Getting into our fourth week here, still in a hotel but light at the end of the tunnel on that as we have have a great villa set up to move into for the 19th of April.
Last weekend we went to Cervia and dipped our feet in the Adriatic (too cold for anything but)and did a bit of sightseeing. Visited the Museo del Sale which is small but an interesting visit.
Yesterday we visited Ravenna (finally got to break out the RS Italy 2010 guide for a bit of use)and saw the Domus dei Tappeti di Pietra which is mosiac flooring found a few years back in a 6th century Byzantine palace.The Cripta Rasponi and Giardini Pensili along with the tomb of Dante which are all in the Piazza San Francesco. The Histrionica exhibit was very interesting. We saw 2500 year old vases,2000 year old paintings, mosaics and bronze statues. The 7 Euro tickets were well worth it for all that. The Histrionica exhibit runs till 12 September if anyone will be in the area. We didn't get to Basiilica San Vitale for the really good mosaics on this visit.
Had our first bad food in Italy in Ravenna. Avoid the Bar Byron Cafe if in Ravenna. Microwaved lasagna and just generally tasteless food at a pretty steep price. Just a short walk away from Piazza San Francesco. We actually stopped in the Ca De Ven on RS's and a co-workers advice but hit it during the afternoon when it was crowded and closed for meals (just piadina and wine).
Posted by
OP
Cesena, Italy
791 posts
Things I've learned: Don't expect to see salt pepper shakers on tables at restaurants, Limencello is good, Baba is a good pastry, most of the red wine I enjoy (so far) seems to be Sicilian,Italians (in general)don't bathe on a regular basis,you can park anywhere you need to but if you park in the median for a quick beer and leave it there for two hours (that beer just tasted so good that day)the Polizia may stop and want to write a ticket,had my first true Italian meal with co-workers this past week...food and wine flowed for 3 hours and it was awesome,my wife ordered shrimp and got prawn (that was a new one on both of us),pumpkin foods seem to be popular here,although they do taste like chicken I don't think I'll be having frogs legs again anytime soon and don't try plugging a two pronged plug into a three pronged outlet or you'll pop the circuit. Gelato, proscuitto,pizze,strozzapreti are still good.
Posted by
Tresana, Highlands Ranch, CO, USA
23626 posts
While I know there are some technical differences between prawns and shrimp (3 claws vs two) I thought that for the most shrimp and prawns are used interchangeable in restaurants or they just call their big shrimps prawns.
Posted by
Eastern Iowa, USA
8062 posts
In regards to Pumpkin, that translated term can apply to just about any mature squash/goard/pumpkin type vegetable. Squash seems to be used to refer more to fresh, immature, produce like Zuchinni and summer squash. and yes, all are popular. Look for fried squash blossoms and a variety of other frsh vegetables.