got gelato. It was good, but we tried some riskier flavors and they weren't all homeruns. Not sure I'm a fan of avocado gelato.

Finally, we carried our food babies home and put them to bed in the cool comfort of our air conditioned apartment.

Hanging out in Bubbio

2022-07-01T17:30:00.002-04:00

I woke up around 7:30, a little hot. I finally got up and took a shower. Once the girls were up, we went down to get coffee and pastries. I really like being within walking distance to a coffee shop, a little grocery store, a restaurant. Even though we have a car, there's something very homey and comforting about walking to get what you need nearby. Airbnbs that are more remote, like the one we left in Corsanico, have their own charm: needing to stock up while you're in town because you don't want to have to leave once you're back up there. But I think I prefer the closeness of walking.

There's a bakery right next to our house, so we checked it out on our way to breakfast. The girl there gave us samples of one of their specialties: a small soft hazelnut cookie. Delicious. We told her we were right next door and we'd stop in to buy some another time.

We wound up getting coffee from the same restaurant, Frankino, we had dinner at. It was yummy. We got four pastries to share with our cappuccinos.

This kitchen has a sofa in it! Kinda unusual, but kinda cool too.

The only goal today, other than to take it easy and catch up on some blogging, was to drive to a grocery store and cook a meal at home. We drove to a town called Canelli and went to Lidl, a little German budget grocery store chain along the lines of Aldi. We weren't sure what we wanted to make, we just browsed and let the supermarket inspire us. We ended up deciding on Caprese salad for lunch and tuna toss for dinner.

The Lidl had a bunch of "American" foods like hot dogs (in a jar?), peanut butter, and...peanut chips? Still not sure what those are. We didn't buy any of it.

On the way back from Canelli, the views were amazing. We pulled off twice for pics. Once was here, just outside Bubbio:

And the second time was even closer to Bubbio, at a field of sunflowers:

These look photoshopped, but I swear they're not.

Back home we ate Caprese salad and I worked on my blog at the kitchen table. I used my little Bluetooth keyboard and my phone but typed it into a Google doc instead of blogger. Works much better. That way Cristina could use her laptop. She went down rabbit holes looking at things to do in our next towns.

It's easier to blog on Cristina's laptop, but when she's using it, I use this little portable keyboard that connects to my phone

Since our dessert reservation was for 9 pm, we cooked dinner around 7. The tuna toss was great, with a few subtle differences from what I make at home: capers and grana padano cheese instead of parmesan. Also, the pasta was a shape that we don't have at home, kind of a tighter but more delicate corkscrew.

We walked down to Ristorante Frankino and ordered tiramisu, chocolate salami, and a new one to us that I don't remember the name of. It was kind of a layer cake thing made with square cookies. Our server from the previous night came by (she didn't have our table) and brought the book she had mentioned: Mr. Fridge. It was sweet that she remembered and thought to bring it for us to look at. I'll have to see if we can find it back in the States. Looks like it might be a fun read.

We went to the thing where you can fill your water bottles with either still or fizzy water and a lady was there with her dog filling about a dozen bottles. She saw our one bottle and told us we could go ahead and fill it. Then I realized that this wasn't a free one like the ones in Rome. But it was only 5 cents a liter. She just told me to use her water.

Back home we got ready for bed and I blogged a bit more, not sleepy due to the espresso that I had with dessert. We moved the fan closer to the bed and left the windows open. We'll take our chances with the noise.

Drive to Bubbio... "heh heh, he said boobie"

2022-06-30T17:30:00.169-04:00

Slept in, ate breakfast, packed up, out by 10. Clockwork.

Since check out was 10 am and check-in at our next place wasn't until 5pm, we had some time to kill. So we stopped in Genoa for lunch and a walkabout. The drive to Genoa was incredible: mountains, city, the Mediterranean, it had it all. And so many tunnels!

We made our way to the city center and found public parking. A guy immediately approached us and asked for a handout, which was a first for us in Italy.

We got a lay of the land and found a restaurant. The server was very kind and helped us, even though her English was as bad as our Italian. Well, their English is always better than our Italian. But Google translate helps. This restaurant was kind of cafeteria style, limited menu. They had a panini bar (pre-made) and a couple of different hot entrees. You could get what you want at the counter, or you could order at a table. But we had to figure all that out by a combination of observing and asking questions. One of the questions I asked via Google was Is it okay to get cappuccino after 2 pm? She laughed and said of course. Whew! She also confirmed that Bubbio (our next town) is pronounced BOOB-ee-oh, not BUB-ee-oh. I had my Italian yearbook student pronounce all the places for me, but I hadn't listened to that recording in a while. So BOOBIE-oh it is. Heh heh.

We walked around town the first thing we saw was a DM, a big German drugstore chain. Cristina loves it and it's a guarantee that we're going to go in and stock up on things, so I didn't even fight it. After DM, we saw churches, a big fountain, and Christopher Columbus's house. We met a family from New Jersey at Columbus's house. The guy was bemoaning that they charge 9 euros to go in and he scoffed saying how he's not paying that (we agreed). But then his wife came out and said cheerfully that she had purchased the tickets. Ha! We were fine with not seeing the inside. Later, they said there wasn't much to the inside, but bigger than it looked on the outside. It did look quite small.

Cloister next to Columbus's house

We found some gelato (strangely, ran into the New Jersey family again) and Cristina swapped contact info (they thought maybe the universe was putting us together and we needed to swap info). We walked back a different way past a bunch of high end stores. Back at the parking area, we posed at the victory arch built to commemorate something. A victory, I'm guessing.

The drive to Bubbio continued. We arrived, got settled. The place is huge. Like the place at Corsanico, we could easily have had 10 people here. And if this was Costa Rica, we could have fit 10 more in the basement, because it was huge and mostly empty. Plenty of grilling supplies (which we didn't use). Bella and I played a game of foosball before we headed to dinner. She won.

Getting settled in our new place

We had dinner at Frankino a short walk away, and once again had a very nice server who spoke a little English and felt bad that she couldn't speak more. (It's really okay! It's our fault. We should know more Italian.) When she heard that we had been in Ireland, she got very excited because she had a book about a guy who lost a bet and carried a fridge around Ireland, hitchhiking with it. We were too full for dessert, so we decided that we'd cook at home tomorrow and come here again just for dessert, because the dessert menu looked great. The server made a reservation for us (because Friday night would be busier) and she said she'd bring the fridge-guy book.

Bedtime was a little hot. We had a fan in each room, but the house was right beside a fairly busy road, so I shut the windows for quiet. Even with the fan, it was a bit too hot to get a great night's sleep.