Parma, Cremona and Mantova

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Well the adventure is officially begun. I had a hilarious three days with the people from IES on our food tour. The weather was (is) kind of gross, and I pretty much packed for Greece, so now I'm enjoying the nice every-layer-is-wet feeling.

After sleeping for two hours the night before (I went for aperitivi with a guy from Amsterdam and didn't end up back home till one-thirty) I dragged myself to the farthest metro stop from town to meet the group. We stopped in Cremona on our way to our hotel in Parma and listened to a violin maker talk what goes in to a really good violin. On to Parma, and then dinner. This dinner was quite easily the most food I have ever consumed, which will be more or less shocking depending on how well you know me. Anyway, it was the works: these sopapilla type things (torta fritta) with salame, primi piatti (ravioli stuffed with pumpkin, risotto) stacotto (meat roasted in red wine) and roasted rosmary garlic potatoes, and tiramisu. Oh yeah and about two liters of frizzante rosso wine, which is a little weird, but it obviously grows on you. I think eating massive amounts of food with lots of really good friends is probably the best feeling in the world - it reminded me of all the crazy dinner parties we had in AK.

The next day, we went to Mantova after tours of the Toscanini museum and the Teatri Farnese and Reale in Parma. I was pointed out as one of the singers in the group, and a mezzo at that, and promptly became the center of attention. My italian is still not all that great, but I caught that apparently they are always looking for good mezzos, as there is usually a surfeit of sopranos around. I was told to study hard and come back, and happily agreed.

Honestly I'm so brain dead right now I can't remember anything in Mantova except the market where I bought some honey and tasted a lot of cheese...Oh yeah we went to one of the few theatres in this part of the country that is not modeled after La Scala- it was beautiful. And after giving us her spiel, the tour guide sat down with this guy and sang some jazz for us.

We left Mantova for an agriturismo where I yet again ate a ridiculous amount of food, and then headed back to Parma.

Today was by far the most fun, involving a cheese factory, a winery and a train trip to Florence, but I will have to write about it tomorrow when I've had some sleep and some coffee and can again write in a way thats halfway interesting to read. Pictures whenever I can find a computer that will let me plug in my camera...Buona notte tutti e arrivederci!

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Photos

Parmigiano Reggiano
Oh all the cheese...

At Castell'Arquato
At the top of the hill.

Heidi and Nick
At the parmigiano reggiano factory.

Teatro Mantova
Used to be a gallery for med students. Dissections on the stage.