Things We Often Take for Granted

A few days after coming to Italy, I realized that there are some unusual things that we need to pay for:

-Coperto
When you go to a restaurant, there is this seating charge, counted on per head basis. That time there were 9 of us, so we paid 9 x 1.2 total 10.80 euros for the chair. Some restaurant absorb the seating charge. Some simply omit the chair, so people stand and eat their meal.



-Borse
In the supermarket, just before you pay, the cashier at the counter will ask if you want any borse, that is, plastic bag. Each bag will be charged at 5 cents. You may bring your own plastic bag. A good way to avoid wastage of plastic bag.

Gardaland

Last week we went to Gardaland. It is the biggest amusement park in Italy. And it happened to be just one and a half hour away from Trento.

It is not much different than other amusement parks. Roller coaster, rides, shows, kiddies stuff. There were quite a lot of people since the park opens only during weekends.

Tickets are sold on per day basis, so basically with the ticket ( 25 euros) you get to play everything. As a result people often play indiscriminately. Some attractions, require up to 30 minutes of queuing time for less than 10 minutes of experience. So, it is not really possible to cover everything in one day, we probably got only around 60 % of the stuff.

The atlantic experince was by far the one I liked the most. They involve mythical creatures and ruins exploration in a small boat. Many people prefer the adrenaline pumping attraction. I got dizzy with the roller coaster so I did not play much with the adrenaline. Probably just not my kind of things.

A Classic Love Story

The classical love story Romeo and Juliet has been made a theme in Verona. They have the balcony where Romeo visited Juliet (shown) and even the tomb of Juliet. It was a bitter love story ended with the death of the lovers.

The guide booklet said the story even sparked an event run from Romeo's house to Juliet's house. I am curious to find out how long the distance he ran.

The story is surely dramatic. But real love is probably not anywhere near as impulsive as this. Even in daily mundanes when we express our concerns and appreciation to other people, love grows stronger. It is when the love has been tested over time that we know if it is a real love.

Cooking Chronicles (1): Pork with Soy Sauce

These posts on cooking chronicles will talk about the experimental cooking I do throughout. I don't have much culinary skills though. Starting off, I have only done up to instant noodles.

First few cookings was about pasta. My first pasta was hard and requires effort to eat. So I learned, until I can cut the pasta in the pot, it should not be taken out.

Then continue with rice. Put all the inggredients ( rice, veggie, meat, salt) into the pot and see what came out of it. The result was pretty much edible. It was plain though. Sometimes I get proper rice, at other times I get porridge . .

After a few weeks, and I got the required sauce from the Thai shop, I proceed to try some real cooking. It was pork. Put the garlic and onion and fry them in oil. Then came the carrot and meat. Keep on frying. Add some salt, oyster sauce and sweet soya sauce. Then put egg.
So it became pork in soy sauce - babi masak kecap.

The taste was pretty decent. But its probably because of the pork. Should try some other meat soon.

The Roman Heritage

We went to Verona last weekend. I did not know that Verona is a tourist spot until recently. The city is just an hour train from Trento.

One of the attraction in the city was the Arena. It is a roman amphiteater used for gladiator fights in the past and to host cultural events now. It is a large structure made entirely of stone (not bricks) . The structure resembles a modern day sports stadium. Perhaps the sport stadiums are modeled after amphiteaters to be able to house many people.

These two roman soldiers were posing outside of the Arena, attending to tourists who would like to take pictures. For a fee, of course. Cosplays do take a different theme here as compared to Japan.

Duckies

Garda Lake is the largest lake in Italy. We went to Riva del Garda, a town just on the tip of the lake. It has this majestic view with the two cliffs surrounding the lake. It was pretty misty when we went, so the outer parts were not too clear.

We took the cycle boats (5 persons per boat ) to roam around the waters. Tourists were not the only ones there. There were the duckies, swannies and fishies. Some of the ducks were actually trying to fly. They flapped their wings and tap their feet on the waters. Nice try.

I wonder if the ducks feel secure here with humans around them. They don't seem to be shy around people. If it were in Indonesia, the number of ducks might be steadily decreasing. Maybe Italians dont eat that much ducks.

Arco Castle

Last weekend we went to Riva Del Garda, on the tip of the Garda Lake. It is around one hour journey from Trento. As it is still in the same region of Trentino, the transport is included with the yearly bus pass we paid in advance (a saving of 6.6 euros for the round trip journey) .

We made a stop at Arco to visit the castle. The castle is more like ruins now. As with most castles, it is built on top of a hill to gain a more strategic position for surveillance and warfare.

Sword and axes has always drawn my attention more than guns and bullets. The medieval fighters seem to be stronger and the appearance of mythical creatures usually makes the story more interesting.

Even when it is now empty, the castle still has a trace of its past glory. And also it felt good to look from the top of the hill to the small town below.