Markets in Italy

 

            Since the little one has been around for 5 days and my hubby and I are settling into a routine with him, we figured it was about time to resume our Italian adventures. We were starting to run low on food and as we were having company over for dinner we decided to visit a market and get some healthy additions for our kitchen.

            In Italy, just about every town has a weekly market. Even though our town of Budoia is quite small, they have a market every Wednesday.  I have a chart detailing what day of the week the surrounding towns have their weekly market, so at any given day of the week one can drive to a neighboring town (roughly 10-15 mins apart) and visit a fresh food market.

Troy and Adam, observing the fresh produce

            Adam was great on our market-exploring trip, we bundled him in some cozy outfits his Grandpa and Grandma Coe sent him from Thailand and placed him in the baby carrier from Grandma Fish. (Thank you grandparents!!!) Happy as a clam, we toted him around everywhere and had the mobility of both our arms. 

Adam, snuggled up next to his daddy as we explored the Italian towns and markets

             A word about markets in Italy: Unlike the farmers markets I’ve experienced in the states, where people grab the produce, observe it, smell it, etc, before deciding to purchase it, that is considered rude here and touching the produce is impolite. Instead you may observe from afar with your eyes, and when you’d like to buy it you tell the vendor/farmer what you want and how many. You can indicate which ones you’d like if you found some particular favorites, but generally it is best to let the vendor/farmer select the produce and bag it for you. This wasn't explicitly told to me, but I get the feeling that touching the produce and observing it hands-on would be like implying that you doubt that the farmer is offering you his best produce and is instead attempting to gyp you. 

            Troy and I realized we need to learn all of our fruits and vegetables in Italian. When it was our turn to request the fruits and veggies we wanted, we attempted to ask in our broken Italian. The woman shouted to another man, pointed at us and yelled to him, “Americano!” haha. The man spoke some English and together we were able to get the goodies we desired.

            On another note, Italian people LOVE babies. Sometimes I feel like royalty by simply carrying the baby, people freak out and oo and aw over him everywhere we go. It comes in handy because he breaks a lot of language barriers for us. Regardless of the baby though, the Italians are still very kind and the vendor was giving us samples of his fruits to try after we struck up conversation with him. 

Adam in his awesome car seat that I got brand spankin new for $35! It clicks into the car, his stroller, and the carts at the grocery store. Score!

          We also took the little one to the grocery stores for the things we couldn’t get at the markets, (which were flooded with guys buying last minute chocolates and flowers for their Valentines) and we placed his car seat on the cart and wheeled him through the store. He slept through the bumpy ride and through all the noise and commotion around us. We were out shopping for hours and the little guy was conked out the whole time. That’s okay, he has another four years to experience markets here and everything else Italy has to offer. Until then, I think I’ll just let sleeping babes lie...

 

Benvenuti! A tour around part of Italy

          Today was the last and final (exhausting) day of the "Right Start" week. It was the day of the "Benvenuti Tour", which was an informational/introduction to getting by in Italy tour for all new and in-processing Air Force members and their dependents. Our very large group of 70+ people departed from base on a massive two decker tour bus at 8 am sharp and the exhausted participants didn't return  until 5 pm.  

      
      Our first stop was Gorgazzo spring in Polcenigo. To the right you can see a picture I took at the spring. I thought it was quite beautiful for the winter time, I can only imagine how much more it will improve when spring comes and it is lined with leafy green trees!

       Farther down we reached a small pool of turquoise colored water. I took the following information on this pool from this site: http://www.italianvisits.com/friuli/gorgazzo/index.htm "Not far beneath the surface is the opening to a cave.  Divers have traveled as far as 131 meters along this very narrow and curvy tunnel, and they still have yet to reach the end.  Unfortunately, some of these underwater explorations have proved fatal, and so this cave has been closed to diving since 1999.  Today, approximately seventeen meters under the surface at the opening of the cave is a guardian, a statue of the Christ.  At Christmas, the Christ is alighted, and there is a beautiful mass with divers." 

        Way cool! Gorgazzo is also about a 10 minute drive from Budoia (where we're going to live!). It looked like a fun place to take the wee fam for picnics and duck feeding. 

Making friends with Jemimah Puddleduck ;)

      Our next stop was the Porcia market. Each town has a weekly market, so if you learn the schedules of the nearby towns, you could easily hit up a different fresh market each day of the week. 

Here is a meat and cheese cart. We can't wait till we have our place and can make yummy foods!

          After the market, our tour guides took us to Pordenone. Around here, Pordenone is known as the "big city" and is an enviable place for airmen to live. That is, the single airmen or ones who prefer the mall like atmosphere or partying lifestyle more than small country town living. I have found most families are sprinkled in the surrounding mountain towns instead of the city, which is also a much farther commute to base. 

            In Pordenone, we traveled through the streets to the historical town center and St. Mark's Cathedral. The cathedral was definitely impressive and Italy is full of historical cathedrals, something my DH Troy and I look forward to visiting. 

 

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            Our next destination was the Pordenone train station, however as we weaved our way through the streets we stopped at three different locations for chocolate tastings. (Yes! ^_^ Whomever designed this tour must have put this stop in with me in mind!)

I don't know the name of this, but it was really good!

Watching the chocolate making process

So many savory bites! 

I bought three of these since they were only €1 each. They were so delicious! 

         Troy and I both agreed that one of the most beneficial know-hows we gained from the tour, was how to purchase a train ticket and go through the train station.

First train ticket! Licensed to travel ;)

           Purchasing the ticket itself is rather easy, they have kiosks with options for other languages, or you can go up to the counter and purchase from an attendant. However, I've found the tickets themselves are quite different from the ones in the states. Here, you do not really select a time when you would like to go, but you do pick a location. For instance, I'd plug in Pordenone to Sacile on the Kiosk and it would print me a ticket. This ticket is then good for the next year! I can come back to the train station on the day I wish to use it and "Validate" it. So one doesn't have to use the ticket they bought right away. However, once you do validate it, then it must be used on the day you validate it, but you can still pick any one of the leaving trains to Sacile you'd like. (You validate it by simply sticking it into a machine and getting it stamped.)

           At first this may seem cool, if your plans change or you miss your train you can come back to the train station at a later day (or a later time the same day) and your ticket is still good. However, there are some downsides to having a system like this. If you look at the ticket itself, it is worthless if you want information. Generally people buy a ticket with a specific event in mind. We bought ours because we wanted to go to Sacile right then and there. Tickets in America would generally have the boarding time, the train number, the gateway or platform you should wait at, and perhaps even the estimated length of time the journey would take and the "arrival at destination" time. This ticket has nothing like that. Once you have it, there is really no information on there that can be helpful to you. 

          In order to get this information, one must go out to the platform (or "binario", as they call it) and look through the schedules and find the train they wish to join. When it gets closer for your train to arrive, you must keep a careful eye on the television screens because they will tell you what your train number is and which platform/track you should be standing at. This seemed fairly simple enough for a small train station where there were only 3 options, but I can see where this could get confusing and problematic in a larger station. It may have also just felt like more work to me because I'm used to being able to look down at my ticket and have all the information I need, without having to check various other sources. 

          The train we boarded took us to Sacile, where we got back on our tour bus and went to dinner. We were taken to a very nice restaurant where we were taught some basics about Italian eating. Troy and I have already learned some about eating out in Italy, so most of it was review for us. I will make a separate post about eating in Italy, for there is a lot to know and I feel this post is already long enough. 

          Our final stop was a winery. Being pregnant I can't have any wine, and I was also exhausted. So I opted to stay on the bus and nap for the half hour or so they toured and tasted wines. After the winery we were finally on our way "home", or back to temporary lodging on base. It was a good experience and I'm glad we had the opportunity to go, though it made for a very long and tiring day.