So, we leave today for new lodgings in Modena. We get our bags down to the lobby by 9:30 and on the bus at 10:00. Trek down that blasted hill one more time.
Goodbye to our Walled Town
The trip up is largely uneventful. We stop for a loo break and just following us is a large group of Black young men. Turns out that they are a Cameroon Soccer team.
Capo explains that Modena is the food bowl of Italy and its richest town. It is home to Ferrari, Maserati and other such racing car teams / cars. Also it was Pavarotti’s home. The town just looks like another largish city. Capo does not care for it much.
He explains that when we get to the Hotel, we will likely be unable to check in. We unload our cases and stuff outside the Hotel.
Waiting out the front
Turns out most of the rooms are ready and we get our key and go up. It is a beautiful room.
Great bed and lots of spaceModern BathroomAn extra bed to put our suitcases on while they are open.
Another big deal is that the Internet is lightning fast, much better than even at home. I was able to do a Post in the same time it took to upload 2 photos at the last place.
We have a big dinner tonight but we are hungry so we go across the street to a deli there. It is great.
Julie getting her salad, I had chicken and tomato in a bread roll
Julie’s Coffee
Get on the bus to the restaurant. There is a dispute as to how long it will take to get there / return to connect the driver with an early start tomorrow for the cheese factory. Any way, it takes a solid 90 minutes to get there, even though we were opposite to the traffic flow.
Arriving at Trattoria La Buca
We start with a tour through the cellar. They cure their own prosciutto and hams etc.
From the Ceiling tooThe Padron cutting Proscutio for startersOur table in the garden – fortunately it was not too hotMustard Fruits for the StarterWhich is Pillows (at left) with prosciutto and corned beefPumpkin RavioliPasta with Fried ProsciuttoColin with the Old Dear Owner (77)Snails – not as good as French Garlic SnailsThe Table as the evening progressedA main course
There was a lot of discussion what this was. Some thought Rabbit, others Pork. Me – Duck and it was. The waitress brought a picture of the Wild Duck.
Pork sausage with Lemon sauce – I thought that it was TongueMassive Dessert TrolleyColin and the Young Waitress Explaining all the DessertsThe Old Dear
The Guys certainly made a dent in the desserts. I had to get some of the slice for Sue.
Then we are out the door at 10:00 in order to get home by 11:00. Of course that was not possible, got home at nearly 11:30. Not starting until 9:30 AM tomorrow.
Yes, the stay in Dubrovnik is in its penultimate day as is the overall trip which started long ago in Germany. Tomorrow we start the long trudge back to Australia. We have breakfast in the room with items from the Bakery and Store by Julie. I didn’t do much of anything, other than the Blog, mostly by design for the winding down stage. Julie goes walking about, I think a lot of it outside the walls of the old town, including a market.
Cheeses
I have no idea what this is
3 hours across the Adriatic supposedly
A cheap Syrah
Aussie, Aussie, Aussie
There were a number of cheap / potentially good value wines there. But we really did not need any more since we are departing tomorrow. In fact, we still have a bottle of Rose in the Fridge which we are to polish off.
Milos Rose
We have made a reservation for Proto Seafood restaurant again. We end up sitting outside in a laneway as the hostess tells us there will be quite a rowdy crowd on the terrace this evening.
We end up moving down one table as the wind was quite annoying on that first table.
Settled in at ProtoSnails
The picture is hazy and is a reflection of the dish as it was not very nice at all, big, tough offputting flavour and nowhere near enough garlic.
Julie’s salad looked OKSea Bass
Julie had had that dish the other night but this was not nearly as nice.
Steak for me
I am not sure why I ordered steak, I almost never do in a restaurant. It was OK but overall my ordering was poor. In fact, both of us agreed that we were quite disappointed with Proto this time, I guess you should never go back.
Irish Coffee for Julie
After that it is back to the apartment, finish off the Rose and then to bed as we commence the long journey home tomorrow.
Well, we made some good progress in being able to do the Blog through Blue Tooth. We got a Blue Tooth keyboard and were able to send image files to the Pad with Blue Tooth file transfer. So back in the Blog writing fray again.
Our first adventure of the day is to go to Heidelberg Castle which apparently is the number 1 attraction in Heidelberg. There were lots of folk up there this day. We head out in the morning and it is still quite cold. This time I am better rugged up with 4 layers including two hoodies so don’t feel the cold quite so much. It is a short walk to the entry point for the Castle – the Finicula Station.
The Finicula arrivingThe Finicula in station
We grab a seat in the last cart so we can have a better view looking down the hill. It is a relatively short ride to the Castle, there is another stop further up the hill but we did not try it out. Into the Castle grounds which are massive.
Looking down to Heidelberg
One of the features of the Heidelberg Castle is the worlds largest functioning wine barrel, although no longer function. We enter the main part of the Castle.
Worlds Largest Wine BarrelJulie walking down from the top of the wine barrelNext to the wine barrel
After that we went to a nearby Museum, yes Peter, a Pharmacists Museum. As usual not really my style, but one photo.
In the Pharmacists MuseumTime to go, looking down to the river
We exit the Castle and catch the Finicula down to the flat land. At the station we catch a bus, aided by a nice German couple, and ride it into the City proper. We find a large electronics store which has three floors and we go to the top floor. The object is to get a Blue Tooth keyboard to use with the Tablet. We find one with a German keyboard layout. Actually it is the labeling of the keys that is different, the layout remains the same. The Y and the Z are interchanged and many of the punctuation keys, the latter which takes getting used to. Any way, the keyboard makes it much easier to type into the Blog.
We exit into a long mall. Julie seems to have a destination in mind and surre enough, wait for it, it is a Salmon shop. Following are photos taken by JV.
The Salmon Shop
Any way, enough of that fishy stuff. I go further down the mall and find a deli serving hot Pork dishes. I get a nice roast pork roll, no picture sorry. The meat is pinkish more like Ham but there is a bit of crackling. I sit and eat it at a table in the sun in the mall, eventually joined by JV with her salmon roll.
After finishing eating, we head on down the mall for a relatively long walk back to the apartment. After all that walking around the Castle and then in the Mall, it is time for me to have a snooze. JV of course goes out prancing, this time for quite a while, not back until after 7:30 pm.
DucksThe River
We decide that we would like dinner so head off into the market areas. Lots of places are quite crowded with waiting lists because the sun is going down and it is becoming quite cool. I suggest that we try a place we saw the other day opposite the Hamburger shop, down a side street. When we get there, it is quite crowded but we get a table which happens to be next to a nice American couple, younger than us.
Not knowing anything about German wine, I asked them about the wine they were drinking as it was also recommended by the waitress. The couple organised through the waitress for a glass and we had a taste of theirs and decided to order that wine, good enough. Then the food started coming.
The couple ordered Snails for a starterEating the SnailsI ordered spicy Goulash with noodlesJulie ordered Salmon saladNote how a hash brown migrated to my plate.
The food was good, the wine OK, the couple very easy to talk to. All in all a good night. We wandered back to the apartment where I eventually crashed and slept pretty well.
