Hotel ai Tigli Parma

... I was welcomed with openned arms. I was kindly taken care of for three days and it was (for the most part) devine!<br><br>I took the train in Parma, which is short jaunt away from Casalmaggoire where Greg lives and teaches statistics. He arrived at the station oh about 25 minutes late, but again with my almighty need for a cell phone (it saves the day many times!) we coordinated over our brain waves and all was well. I have noticed that the art ...

Day 2: Modena<br><br>This turned out to be a very long day. Thanks to the time (Local time is nine hours earlier than PST) change, we awoke at 0300. We both read our books until it was time for breakfast.<br><br>Breakfast was included at the hotel and was buffet style. I ate some granola with cream, yogurt, and a delicious scone with fruit in it and some fabulous coffee.<br><br>We walked around Milano for about an ...

... All tasty and the parmiggano was the best we had ever tried. We finished up and headed for the station, we were done doing what we came here for. We stopped off in Modena on the way home. Modena is the home of Maseratti, Ferarri and Ducatti motorbikes and is also the place that most of the balsamic vinegar in the world comes from. They had a church, it was fancy. They didn't let us take any pictures.<br>

... then they actually take your cameras away from you before the tour begins... wow.)<br><br>The F1 engine tech's are busy assembling motors from plans that are covered up by workers once we, the tifosi, get to close. The F1 Body shop has 3 new stalls. These are the spots that the cars are race prepped, and repaired once the current race is run. One Stall for Alonso, one for Fisichella, and yes one for Massa ...

We started the morning with a visit to Conad (their local grocery store) we bought some French bread, cheese and prosciutto for our lunch. We then drove the back roads to neighboring Moglia, nuvi Modena, then Carpi where we stopped and walked around and saw the largest Piazza de Martiri which has a 16C renaissance cathedral overlooking it. We have found that it is rather easy to find the town center in these ...

... which is subsequently aged for a minimum of 12 years in a battery of seven barrels of successively smaller sizes."  As the castes became smaller and smaller the acidity became stronger and stronger. By the time we finished my eyes really stung but it was quickly forgotten when we sat down to try the different aged balsamic-- small spoonfuls at a time. Can't tell how happy I was that we spent the extra ...

... Music, Museum of Natural History, Chees Musuem, Birthplace of Arturo Toscanini, and the Palazzo Ducale. Opera is a big production in Parma with Teatro Regio as the main venue. Gershwin's "Porgy and Bess" is playing here - sung in English with Italian subtitles. The Opera House is a 5 tier affair, one of Italy's finest performance settings, with standing room only crowds and a highbrow culture equal to Milan's. If anyone might overlook ...

... to the park near the house while Stefano worked out. As I was walking through the park, I spotted this beautiful german shephard. Having talked with my dog, Romeo, on the phone earlier in the day, I was in desparate need of some dog companionship so I went up to the elder couple to whom she belonged and asked if I could play with her. The women's name was Mariella and she was a pharmacist, and the dog's name was Brenda. We talked for a little while, her first question being why Parma...

... or your favourite road car models and you&#8217;ll find them here. But despite how impressive it all was, I think Hoges and I had just seen a wider range of museum piece Ferraris on the factory floor. Ferrari seem to have saved the best vehicles for the pleasure and motivation of their employees going about their day-to-day work, and I liked that methodology a lot. <br> <br>With the primary goal of our trip completed, we set out to spend the rest of the ...

June 10, 2002<br><br>Back on the bus! This time to Italy!! We went to Pisa (and had pizza for lunch!) We saw the tower, of course, and the church. Got to shop in the souvenir shops and sit for awhile in the sun. Very peaceful day. I can tell I'm getting tired, because the travel journal entries are shorter and shorter!<br> <br><br><br><br>We were in ...