Debi and I decided to do some sight seeing and possibly do a run in the Parma area last weekend (8-9 May) on my way to Vicenza. We left early Saturday for Soragna, about 1.5 hours away, to visit the Castle (Rocca di Soragna). We had an enjoyable guided tour, even saw the Prince of Soragna himself (he still lives in the castle). We were not allowed to take photos inside the castle, but this website has a great online tour and photographs. Next item on the agenda was the Cheese Museum close by (Museo di Parmigiana-Reggiano) where we walked around the exhibits, and was lucky enough to meet the man who designed the museum who gave us an impromptu tasting session. There was a section in the exhibits that showed packaging of imitation parmigiana from various countries (including the Kraft grated Parmesan cheese in the familiar green canister from the US). There are a lot of castles in this area plus 3 more food museums, but we decided to leave those for another time. Instead we drove down to the spa town of Salsomaggiore Terme where we checked into a hotel and walked around town, looking for lunch.
We decided to go light, ordered a pizza to split between us, and a beer each (OK, not so light since they don't do light beer here). To our surprise, when the pizza came it was totally hidden under slices of ham and parmigiana. We were glad we did not order more food since that was more than enough to fill the tummy. Next, we checked out the spa facilities. The waters of Salsomaggiore are well known for its curative powers, it is home to a fabulous spa, the Berzieri Terme. 
(right photo). We signed up for a 3 hour slot at the Piscine Mari d'Oriente which are a series of large jacuzzi pools with jets that target different parts of your body. It was absolutely relaxing and decadent! The spa tickets came with a free cocktail, so we avail ourselves to the drink and snack buffet at the bar downstairs, surrounded by the high ceilings, frescos on the walls, marbled columns, and listening to music being played on a grand piano by a young man with girlfriend sitting next to him. He was really good, going from piece to piece non-stop (mainly classical with some jazz thrown in) without referring to any scores. When he finally stood up to leave after almost an hour, we applauded (we were the only people left, the bar has closed by then) -- he confirmed that he is a professional pianist just passing by (I think he was a spa customer), and could not resist playing on the piano in the Berzieri with its great acoustics.
So, where is the running part of this blog post, you ask? I'm getting there :) The next morning we got into our running gear and decided to take a run around the town. But since the town is so small and we wanted to run at least 5K, we decided to follow a signpost to some "Parco" (you'd think by now that we'd know better than to trust road signs). After jogging up a main road with no park in sight, we saw an older man coming down some steps and asked him if he came from the park. He looked puzzled and said that he came from the cemetary but told us about a 8 KM route used by cyclists that has a scenic view of the town. In fact he walked with us to make sure that we got on the right side road, a really nice and friendly gentleman. And what a route! After a steep and painful 3 KM climb, we had amazing views of the countryside. I did not bring my camera, but we drove back on the route when we left town, so that we could capture the scenery. The rest of the route was a gradual downhill with a lovely view of Salsomaggiore below. It was a perfect way to end the week. Of course most people would do the exercise first and then the spa, but we did not plan this trip in any detail, did not even have a hotel reservation, so we were really happy with how things turned out.
On the way out of Salsomaggiore, we checked out the smaller town of Tabiano Terme. It is interesting, not as touristy and has lots of possibilities for running. We headed out to Parma, and as it was lunch time, I kept an eye out for possible eating places. I saw a trattoria on the road to the autostrada, the many cars in its parking lot a likely testimony that the food must be good. So we did a U-turn, got ourselves a table and proceeded to eat some really good food. We were the only foreigners in the restaurant, and quite a novelty among the other diners. We ended up talking with people from different tables, it was really nice!After lunch we left for Parma, where Debi caught a ride with a friend back to La Spezia while I continued on to the rest of my trip. We decided that we should do this type of trips more often, to break the monotony of running around in circles at the Marinella farm as we train for the Berlin Marathon. Did I forget to mention that both Debi and I signed up for Berlin in September?
