Sept. 7, 2013
Cremona

Ha, joke's on us!  The Violins of Antiquity museum is closed this week because they are moving to another location. We can see Stradavari's house from the outside only, because a private family lives there (imagine!).  We can go to his grave, but no one is sure if he's actually buried there. We can't see anything of Guarneri because he was too old and history was lost about him and Amati (so the tourist office says).  There are 202 registered luthiers in town.  AND Sandy and I discovered neither of us can read an Italian map (we THOUGHT we were good at that!).  Sorry Shawn, we gave up trying to find Eric Blot -- ran out of steam.  We did see Piazza Stradavari with his statue in the middle. We did go into the beautiful duomo with the clock tower that is the 3rd highest brickwork tower in the world -- 502 steps.  No, I didn't go up!  And the oldest brick structure taller than 100m that is still standing.  By the way, clock towers here are separate buildings from the church.  Interesting.  We did have warm friendly people helping us all the way.  We did have lunch (before we walked around), prosecco at 6:00 and dinner until 9:00 with another glass of wine, risotto, tiramisu, and limoncello on the house.  I am writing this in a very inebriated state!  Sandy had to back the car out of the little garage under the hotel and move back in, in the same state.  We laughed all the way.  We decided this is the life.  The Italians really know how to live.  They work hard and play hard and eat well.  We haven't had a bad meal yet!  The piazzas come alive when it gets dark.  I feel perfectly safe walking around with so many people out.  The people are all warm and friendly.  We both love it here.

OK, back up,  We got up at 6:30 this morning and had the breakfast they fixed early just for us (they generally opened up at 8:00).  Then we hiked 1/4 mile (2 bridges
 -- up and down) to the bus -- a regular bus with tires and all) -- and drove to the airport.  After finding out Budget didn't have our car reservation (I had a confirmation number and all) we went to the next booth and rented from Auto-Europe (like everyone said in the first place).  All they had was a Mercedes Smart car, but our luggage and selves fit perfectly -- barely.  We were glad to have this tiny thing when we were roaming the narrow streets of Cremora.  We broke down and used my navigation to get to the hotel.  Trouble is, it doesn't know that some streets are for pedestrians only as you get closer to the center of town (you always know center by the duomo and clock tower).  We got within a block though.  The navigator said it was in the next block, but that was all garages. I asked a lady walking where the hotel was & she pointed around the corner, then pointed to a garage and said "this is it" -- in Italian of course.  When I walked around to the front entrance, she had already gone to the front and told the people at the desk they had customers that were lost.  3 people greeted me like a long lost friend and came to the car to get our bags so we wouldn't have to haul them from the cark-park a few blocks away.  When they saw the little car (thank goodness!), they motioned to just drive down to the garage, where they stuffed our little bug in back of 2 other employee cars and led us through the back door.  All this with a friendly and very helpful attitude, like it was fun for them!  They have been our friends ever since.  Tonight, AFTER we were in a drunken stupor, Sandy had to back the car out of the garage to let someone out, and move it back in.  All is well. Whew!

Early to bed, early to rise - maybe.  It's 10:08 and the people are buzzing outside.  They are just getting started but it's been a long day for us.  I didn't sleep well last night, but I'm sure I will tonight!