we got up leisurely and went to visit the cathedral and baptistry in the late morning. parma is a small town, but it has a large beautiful cathedral. lots of detail. all surfaces were painted. it had amazing “trompe l’oeil”. this is a technique of painting things to look like they are 3 dimensional and real. it literally means in french “trick the eye”. the cathedral had architectural details painted in that looked like real molding. attention was paid to where the light was coming from and appropriately shaded. it was so good that sometimes, i had to move back and forth to verify that it was indeed painted and not really there. we were able to get into the baptistry before it closed too. much of italy still follows an old fashioned schedule in which things close for a few hours at lunch time. you have to be aware of this as a tourist. plus, the hours vary. sometimes they close from 12-3, sometimes from 1-4. i think it is to avoid working during the heat of the day. we were taking a leisurely schedule, so didn’t get up until late. anyway, we were able to get into the baptistry to take a look. it too was covered in painted detail. many of these cathedrals have baptistries – a small building on the side - and it finally clicked in my head that they were where babies were baptized, hence the name “baptistry”. duh, silly me... the big marble tub in the middle gave it away...
we decided to go back to the same lunch restaurant. since p. had had intense “spaghetti envy” the day before, he knew exactly what to order. he had the spaghetti with tomato sauce and basil and mozzarella. he was very happy. it’s one of the few times i have seen p have a perfect food moment. he had an expression of deep satisfaction. usually it is me, the eater, who obsesses on good food, but i was so pleased to watch p. in his food bliss. i also did well. i had “spiral pasta with white truffles and salted almonds”. it was incredible. it was subtle, rich, smooth with little crunch texture. delicious! after lunch, we walked back to the cathedral in the hot afternoon. we sat on the steps and hung out. i did a little pastel drawing. there was an american musician sitting at the baptistry. he had a suitcase which he sat on while he played his cello. a bunch of young americans came over and were chatting with him. they requested a piece they had heard him play the day before. he sang a song and accompanied himself by plucking on the cello. it was quite beautiful. the cello more than replaced a guitar. we imagined that he was a cello teacher during the school year who travelled around europe in the summer paying his way by playing in ancient plazas like this one.
we continued our walk to a park on the edge of town. it was a hot lazy day. we made our way back to the apartment. p. noted that it was indeed a small town since he was already recognizing people. there was the slightly simple man who walked down the street yelling. there was the lady in the neck brace. there was the blond family from sweden.
we went to a wine bar with oak barrels out front, which were used as tables. there was a couple sitting next to us. for dinner, we decided to go to the second recommended restaurant, called trattoria corrieri. after ordering, i got up to go to the bathroom and noticed that sitting on the other side of the supporting column, was the same couple from the wine bar. when i got back to the table, i told p. and he said, “oh, that’s a relief”. he had been nervous that the man kept smiling and nodding at him and thought he was making advances, whereas it was only that he had recognized us from the wine bar.
for dinner i had “chicken salad” which was delicious. salad with pieces of chicken probably leftover from the day before, but with such deep chicken flavor. a really good, fresh, farm raised chicken roasted just right. i also had gnocchi with parmesan?? as we were leaving the restaurant, we stopped to look through the window from the lobby into the kitchen. i watched the cook throw piles of gnocchi into the vat of boiling water, pull them out 30 seconds later, put them in plates and then take a ladle and dip into a VAT of melted butter and pour it on top of the gnocchi. butter is always the secret ingredient.
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