Hotel Parma & Congressi

... a good time for a degustazione and he whisked us upstairs into a hybrid dining room and temporary art gallery. Sat us down and asked us if we want some wine. We did so he brought out something local. It was a sparkling red, something niether of us had tried before and it was nice. So far so good. Then the meat and cheese came out. Five different varieties of pork products. Some lean some really ...

... and did a little shopping. On our way out of Parma we stopped at an Ikea yippee! (Where I accidentally set off an alarm by going out of the wrong door). We spent the evening at the apartment and said goodbye to Lorelei and Arthur. As a side note not sure if I mentioned this earlier you might want to ask David how the womens restrooms are in Verona and Parma haha

We left Indy on time and made our connection in Detroit with just a few minutes to spare. Once on the plane in Detroit we were ready to taxi down the runway when an announcement came on looking for a doctor on board. We then got word that we were going back to the terminal where paramedics would be boarding the plane. Once we were at the terminal the ...

... just thought that the town was full of history and great interest...I do not wish to taint other's opinions should they consider coming to Parma in the near future!!


My original entry------No fun, Parma dud. Town all closed. Only Restaruant open, was a dud.

Do no visit Parma....We thought parma ham would be draping the town and would be on plates everwhere...

Anyway, those of you planning a trip, give this a skip...

... units and stainless steel tables. 

  We learned that the batches of pork they were butchering today were not allowed to be called Prosciutto di Parma because the hams were imported from Germany, but were being processed in the same style.  

 We moved to another room where men were cleaning up hams that had aged for a few months. With their hand protected with a form of mail they wheeled ...

... took about 15 minutes or so and the curds were ready to be lifted from the container and shaped into the large familiar round wheels of cheese. The men lifted the cheese into the forms and then wrapped them with the   familiar words ParmigianoReggiano.   

We were then taken to a second building where we saw salt baths and were given an opportunity to taste different aged cheese ...

For a nice little day trip, Zoe and I decided to go to one of the main cities in Emilia-Romagna (the province where our father hails from): Parma.

The city is reknowned for parmesan cheese and Parma ham, or as we call it, prosciutto.

If you like quaint churches and little shops, this place is great to visit!

... be no main course as the risotto was so rich and decadent that none of us could handle another dish. (Photos of cheese were found on the internet, I didn't have my camera with me.) This weekend turned out to be more than our annual foodfest in Italy. On Sunday evening we received a call from Seth and Rachel announcing their engagement. Seth, who had been planning the moment for months, asked her in the courtyard of the Louvre, and filmed the moment to ...

... but I did not love their wines - oh well, plenty more to come. That evening we went to an award winning restaurant and had about 6 courses of various fish dishes. Quite interesting, a modern style restaurant. Yesterday we went to see the Parmigiana Reggiana being made. A real highlight for me. Besides seeing the process we learned a lot about about Parmigiana cheese including that it is a perfect food once ...

I have a lot of entries to fill in from the last few days, but the internet place is closing in 15 minutes and I wanted to get in a quick message, especially to those who I have been frantically calling today. Last night, after a gorgeous day at the 'seaside', the five of us girls all went out to dinner. Instead of salad, I splurged on the scallops, which as you all know, are my absolute favorite. But the end of the meal, I had a few "bug bites ...