Monthly Archives: August 2016

Riding the Trains in Italy

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…..I love travelling by train but I’m not so sure I would buy a rail pass again

Travelling by train can be very relaxing and is less stressful than driving a car throughout Italy. Our travel agent booked first class rail passes for six days for us ahead of time. Our first trip from Venice to Florence in first class was wonderful but half of our trips didn’t even have first class compartments. We probably could have saved a lot of money buying tickets as we needed them.

One of the things we learned about travelling by train is that you have to have your tickets validated at the station and you must fill in the dates you travel on the passes. My husband had been filling in the wrong portion of our passes and one kind conductor handed him a pen and instructed him to fill it in properly. He could have fined us each a 100 euro. On our last trip to Rome our son, his new bride and her parents didn’t know that the tickets that they purchased from a machine in Assisi had to be validated in another machine. Unfortunately the conductor on this train was not so forgiving and charged them. They tried to explain that they didn’t read Italian and no one told them about this extra step when purchasing tickets. He thought he was being generous when he reduced the fine to 33 euro but when my daughter-in-law was not happy with the compromise he became quite angry. In the end they paid the fine but we couldn’t help but think that the money was being pocketed by the conductor.

 

Food in Italy

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…..we didn’t have one bad meal in all of Italy

When preparing for our trip to Italy people told us over and over again that we wouldn’t experience any bad meals. It is also not true that Italians only eat pasta and pizza.

Our first meal in Italy took place in an outdoor cafe along a canal in Venice. When we sat down for a bite of lunch we were told that the restaurant wasn’t open yet but that we were welcome to sit and have drinks. We accepted the offer and made ourselves comfortable.

Our wait was very short lived. Within about 15 minutes all the tables were set with fresh tablecloths and we were handed menus. We decided to share a selection of pizzas and we ordered a couple of salads. What a treat when the salads arrived. The insalata Caprese was hands down one of the best salads I’ve ever tasted. Two things made this salad extra special. First, the tomatoes were roasted and second the cheese they used was a Burrata. We had the same cheese that night at my sister’s place, again in Florence and again at the wedding.

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Our first night in Florence I had a wonderful meal of assorted seafood.

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I wasn’t particularly good about photographing our meals but our daughter and daughter-in-law were great at it. Many of the following photos were taken by them and it shows the diversity of one’s food options throughout Italy.

One of the foods that my husband wanted to experience was a pasta Bolognese in Bologna so we made a special trip one day so that he could have that experience. The restaurant came highly recommended and we weren’t disappointed. Even the baby had a good time gnawing on her raw pasta tube while we waited for dinner to be served.

Every city we visited after Florence had memorable meals but more about those meals in future posts.

Ciao!

Night Visitor at the Cottage

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….most wildlife at the cottage is pretty much unseen

When I arrived at the cottage last week I heard from a couple of my neighbours that a fox and her four kits lived close by. Usually the fox stay back in the woods but this mom and her family have been seen during the day checking out the area around the cottages looking for handouts.

The second night at the cottage I heard a very loud and strange sound. At first I thought it was the young man next door sneezing loudly. When I heard it a second time it sounded more like a woman screaming. The third yelp was clearly closer to the cottage and the sound was a half animal and half human cry. After several strange screams I heard the neighbours start to come out of their cottages.

D from next door was walking up the road with her head lamp on and soon saw that the noise was coming from the mother fox. She continued with her crying for a little while longer but we have no idea why she was so traumatized. Eventually she left and the rest of the evening was relatively quiet. There has been some speculation that the fisher in the neighbourhood may have gotten one of her kits.

Like I said earlier much of the wildlife on the island stays out of site and in the evening when you’re walking along a path you have to be careful not to step on the toads. One evening I went to the water barrel to wash my hands and I heard a rustle in the leaves. When I looked down I saw the biggest toad I’ve ever laid eyes on. With the aid of my lantern I was able to get a couple of shots of him before he jumped away.

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