Parma was the second day I had to organize. I wasn't worried too much about today because I used a local tour company. Well, I should have worried a little bit.
We hustled and everyone was outside at 7am sharp and Giovanni was a few minutes late. This after he pushed us to make sure we were on time (eye roll).
The train station was pretty chaotic and we were early enough to get a coffee for the trip.
We had one connection in Bologne and agreed to meet on the platform to go over together. They are all high speed trains, topping out at about 300km.
You already know what happened. We got off the train and half of us went off somewhere else. Luckily Kimberlee and I were together, so I sent her upstairs and she found the rest of the group who were on their way to the connection. Solita and I went over and made it in time for the next train. The Hoffmans hadn't been on a European train and decided to just go.
We arrived at Parma and found our tour operator. I thought Michele was a lady's name, but it was a man, so I just missed him. Anyway, we connected and then half of us decided we needed a bathroom, so just walked off. We finally all came back together and then there was a mess up that the car didn't have enough room for the guide. Finally we get that worked out and head out to the dairy.
The dairy was CASEIFICIO "LA TRAVERSETOLESE" and was an interesting experience, despite having been to one yesterday. This was a smaller dairy, less commercial, felt more "authentic" and was a very interactive experience.
Because we were not behind windows, we had to put on protective clothing that made us look like smurfs.
We enjoyed the tasting at the end. This time it was a more leisurely experience.
Lunch was at La Cucina del Maestro, a small local restaurant. The food was ok. I was a bit ill after eating the spinach - it didn't taste very fresh and might have been frozen.
After lunch we went on a Parma city tour which was too hot and our guide had a mental break half way through her explanation of the church frescos.
One point of interest was at the beginning when we were shown a mark (skull and cross bones) put in a building corner to mark showing where de-lousing took place before people could enter the city.
We started through to the main square. There were some interesting sun dials on the side of a building.
From there we walked over to another plaza that was bombed by the allies in WW2 as they were trying to hit the train station in order to disrupt the Fascist logistics.
It was actually ok with me because I was so bored I was falling asleep and wanted to move and look on my own.
Other than that, I did enjoy when I was finally able to look through the Duomo church.
I was so glad to get on the return train which ran late.
The big excitement was when I spilled water all over myself - actually a good thing because I was SO HOT.
We made our train connection and came back into some meyhem in Florence where there was a water main break, flooding the entire station. We couldn't get to the agreed upon meeting place with Giovanni and everyone decided to go in different directions when I couldn't seem to contact him - cats are difficult to herd
Than goodness this was the last night in the heat and no breeze to break it up.
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