thoughts, food and drink, Sunday lunches

Week 3 - still in Reggio Emilia (Emilia Romagna area)
as mentioned in previous e-mail, Sunday lunches are definitely an out of town business. We went to Canossa, a village with a castle up in the mountains, and had a truly authentic Italian experience. No foreign turists there, so the place looked good and I asked to reserve a table. 3 generation families started arriving , the noise got louder and we had the best food ever (the tortelli de pumpkin was amazing). Fab day all round. Day before we went to Modena and that was also very nice. Sorry to go on about food, but it makes such a change from our experience in France. Maybe we are just Italian food addicts.

Interesting thing here is that when you go out for a drink in the evening, all bars set up a canapes buffet, where you help yourself to whatever you want and as many times as you want for free. The drinks do cost 10 euros for 2, but all together, it is still a cheap evening meal, if you are on a budget or just too full already. And the quality in general is pretty good too. You just need to do a reckoning before ordering.

Weather is brill and like England the days are light until very late in the evening.

What a life....

Ah, Bologna.....Food, walks, shops

Well, we are almost at the end of week 3 in Italy and yesterday we spent the day at Bologna, an hour's from Reggio Emilia on the train. Train was an adventure in itself. Having felt really chuffed in paying 5 euros for the trip, we were then less than chuffed 1/2 an hour later, when the conductor told us we would have to pay another 28 euros because we got on the Euro Star..... Didn't make for a good start to the trip. Once we got there however and had a first glimpse of the city, all was forgotten...

Gorgeous place, has 38 kms of covered archways round the town, including the 2 miles covered archway all the way up the hill to the Monastery of S. Lucca. Knackering, but wonderful. Made me feel less guilty about the two course meal and wine at lunch time..

We also climbed 400+ steps of one of the Due Torri towers which provided a fab 360 view of the city and gave us a better idea of its geography. Photos on facebook.

The market is wonderful too, colourful and first class ingredients. I've died and gone to heaven.

Ah, found something very interesting regarding food and drink here. You go for an aperitiv pre dinner in any bar or cafe and a buffet is laid out with finger food for you to help yourself to as much as you want and as many times as you want. Drinks work at around 10 euros for 2, but, it makes for a cheap evening meal though.... and, the food in general is lovely. Had the best spinach pie ever. Wouldn't do for heavy drinkers though, far too expensive....

Another year, another adventure....

Was in two minds as to whether to do a blog or not, but am missing a place to write down my thoughts. A travel journal is not quite my thing.. Maybe I need an audience... Just wish this blog could take photos, but hey, everybody has seen Italy and photos are available on my facebook.

We are in our third week of our 4 1/2 months round North Italy. Even the Italians are surprised at the length of our trip.

We were in Liguria for the first 2 weeks, near La Spezia and the beautiful Cinque Terre national park. Had a really good time and property was lovely, albeit still not given me the evening sitting on a square sipping wine vision...

We are now in Emilia Romagna after crossing the Apennines, more specifically in Reggio Emilia. Very flat round here and less places of interest to visit, although reason for choosing it it is because is on the main line to Parma, Milan, Bologna, which we will be visiting in the next 2 weeks. We are here for 3...

Views on the trip so far:
. accommodation ate a big chunk of our budget. Definitely more expensive than France.
. Eating out is cheaper than England, but there is less of the menu turistique that we enjoyed in France and, definitely more temptations too.
. this means more staying at home, (every other day), which does not please yours truly. I want it all... Thank goodness there is internet here.
. Town is nice and have a lovely laid back feel to it, but we are some 20 minutes, on foot, away from the centre. Not bad, but am still too lazy to go out every evening - or my husband is..... and the costs mount too.
. Have already had some memorable meals....
. Italian women are definitely very elegant and slim.... SODs, which just make me feel fatter and gorge even more on pasta with cream sauces.
. there are less places of interest to visit, so cheaper in a sense with no entry fees. More of a laze around small villages and soak the atmosphere.
. contrary to what I thought, eating out in towns on a Sunday is a no, no. Only a few places open and for the turists around (if a turisty sort of place). No shops open either, probably better heading for the mountains. Will try this weekend.
. ah, house here, great too. In general we could have stayed in more happening places, but cost made it prohibitive. It was more important for me to be in Italy...