Parmesan and Prosciutto in Parma

UPDATE: Since I posted the Florence blog before we actually left, I have some updates! We ran into some interesting things on our last day literally right from the moment we left our hostel. There was a group of Italian guys standing around 2 seconds down the road in some very colourful outfits – including tights and hats with huge feathers. Clearly we had no idea what was going on and never actually found out what it was for in the end, but we hung around to see what would happen. There was a group of them with flags, a group with drums and a few that were really intense that looked like professors in the academia walks for graduations. After waiting for a while and snapping some pictures, they started a drum cadence and lined up – assumedly for a parade-type deal, in which we followed. We followed them to a big plaza where there were like 6 more groups of the same combination of people but differently coloured outfits. At this point we were thoroughly confused, but we figured it was just a big parade. We watched them all march by – there were some bands, horses, men with old weapons and a decorated cow. Yes, a cow. After we left to go find gelato, we saw a big stadium where they all ended up, so something more than just the parade was going on…but you needed a ticket so we never found out. Owell.


Drummers!


Sick outfits and the most random thing to run into.

Also, that night after we went back to the room to rest a little, we decided to go back to the Ponte Vecchio to hang out. On our way there we ran into a marathon, for which we cheered…the entire time. 1) There are some very enthusiastic Italians, and 2) There are some not so very enthusiastic Italians. First, we were the only ones consistently cheering, especially when it got to the last few people in the marathon. So I’m not surprised that some people probably got annoyed with us, but if I were to run a marathon I would undoubtedly be at the back and would for damn sure want someone to cheer if I were still alive at that point. Second, since there is no physical way that I could run even 10 minutes…I give major props to anyone who runs a marathon – hence the cheering. So basically our overall experience is that everyone in the marathon appreciated our cheering, a lot - some WAY more than others (we got a lot of high fives, blown kisses and billowing shouts of success) and a few bystanders (including the police) did not appreciate it. However, the few that did not appreciate it and made it known either assumed we were Italian or that we looked like we could speak Italian fluently. Clearly we had no idea what they were saying, but the invention of people talking with their hands led us to understand. One kid put his fingers in his ears, but was more joking about it and the guard basically told us that if we were going to cheer to move down the street because she couldn’t hear her radio. It was fun and we made people feel good, all that matters right?


Runner in the race, didn't want to blind them with flash and I thought this came out cool anyway!

Now for Parma. We successfully made it and met up with Holly’s friend, Magda, outside the train station. She has the cutest apartment here (so jealous) and she has it all to herself. She took us around Parma, we got some gelato (surprise) and sat in a park for a bit – the weather was awesome, not that it’s been bad but it is a little cooler than Florence here. We came back to the apartment to do a load of laundry and make soup – one was successful, one was not. As a hint, Magda was apparently unsuccessful first attempt with the soup but brilliantly carried out the second attempt. Previous attempts with the laundry on her part were successful…this one was not, for the most part. The clothes are clean but the washer has seen better days. For some reason the water wasn’t draining from the washer, despite several attempts, so the clothes were just sitting in the water that had already washed the clothes twice. I thought we had decided to let them sit there in hopes that the water would drain, but the next thing I knew there was the sound of a whole lot of water pouring from somewhere. Holly and I were in the living room and Kelly was in the bathroom so I had assumed it was the toilet, but then I heard Kayla say something along the lines of “Oh dear”. I realized what it was and ran out to the kitchen to Magda holding the washer door and Kayla throwing towels on the floor. Apparently Magda decided to turn off the power and force the door open. It was quite the laundry experience. We had to mop up the floor with towels, empty the remaining water into a pot and dump it and wring out all the clothes and put them up to dry. So funny.


Entrance to a park....a park...


Cathedral - so pretty!




The organ!

Later that night we went to go get a platter of parmesan and prosciutto – both of which originated from Parma. SO GOOD. However, clearly this day was full of struggles because we had some language barrier issues with the bill at the end. It came out to be 43 euro when it should have been 25. We eventually sorted it out but it was a 15 minute ordeal that Magda handled like a champ with her Italian speaking. So it’s all good. We made dinner for Magda on our last night to repay her for letting us stay here/the food we had our first day. I’m really glad we came here – it was a really good way to get out of the touristy cities for a couple days. :)




Cool Buildings

In other news, for some reason I can’t get through a day without having some sort of body issue, it’s been my feet recently. Generally they have just been hurting a lot with all the walking, but now I have blisters of the front pads of my feet – right in the middle below my toes. Like what – who gets blisters there? We have no idea what to do about them and they are literally right where I walk. Oye.

Fun Fact: Everyone goes out on Sunday nights, like EVERYONE. Apparently people leave the ‘city’ during the day (generally just Sundays because everything shuts down) then come back and swarm the streets.