Verbania Day 2- No cycling yet

View of Pallanza, Verbania

As I sit here typing this post, I can see lightening flashing in the sky over the Alps to the north. That's the forecast for the time I'm here. It's going to be cloudy, foggy, and there will be thunderstorms around. Great cycling weather.

Dreary Weather

I awoke this morning to pouring rain and quickly ran out to my balcony to grab my bath towel, which was drying on the line, before it got soaked through again. I guess I'm going to have to be ready for that anytime this week. With the dreary weather, I decided today would not be a day for riding, as I was still feeling a bit jet-lagged anyhow. Luckily the weather cleared up a bit, the sun shined through from time to time and it turned out to be a nice day for tourist activity.
But before I turned my attention to being a tourist, I first had to put some effort into being a human and go to the grocery store. I have shopped at many farm markets, smaller local stores and such throughout Italy, but today was my first time in a huge Italian grocery store. Just like anywhere, the supermarket has the standard stuff, but there are a lot of interesting things that make Italian supermarkets unique.
First off, as I've noted before, pretty much everyone uses reusable bags for their groceries. I couldn't find them for purchase anywhere in the store, but somehow, everyone has them. If you want plastic bags, you are charged for them. Whereas Shop Rite in Flemington give a few cents discount for every reusable bag you bring, every grocery store here makes you pay if you're planning on further destroying the earth. Unfortunately, I need some plastic bags to pack with later, so I had to pay the extra 50 cents or so for bags.
Also, the cheese section at Italian supermarkets is pretty spectacular. No where in America will you find Mozzarella di Bufala on 30% off sale! And, unlike in the US, where the cashier has to memorize all these codes and weight the produce at the register, here you have to do it yourself and these little stickers print out that go on the bags. It's a good system, as long as there is more than one scale working, which there wasn't today. My other favorite discovery about Italian supermarkets is that not only is the pasta isle an entire isle filled on both sides with literally the entire catalog of pasta shape variety, they also sell whole kilogram boxes of pasta. That's 2.2lbs!! And to top it off, there must have been half an isle's worth of refrigerated fresh pasta in every variety imaginable. So, Italian supermarkets are more.... Italian!

Pallazo on Isola Madre

I think going to the grocery store was the most interesting part of the day. The other part consisted of taking the ferry around the lake between the three Borromean Islands. Isola Madre: with it's botanical gardens and palace, Isola dei Pescatori, which might have been good for fishing at some point but is not filled with restaurants and tourist trap shops, and Isola Bella: with grander palace and famous gardens. I ended the day in Stresa, which is a real tourist town if there ever was one. I don't think they've ever done anything else with the place. It's beautiful and quaint beside the lake, but its pedestrian zone is over saturated with shops selling ITALIA clothing and a gelato shop practically every three doors. I would be nice to go there for dinner sometime, because there are so many restaurants, but I don't know if I can get a bus back later at night.
The islands were interesting enough, but besides the cycling, I'm looking forward to getting to Parma, which will be much less touristy. As evidenced by the islands and their development, people have been vacationing here for hundreds of years. I feel like I'm in a vacation spot, and although I am in fact on vacation, I miss the feeling of Firenze for example, where while there are lots of tourists, there is a real sense of local community once you get out of the center.

Pallazo on Isola Bella from Isola dei Pescatori

Overlooking Isola dei Pescatori from one of the Grotti rooms in Pallazo Isola Bella

Where the wild things are.

Isola Bella gardens

Also, from what I've found, the restaurants are less than stellar, at least right in the Pallanza section of Verbania that I am confined to. I think I'm going to start cooking myself lunch and dinner because I can cook better than the food I've had so far. I'm sure that won't be the case in Parma!

My Bufala con Pomodorini e Basilico is way better.

Tomorrow, I hope the weather is better and I can finally get out for a bike ride. I'm still pretty tired from traveling, so I'm going to get back to my apartment and get some sleep. It's been a long day of hauling groceries and walking on steep stone paved streets.

View from my front window, view from my balcony.