Blogs from Cremona, Lombardy, Italy, Europe

After extricating ourselves from the camperstop at Mantova we hit the road. The morning bade fair for a change. We filled up with diesel and headed for Cremona. Not a destination we had put on our list of places to visit it had sort of crept upon us. We had never been before and there was a good deal to see there. The road between Mantova and Cremona was beautiful . The trees were covered in white. Large plates of the heads of the elderberry flowers. Hawthorns covered as if with confetti and the white pendulous flowers of the Laburnam. This went on mile after mile after mile. Until all of a sudden the fields turned blood red. Field after field full of bright red wild poppies waving in the wind. They lined the road as ... read more

Thursday, 20 December So apparently the world is supposed to end tomorrow according to Mayan time, but I have decided as there are weather forecasts for after tomorrow. Therefore I have concluded that the Mayans are wrong! In my family in South Africa we have a tradition that every year at Christmas time we bake what we call Soet Koekies which are cookies that have spices in them that go fantastically with tea or coffee or even milk. So I baked them a few days ago for my host family and they went down with a bang!! So today I baked a double batch! I think i must have made about 100 cookies! So we are giving them to their grandparents and friends and other famuly members as i christmas present from me!! My plans ... read more

Thursday 6 December Italian food, though it is really delicious, is packed with carbs. They eat Nutella and wraps or biscuits or croissants for breakfast, maybe pasta for lunch or a savoury wrap or a sandwich and then pasta or pizza or quiche or some other form of food for dinner. So you are eating pasta for at leats 1 meal a day. Unfortunately my South African bady is used to having pasta only about once or twice a week for one meal so we eat way less carbs. As a result of eating as the italians do i have put on al little weight so I decided I am going to start running! God help me! My friends in SA will probably read this and laugh as I do not even do running in SA ... read more

Finally... The long awaited blog about my trip to Cremona, Italy. My flight from Johannesburg to Italy on Lufthansa Airline will be an experience I will never forget!! It was a 22 hour flight which was really long and I still haven't quite recovered from the long journey. This flight was my first international flight ever, so it was a completely new experience for me. I made a complete idiot of myself when I asked the guy sitting next to me (ironically he was Italian) whether or not we had to pay for the dinner and breakfast, where the menu was that we could choose from and if we had to pay for any other in flight services that might be on offer. He thought this was very amusing and told me that you do not ... read more

Italian is the language of romance. Like Spanish, French, and Portuguese, the language is a derivative of Latin. Latin was once the primary language in Europe in which the Romans ruled. When Romans came, saw and conquered, all new aquired countries started to mix Latin into their own languages. Which them created the languages we know today. In Italy, the italian language varies in different parts of Italy. from vaious accents, to different pronounciation, to different grammer. Depsite the various differences in the language you will find that all Italians can understand the different versions of the language. Now I thought about giving you the usual Italian words and phrases that you find in tourist books and on the interenet, but these are too easily accessible. So I decided to give you the phrases and words ... read more