Ferrara not Ferrari

Travelling from Florence to Venice we had to go through a mountain range. There is a four lane highway through the pass and apparently it often has delays (due to traffics accidents or vehicle breakdowns). Our tour went through this area without delay, thus we were able to make an unscheduled stop in a little Italian city called Ferrara. Elzo, our guide, said this is a nice stop to make because we would get a flavour of a “non-touristy, real Italian town,” with normal Italians going about their regular routines.

It was a great little stop. The first thing we walked through to get to the town square, was a castle - complete with a moat and drawbridge. The castle is still in use as the home of local government offices. The town square was filled with people doing activities we would recognize at home, like a grandmother talking with her young grandchild, a group of older men standing around talking like a sort of coffee row, shop owners chatting with their customers, and even local political volunteers doing some campaigning for the upcoming elections (we’ve seen election signs everywhere in Italy).

Beth and I took some time walking around the city centre, looking in the shops and eventually having some gelato cones, regretfully realizing that this may the last day we get true Italian gelato. (For those of you who don’t know what gelato is, the best way I can describe it is a cross between ice cream and sherbet). Then it was time to get back on the bus, but there was a problem - a young husband and wife were nowhere to be found. After waiting for 45 minutes and contacting the police the tour director said we had to leave (which caused all of us to worry and feel bad). Elzo said they would be fine because they are young, have each other, and can speak Spanish and that it would be fairly easy for them to get to Venice using the train.

Sure enough, shortly after we arrived at Venice we ran into them again (they were very
apologetic). They had caught the train and actually made it to Venice faster than us! All was well, everyone was relieved and we could fully enjoy the remainder of the day.

I should say a few words about our tour group. We started with 43 of us. One couple left the tour right away because the woman broke her ankle the day before the tour started and after one day she realized that it would be too difficult to move about. Of the 41 remaining folks there is a large group of Americans, but also some groups from New Zealand and Australia. Beth and I are the only Canadians. The group is very diverse, there is a Latino family, some grandparents with their grandchildren, a young couple who are moving to Victoria in the fall to teach at the University of Victoria (who brought her mother along as a gift to her before they moved). There are a retired science teacher and his speech pathologist wife from New York state, a Minnesotan woman (Norwegian Lutheran - no surprise) and her son who just graduated from University, and a Mother and daughter from New York city. Quite an eclectic mix, and Beth and I have been enjoying meeting different folks during our bus rides and meal times.

As I write this the bus is driving through a large wine making region (near Verona, the setting for Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet). There are massive vineyards, and even though it is an overcast day, the scenery is lush and beautiful. This is on the way to Lucerne. The traffic is nicer today because there are few trucks on the road due to a European law which bans truck traffic on the weekend except for trucks carrying goods that spoil, or goods that are absolutely essential. I can hardly keep track of what the day is, I wouldn’t even know the date if it wasn’t for my watch - however today is indeed Saturday and that means it was been a week since we started our journey!