parma is a pretty small town. in 2 days, we had seen enough and were ready for something else. we decided to take the train to bologna, 1 hour away. a train leaves every half hour or so. bologna was a real city compared to parma. we had been to bologna years earlier, and had loved it. all the buildings have large covered arcades. it makes so much sense. the arcades protect the pedestrians from the weather and allows the buildings to extend over the sidewalks. the cathedral here is very large. when it was being constructed, it was going to be the biggest church in christendom, even bigger than saint peters in rome. when the vatican got wind of it, they cut the funding. so the church is big, but unfinished and not decorated. quite a contrast from the meticulous decoration on every inch of the cathedral in parma. interestingly, it was constructed during the renaissance when new scientific thought was developing. in this church is a little pin hole in the roof which allows sunlight to fall on the floor. the moving light follows a line on the floor, that has a calendar marked on it. did some research and found and interesting write up on this. http://www.catholiceducation.org/articles/science/sc0050.html
we found a cute little restaurant in a quiet little square. there was an outdoor patio, so we sat down for lunch. i had pappardelle with porcini mushrooms, and it was fantastic. p, who couldn’t get over his perfect food moment from yesterday, ordered the same dish again – spaghetti with tomato sauce, mozzarella and basil and again loved it.
after the quiet town of parma, bologna seemed too busy, so we decided to head back to parma for dinner. apparently there had been a fire in rome and all trains originating there were delayed. we were afraid we’d be stuck in bologna. we were able to jump on a different train at the last minute and got back to parma with only the inconvenience of having to stand up. we had a drink in a different bar and dinner in a restaurant in the main square. p had pizza and i had spaghetti in clam sauce. perfectly good meal.
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