Parma

I decided to go to Parma, home of prosciutto and also famous for Parmesan-reggiano cheese.  It was raining as I walked to the train station, and soon I was in Parma, where it wasn't raining, but snowing!  Like being back in Rome!  I made my way down Strada G. Garibaldi to the town center and the tourist information, thinking they could help me find a place to stay.  Well, they are closed from 1:00-3:00 on Mondays, and as luck would have it, it was Monday at 1:00 on the dot, so they were closed up for the next two hours.  I wandered around to try to find a place on my own, but only came upon one that was in the near vicinity.  At this point I was starting to not feel well again, and my ear was really starting to hurt.  Plus, the snow was still steadily coming down, so I decided to just stay at the one place I had found.  I dropped my stuff off and went to find a pharmacy to see if someone could help me with my ear because I was pretty positive I had an ear infection.  I used to get ear infections all the time as a kid, so I know exactly what they feel like, and let me tell you, they suck big time!  The pharmacist was nice and recommended some ear drops for me (which I absolutely I hate using - takes me back to when I was a kid), but I got them and hoped they would help.  I had a feeling, though, that I was going to need meds this time around.

The next morning, my day started at 3:30am, when I woke up and couldn't get back to sleep due to the intense pain in my left ear.  I realized I had to go to a doctor and get checked out.  But since that was an adventure in itself, I have decided to dedicate a separate blog entry to that day (it will follow this one).  So I will skip ahead now to the following day, when I actually felt a little like seeing the sights that Parma had to offer.

I looked into going on a cheese factory tour because I read they can be pretty interesting, and I really enjoy going on factory tours and seeing how things are produced, but the lady at the tourist info said that you needed advance reservations, and it was a little pricey.  I wasn't really feeling up to it anyway, so I walked around town.  I started over at Piazza della Pace, a large square where there was a flea market happening.  I wandered through there and stopped in at the Farnese Theatre and National Gallery on the other side of the square.  The Farnese Theatre is this big,  beautiful, very cool theatre made completely out of wood.  There's a large stage and pit area, then tiers of seats rise up to the ceiling. Arches go around the theatre, and under them are frescoed areas.  I was quite impressed with this theatre and stayed in there for a while.  The National Gallery is quite big and covers lots of paintings, sketches, carvings, etc.  The one I was most impressed with, though, is a da Vinci painting called La Scapigliata.  I have seen this picture before and had no idea the original was here in this gallery.  It's absolutely beautiful, and I couldn't stop staring at it!

After making my way through the rest of the gallery, I walked through Parco Ducale, a huge public park with a pond at one end.  It was very pretty, and I sat awhile, just enjoying the quiet and calmness.  After, I went to the Puppet's Castle in the Giordano Ferrari Museum.  I read it was something to see, so decided to check it out.  It's basically a small museum with a bunch of puppets/marionettes made by this master puppeteer during his lifetime.  Some were full puppets, some were just heads.  I have to say, it was interesting, but puppets sort of creep me out, so I didn't stay too long.  After that, I went over to Santa Maria Stecatta, which was another very pretty church.  I've been in a lot of churches so far on this trip (and there are probably, literally, a million more I haven't seen), and all of them are elaborately decorated, no matter how big or small the church is.  They are serious about their churches here in Italy! :)

I decided at this point that I should look into getting a train ticket from Torino to Barcelona for the following week.  Just getting from town to town is easy, and I had been buying my tickets minutes before stepping on the train, but since I would be going a long distance to another country on a train that is only offered three times a week, I figured it would be a good idea to have a reservation ahead of time.  I found a travel agent, and between my limited Italian, her limited English, and Google Translate, we were able to book my ticket for the following Friday night, which would put me in Barcelona Saturday morning, when I was going to meet up with a friend who was going to be there for work.

The next day, I headed out to Milan.  I considered staying another night in Parma because there were still parts of the city that I hadn't seen (plus I think I was nervous about my ear), but ultimately decided to move on because I didn't want to get "stuck" there.  I think because I was sick, I had been feeling like holing up and not doing much.  Leaving forced me to keep moving and seeing new things.  Parma was a cute place, though, and I could see myself coming back some day.  It is sort of a blend of a modern city and a small Italian town...like a small city with charm!