Parma - day 1

My first stop in Parma was to have lunch with Chris Barry who was at Clapham High in Pretoria, with me in 1965-9. We hadn't seen each other for 43 years but recognized one another quite easily and had a lot of catching up to do. Quite bizarre that we should both be in Italy at the same time when I live in SA and Chris lives in Melbourne, Australia.
After lunch I checked into my hotel and then went off on a walk in order to get my bearings. It turns out that most of Parma is chiuso per ferie, even more so than Rome and Bologna. On the map it shows that my hotel is close to the river with a park across on the other side, so I headed in that direction - the river is called Torrente Parma so I was expecting something impressive and just had to take a picture.


After crossing the torrent I went to the Parco Ducale where I found this huge pond that has turtles and huge fish in it, along with some very forward ducks. The park could be lovely, but like so much else in Italy is much in need of some care.


On the way back to the hotel I popped in at the Palazzo Della Pilotta which houses the national gallery, a theatre, the archeological museum and a few other places of interest. However, if I hadn't read this on the map I would have thought it was an abandoned building that was home only to pigeons that have a disgusting digestive disorder. It was late and I decided to leave that for tomorrow and maybe I will see it through fresh eyes in the morning.
By the way, my suitcase has had a dual blowout and is no longer a wheely bag but more like a draggy bag.


- Posted by Neil

Location:Hotel Torino, Parma,Italy