Guided Tours Galore!

We have found ourselves taking a few more guided tours on this trip.  This may suggests we are getting lazier wiser.

Here are a few of our tours: 

Modena vinegar factory.  We may never again settle for balsamic that is not properly aged.  Age of basalmic really matters... kind of like people, only balsamic gets sweeter as it ages. Samples followed😁, no wine😭.


Prosciutto ham factory.  It's quite the operation and highly controlled. We had to dress in full Italian Health Department gear... hair nets and sanitized overcoats.  We made quiet the fashionable couple.  I'll spare you the photo.  Wine and samples followed. 😁




Parmesean Reggiano Cheese Factory
This odoriferous detailed tour started in huge barns with hundreds of cows.  We then got a an exacting explanation and demonstration of the cooking, forming, and aging process. Wine and samples followed.😁

Postojana Caves
Hard to believe but yes, another cave for us.  This included taking a 3.7 km ride to the bottom of the cave to begin the tour.  The cave is approximately 3 million years old.  We were quickly escorted ambled through one huge chamber after another.  Tour guides have this adventure timed to the minute.  Lucky we weren't terribly upset by this as we lost our original group and found ourselves with the Japanese tour group. It took us a bit of wandering to find our original English language guides.   





Predjama Castle.  This 800 year old cave castle is perched in the middle of a 123 metre cliff.  Reaching the interior top of the castle required an unusual stair climb as steps were steep and uneven. The day was warm but the interior of the castle was quite chilly.   I'm now eternally grateful for modern heating.




I can say, with great confidence, that we are doing our part to bolster the Italian tourism business.

P.S.  Arrived in Milan this afternoon.  We took the high speeds train from Balogna...300 km an hour.  That's about 180 miles an hour.  It WAS fast. 

Culture shock when we arrived in Milan.  We have spent the last three weeks in ancient, somewhat smaller towns.  We arrived in a city akin to N.Y.C.   It's huge, it's bustling, with major subways and trams.  

When we finally climbed out of the bowels of the earth the subway system, this is what greeted us...


Pretty darn impressive.  The duomo piazza is the heart of the city, and breathtaking.  Looking forward to 5 days of exploration even thought it's predicted to rain cats and dogs for four of the five days.⛈️ ☂️

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