Ora Hotels City Parma

... on something else, Anything else to make the pounding go away.<br><br>When we left the train station, due to the rain, Greg and his friends decided we were going to the mall to see some of Parmas finests offerings. I could do without the mall as I have no space to put anything that I may buy (sorry everyone, no sovenirs from this trip =) We peruse some stores, as these men trail off into different shops looking at price tags and admiring the sales ...

... was covered with them, and I didn't know where to point my eyes to next. I walked around with my head cranked all the way back, partially to get a glimpse of everything and partially so the tears wouldn't spill out of my eyes. I felt so in awe, how could people have done this, so long ago?? It blew my mind. It was spiritual, the feeling I had is something I can't describe, even to myself, but it was...unique. I felt like exploding with ...

... reggiano. I found a brochure for a place that was too far for us to reach unless we had a car so I asked if there was anything closer to town or in the town itself. We were sent a block and a half over to this place that would have been impossible to find. We walked in and there was no one around. Then we heard footsteps coming down the stairs and the guy who ran the place appeared. I asked him if now ...

... 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

... us to FRESH Parmesan cheese which is drizzled with balsamic (we will definitely be sharing this with family and friends once we get home!) After dinner we went for a walk with Lorelei and Arthur through town for a brief overview of Reggiolio when we got back to the apartment we finished the evening with some gelato (chocolate/pistachio/vanilla).<br>

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.<br><br>The city is reknowned for parmesan cheese and Parma ham, or as we call it, prosciutto.<br><br>If you like quaint churches and little shops, this place is great to visit!<br>

... top quality pastas. Parma hams hang inside elegant cafes, and there are even "Prosciutto Bars" where one can select a particular ham for a sandwich. Since I don't eat the stuff, it remains for me a cultural phenomenon rather than a lived experience. However, our visits to Parma are a lot about eating as our hosts love to cook, and much of the time there I spend in the kitchen watching as if I were in a cooking school. Parma is also where dear friends ...

... to florence so camped in a carpark. Next day was florence then Pisa where we stopped for the obligatory cheesy leaning tower photos. Quite a cool place actually, we had been warned that it was far worse - streams of tourists and pickpockets but it was quite relaxing. Stayed at another services (they are so handy when free camping n Italy can be a bit of a mission) on the way to Cinque Terre, five little fishing villages that are quite famous for being very picturesque, you ...

... helpful, pulls out a pad of paper and writes down 15, 20, 25 and asks her to point to the number of the price. But this infuriated her for some reason, and she turned and screamed at the other Asian lady also working. So, all these people are staring at us and the screaming Asian lady, and we have NO idea what she is saying. Then, she calls out this boy, who is maybe 12, and for no reason, starts screaming at him. Bridget and I backed out slowly, all our Italian ...

... for dinner. It&#8217;s a beautiful spa town and smells good! I took a long walk through the park and had a Gran Marnier on the patio. Peggy had Amaretto which pleased the bartender/host. He didn&#8217;t like my ordering a French liqueur! The hotel was one of the nicest on our tour. <br><br>We left our window open and it was actually cold when we got up!