Back to Italy - What Happened in Modena, July 26, 2010

Continuing on the story of our trip to Italy. Please note that I am still only on Day 2 of the trip. At this rate, I'll still be recounting the trip a year from now! For previous entries, click on this handy-dandy Italy Trip Link

We followed the road signs to the “Centro” of town. [We found the road signs very helpful while navigating the cities we visited – when in doubt, head towards the “Centro” and you’ll get there]

We parked by the city park, on the edge of the "medieval or historical" center and set off to find a place for lunch – accomplished by Dawn asking complete strangers on the street.
[Dawn is not shy when it comes to talking to complete strangers – she had her Italian phrase cheat sheet in her camera bag.]

Of course, some of the details are always “lost in the translation” (Like the word “coniglio”, which means rabbit, but for some reason, we thought it meant “expensive” – imagine the quizzical looks on the Italians when we asked if a certain item was “coniglio”).

We were able to wind our way through the streets of Modena, but could not find the restaurant we were seeking. Until we walked around the block twice, and then down a random side street and viola – there it was!

Of course, I don’t remember the restaurant’s name – there are no big, neon lit signs in front of most establishments here. We enjoyed our meal with our funny server – to read about that, you’ll have to head over to my photography blog where I originally outlined our lunch experience when the trip was still somewhat fresh in my mind!

But I won’t leave this post without new pictures....

Gates to a private courtyard:


Looking into the Modena Duomo through a side window:


Before we headed back on the road, we knew we should all “go to the potty” and I had spotted a sign for a public “WC” in the park area. And thus we experienced our first paid WC encounter. Very bizarre and not such a good deal at 1 Euro for a trip to the loo. I’ll admit, we shared…..