When things don't seen normal, ask.
The boards for the 7.55 train to Parma were dark this morning. I asked a group of four men, two police and two capostazioni for information. One policeman answered: 'The train stays. Follow me. The bus.'
I followed the officer and he took me to back the station entrance. He pointed to buses, lined up on the other side of the piazza. 'Per Parma,' I said to confirm. 'Si' he answered. Grazie mille.
There was a large crowd at the bus stop but no one was boarding. Four or five busses were lined at the curb. There seemed to be two different groups, clustered together. Students, carrying backpacks and people with luggage by their sides. I asked for the Parma bus and then stood with the baggaged crowd.
8.25. A man just got off at a bus stop. We are on the road leaving Brescia. When ones leaves a town, there is normally signage with the town's name, with a large red slash through it.
I see signs for Grana Padano, this region's specialty cheese.
We've taken the Parma turnoff. A pause for another train station. No one takes the opportunity to get off. So this is why we are on these country roads. We're stopping at each normal train stop on the way to Parma.
I love reading the roadside signs:
Motel Cuore
Taverno di sapori
Signora Pollo (Mrs Chicken)
Cascione marchesi
Distance sign: Fidenza 7k 8.44
Passing over train yard and switches and a maze of tracks. A little roadside chapel for the Madonna.
We're on the autostrada now: Parma 23k
~~.~~
The driver just asked. 'You're all headed toward Parma, right? Va bene!'
9.30 Parma
9.42. I've missed the 8.58 connection to Bologna. There's a temporary staton at here at Parma. The paper schedule board showed me I had 10 minutes to get up and down the stairs to Binario 5 for the next train to Bologna. Going down is fairly easy. Going up I had help from a nice teenager.
The train announcer has stated we arrive in Bologna at 11.08. I'll check the boards for the next train to Firenze. No worries at all. I have a new cook book to read, my iPhone and water.
I'm on the Italotreno, Binario 7, the train traveling from Venezia to Roma. It stops at SMN thank goodness. This is the only train I could find for several hours going to Firenze.
While walking back to the hotel I stopped to buy a big cheap bag for 20€. It will be for one time use only. It's basically a cardboard box with fabric on the outside. It will be sufficient to transport my extra 50 pounds of books and groceries.
I raced into the hotel with barely time to speak to Alessio and Assumi. I ate leftover pizza I had brought from Cremona. A quick wash up and clothes change and walk the 10 minute shortcut back to SMN.
14.56
SMN. Waiting for the 15.09 train to Arezzo via Roma. Cost 5.20 € each way. I bought a return ticket at the same time. Two different girls hovered near me today as I tried to buy tickets. They are not gypsies, but rather Albanians, according to author Tim Parks. I broke down and bought his newest book! It's full of great observations.
Afterwards, with time to spare, I walked around McDonalds, located in the station, to look at the menu. Not to buy, just curious. They sell an interesting combination of American food, with an Italian flair. One can get a sundae with Perugina Baci pieces on top.
3.35
I've turned on my iPhone to message Sara in Arezzo. With ATT one can buy roaming European data time. I bought $30 worth. There is no refund for unused data, so I may as well use it.
There is 'Viaggiare informati' (travelers' information posted here in the car. Looks like I can apply online for a refund of this morning's late train.
25% for lateness 60-119 minutes
50% for over 119 minutes.
4.40 and we're on our way. My stop is the second after SMN. I needed to text Sara again. For some reason we sat in the station for 10 minutes, with apologies given over the PA system.
This is the slow train to Rome. If one really was going there, probably this would not be the train for you. It stops often all the way down to Rome.
~~.~~
~~.~~
We have all departed from the piazza. Seems like others needed confirmation also. The driver was asked over and over 'Per Parma?' This bus substitution is not a normal occurrence.
Distance sign: Fidenza 30 k
Distance sign: Fidenza 30 k
Traveling down country roads, with the sun rising to our left, we've made one stop at a tiny station and one girl left the bus. The driver opened the luggage hold for her.
8.25. A man just got off at a bus stop. We are on the road leaving Brescia. When ones leaves a town, there is normally signage with the town's name, with a large red slash through it.
I see signs for Grana Padano, this region's specialty cheese.
From Wiki:
Grana Padano is one of the world's first hard cheeses, created nearly 900 years ago by theCistercian monks of Chiaravalle Abbey, founded in 1135 near Milan, who used ripened cheese as a way of preserving surplus milk. By the year 1477, it was regarded as one of the most famous cheeses of Italy. It can last a long time without spoiling, sometimes aging up to two years. It is made in a similar way to the Parmigiano Reggiano of Emilia-Romagna but over a much wider area and with different regulations and controls. Other grana cheeses are also made in Lombardy,Piedmont, Trentino, and Veneto.[citation needed]
Distance sign: Fidenza 26
Welcome to Busetto, where Giuseepe Verdi was born!
Welcome to Busetto, where Giuseepe Verdi was born!
We've taken the Parma turnoff. A pause for another train station. No one takes the opportunity to get off. So this is why we are on these country roads. We're stopping at each normal train stop on the way to Parma.
I love reading the roadside signs:
Motel Cuore
Taverno di sapori
Signora Pollo (Mrs Chicken)
Cascione marchesi
Which reminds me of a conversation I had with Rosa and Mattia yesterday. I asked them if they hear 'Mrs Chicken' when a woman's name is 'Signora Pollo.' Oh yes!
So this holds true for many Italian surnames which are based on object names? Rosa replied with an example from her elementary school days, when children do take things so literally.
Suffixes or endings, can be placed at the end of Italian words. If your name is Topo it translates to Mouse, while Topolino goes to Little Mouse. Young children exploit these name differences!
It does tend to detract from the romanticism of Italian names, when one can understand the language!
Here is a great explanation of creating Diminiutuves, Augmentatives, Terms of Endearmemt and Pejoratives.
~~.~~
Distance sign: Fidenza 7k 8.44
Passing over train yard and switches and a maze of tracks. A little roadside chapel for the Madonna.
We're on the autostrada now: Parma 23k
~~.~~
8.54 at the Fidenza Stazione and we've changed buses. I did catch the driver saying we all needed to scendere (get off).
For half of us, Fidenza was the destination and they've walked off to continue their normal daily routine. The rest of us are transferring our own bags to a new bus.
The driver just asked. 'You're all headed toward Parma, right? Va bene!'
This trip might have been a little stressful if I didn't understand the language. Better not tell my mother about this adventure I am enjoying so much. She would only worry.
9.30 Parma
9.42. I've missed the 8.58 connection to Bologna. There's a temporary staton at here at Parma. The paper schedule board showed me I had 10 minutes to get up and down the stairs to Binario 5 for the next train to Bologna. Going down is fairly easy. Going up I had help from a nice teenager.
I'm heading in the right direction!
The train announcer has stated we arrive in Bologna at 11.08. I'll check the boards for the next train to Firenze. No worries at all. I have a new cook book to read, my iPhone and water.
I'm on the Italotreno, Binario 7, the train traveling from Venezia to Roma. It stops at SMN thank goodness. This is the only train I could find for several hours going to Firenze.
I need to check. Is it ok to use another train's ticket on this line? No capotreno checked my ticket.
While walking back to the hotel I stopped to buy a big cheap bag for 20€. It will be for one time use only. It's basically a cardboard box with fabric on the outside. It will be sufficient to transport my extra 50 pounds of books and groceries.
I raced into the hotel with barely time to speak to Alessio and Assumi. I ate leftover pizza I had brought from Cremona. A quick wash up and clothes change and walk the 10 minute shortcut back to SMN.
They've started putting up Christmas decorations this weekend!
14.56
SMN. Waiting for the 15.09 train to Arezzo via Roma. Cost 5.20 € each way. I bought a return ticket at the same time. Two different girls hovered near me today as I tried to buy tickets. They are not gypsies, but rather Albanians, according to author Tim Parks. I broke down and bought his newest book! It's full of great observations.
In between, the Albanian girls, the normal pleading beggar man has made an approach. He gets way too close. He asked me if I spoke Italian.
Afterwards, with time to spare, I walked around McDonalds, located in the station, to look at the menu. Not to buy, just curious. They sell an interesting combination of American food, with an Italian flair. One can get a sundae with Perugina Baci pieces on top.
3.35
I've turned on my iPhone to message Sara in Arezzo. With ATT one can buy roaming European data time. I bought $30 worth. There is no refund for unused data, so I may as well use it.
There is 'Viaggiare informati' (travelers' information posted here in the car. Looks like I can apply online for a refund of this morning's late train.
25% for lateness 60-119 minutes
50% for over 119 minutes.
4.40 and we're on our way. My stop is the second after SMN. I needed to text Sara again. For some reason we sat in the station for 10 minutes, with apologies given over the PA system.
This is the slow train to Rome. If one really was going there, probably this would not be the train for you. It stops often all the way down to Rome.
~~.~~
Figline stop! Time to look for Sara!! She's meeting me here and driving me to The Mall, were all the fashion houses have their discount stores.
It is so much fun to go window shopping here, and a thousand times better with a friend. Our friend Laura was unable to come at the last minute. Her grandfather caught a chill and she needs to stay at home with him.
So Sara and I spent the whole afternoon, speaking English and touching everything in all the stores. Sara is an excellent bargain hunter. She's interned at Ferragamo and has a flair for dressing.
Our last stop was Gucci, my favorite brand. I didn't expect to buy anything, but I did! A wonderful tote bag at a reasonable Gucci price. No regrets!
I was back at my hotel in a Firenze at 8.00. One can accomplish so much here in a day!
~~.~~
From Tim-Parks.com
Italian Ways, on and off the rails from Milan to Palermo was a huge pleasure to write: an attempt to grasp the whole Italian Way of doing things through a reflection of my thirty years of rail travel in this country. Endless two-hour commutes from Verona to Milan on the Train of the Living Dead. Curating a show in Florence, back and forth on the Frecciarossa, all kinds of trips into the mountains and the lakes, and then a long trip down to Palermo and round the south coast of Italy, Reggio, Crotone, Taranto, Lecce, Otranto. What a treat, what discoveries. It’s as if I’d been saving up this part of Italy to cheer myself up with it thirty years on.
Sent from my iPhone
Sent from my iPhone
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