Heading to Venice

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.