They were right! Our friends and colleagues have been telling us that the only way to deal with living in Rome is to get the hell out of town at least once a month. And it works - the week or two before my trip to Parma I was on the verge: a trip back to Canada was looking awfully inviting. And that after only three months in Rome! The problem was we really hadn't left Rome with its chaos, traffic, noise and what my Italian teacher Eugenia called "nervosa." Two days, some good food, some music and I returned a happier, healthier human being. Now we have to get Laurent away for a weekend.
I'm sure Parma has its downside but I was charmed by fact that one of the major modes of transportation was the bicycle - for young and old. Cars were not parked on sidewalks or across pedestrian crossings, the streets are clean and the center of the city - on Saturday and Sunday at least - is restricted traffic and largely a pedestrian zone. The pace is slower as can be expected in a small city.
I didn't have time to see anything other than the outside of the Cathedral, Baptistry and Palazzo Pilote and the only museum I visited was the charming puppet museum Il Castello dei Burattini. All of which means I will have to go back and next time take Reese and Laurent with me.
I took far too many pictures so I'll post them in the next few hours by subject and avoid any further long-winded travelogue writing.
06 novembre - San Leonardo di Limoges
