Our trip from Miami to London was uneventful…..and that’s a good thing!   We arrived in London at dawn and were looking forward to getting off the plane and walking a bit before our final flight to Milan.  Neither of us slept on the flight over; it always amazes me how people can sleep on an overseas flight and hardly move until we’re about to land!

After about a three-hour layover in London, we finally were on our way, and the short flight to Italy went very fast.  You know you are in Italy when things go a bit pazzo or crazy, and this was no exception!   Our rental car did not have a GPS, and we immediately discovered our cell phones were not able to connect to a network.  So now the challenge is how to get to the Autostrada or Italy’s version of 95, and head for Parma without taking the scenic route through the streets of Milan!  Lou loves to drive in Italy and in no time we were whipping around corners as he double-clutched, kept one eye on the road while never missing an opportunity to comment on a passerby of the feminine persuasion!

Our trip to Parma, our first overnight stop, or so we thought, took about 90 minutes, and since our phones were still not working we decided we needed to buy an Italian SIM card from Vodafone, the European equivalent to AT&T or Verizon.  As anyone knows who has traveled in Europe, parking is tough to find if not at times impossible in large cities, and Parma was no exception.  Lou, once again, summoned his ‘inner’ Italian and found a spot quickly, in spite of my protests that it was a loading zone!  He suggested I stay with the car just in case the Polizia arrived and demand that I move the car, while he went searching for a Vodafone store.  Never did we think that if I had to move the car, where would I go, how would we find each other again and how the heck do I navigate the labyrinth of streets and alleyways to arrive back at this same spot?  To paraphrase a friend’s favorite saying, ‘nothing is an obstacle if you make it an adventure’.

So off Lou goes while I stand guard to ensure our little Ford Fiesta does not get towed.  After what seemed like an hour or so, Lou returns with a concerned look on his face.  Oh oh, now what?  Well, it turns out he did find the phone store, he bought both of us an Italian phone number, so what’s the big deal?  Well, the clerk at the phone store told him that:

• Numero Uno: The SIM cards/phone numbers would not be active for at least 24 hours and,
• Numero Due: The place we are to stay our first night is NOT in Parma but over 45 km away, up in the mountains!  It’s is getting dark, we have no GPS or phone service, our Italian language skills are still locked away in our memories yet to be unpacked, and we don’t have a clue on how to get to our destination.

I keep repeating,  ‘nothing is an obstacle if you make it an adventure’…..

Our final destination our first day was to be in Zibello, not quite a village but rather more of a scattering of farms.   On the way we stopped four times to get directions including hand-drawn maps …not many spoke English but I did get help!    Did I tell you that I LOVE ITALY and ITALIANS, they are so friendly!

In case you have never been to Italy, there are A LOT of roundabouts and very few traffic lights!  I had to remind Lou it was getting late because he insisted on circling the roundabouts a few times commenting on the cornering abilty of our little car!    Using my broken Italian and their better but broken English we found our way in the misty darkness!  We were tired and hungry, but we made it!!!  All part of the adventure we said as we arrived at Trattoria La Buca

 

To set the scene, you must imagine it is dark, misty, cold a few street lights and not one car parked in the drive.  Racing through my mind was the thought that we either were at the wrong place or we would be told they had NO IDEA who we were and what did we mean we had a ‘reservation’!  A scene from Seinfeld came to mind when Jerry went to pick up a rental car and the agent told him she had no more cars, even though he made a reservation.  He told the reservationist that she ‘knew how to TAKE the reservation, she just did not know how to HOLD the reservation!’  Back to reality as we entered.  Grandma was sitting at a small desk, dressed impeccably in a sweater and pearls and greeted us as though we were part of her familia as she said she was expecting us.    Another woman, as old as granny showed us to our comfortable room which was across the street (there are only four rooms available). She wanted to carry our suitcases and insisted but Lou would have none of it.  The night was chilly and misty, but it was so atmospheric in this small out-of-the-way village – known for its Culatello, one of the most prized salumi in Italy, which is saying a lot.

We freshened up a bit and went back across to the trattoria/office for dinner and lo and behold the woman who escorted us to our room was now our server.  She had changed her outfit and was more than eager to serve us her homemade Pear Mostarda that had a little kick to it and was delicious on the bread (Hand cut pears, candied and preserved in a syrup, dense and sweet, flavored with mustard essential oil and pairs well with aged cheese like Morchiato Pecorino Cheese and with Parmesan Cheese).  It was a lovely dinner in the very small cozy dining room.   There were a few locals dining as well.  Toward the end of our meal, we were definitely fading.   Neither of had slept now for about 24 hrs!  We went across the street to our room and crashed!

We both slept great the first night for 12 hrs!   As we were having breakfast in the owner’s kitchen/reception area a friend of the owner of Trattoria La Buca, was visiting and chatting with her.  He asked where we were from and said,  “How did you find this place? No one knows about it except for locals”  If he only knew!

The good news was, we were in Italy, we did not have to camp out our first night and our Italian cell phone numbers were now active.  Thank goodness for GPS.  We drove from Zibello to Lucca passing snow-capped mountains.  The air was fresh and brisk and the cold was not too bad.    We could see from the map that we were not far from the coastal towns to the east of us.   What a beautiful country!  Wow!!!  We are really here!

We arrived in Lucca and were greeted at our apartment by Paolo, our home away from home for the next two months!  Our place is lovely and looks exactly like the photos online, just what we expected. Lucca is a great city for walkers and our first day we took full advantage of the quiet and virtually traffic free areas to explore.  Our first impression, inside the “Walled City” of Lucca, is wonderful!  But there will be a lot to explore in days and week to come.  What fun!

Close to our apartment we can shop for almost everything; fruit and vegetable [alimentari], the baker, the butcher and the pastry shop. We kept the car until Sunday, so I thought it a good idea to go to the “Superstore”  Esselungo, so we could stock up on the essentials.  We had a light lunch and then walked a lot.  It was drizzling on and off but not terribly cold.  We found our language school where we have enrolled for two weeks of language classes and it is a stone’s throw away from our apartment.  I cooked at home for the first time and it felt great.  I found a beautiful bunch of parsley at the store and made aglio è olio (garlic and oil pasta) and a nice salad. As we have become used to saying whenever we eat out, it was ‘molto buono’.

Oh and I must confess my first two purchases in Italy, were a beautiful fry pan and larger caffe maker or MOKA.  One thing Lou and I have found when traveling is that most of the kitchens are always missing a few important utensils.  Lou still chuckles when he thinks about it, after all, how many wives come to Italy and the first thing they buy are cooking utensils!  I think he thinks I need counseling!

A little note about grocery shopping in Italy.  The system for choosing and buying fruits and vegetables in an Italian grocery store is probably unlike anything you’ve dealt with at home. Near the dispenser for plastic baggies (in which you’ll put your produce), you’ll also see a dispenser for plastic gloves.

1-Put on the plastic glove before you pick up any produce – it’s a hygiene thing, and if you forget you may get some stern words from an employee (or another shopper).

2-Once you’ve chosen your items and bagged them, look for the number associated with it. You may see a number on a sign overhead, or on the bin in which the oranges or carrots or whatever you’re getting is held.

3-With that number in mind, next you need to find the scale. There’s one in every produce section. Put your bag of goodies on the scale, find and press the number for your produce, and take the sticker that pops out. That sticker goes on the bag and tells the checker how much to charge you.

4-No, there are no scales at check-out, so don’t forget to do this.

As for shopping at a fruit and vegetate stand, the biggest rule is this: Don’t touch the produce! You’re likely used to choosing your own fruit or veggies at home, but in Italy, the vendor will nearly always select them for you. You indicate what you want, and how many, and he or she will choose and bag them.