Some People Call Me the Space Cowboy

Err...I used my good Parma title for yesterday's post, and I'm fresh out of ideas.


So let's pick up where we left off, shall we?  Jameson had been awake since 3 am, and some combination of the 3 of us had been awake with him since then, so, needless to say, we were all exhausted.  Our first full day in Parma wasn't going to go to waste though, so we all piled into the car and drove about 45 minutes to the city of Parma.  Of course, as fate would have it, Jameson fell asleep about 10 minutes outside the city, and promptly woke up as soon as we parked.  First stop?  COFFEE.


I don't think any of us really knew what to expect from the city of Parma except good food, so it was a completely new and foreign place as far as the city goes.  The city itself kind of reminded me of downtown Knoxville or Macon.  The way the streets were set up and the shopping and restaurants just really made me feel like I was walking through downtown Macon in the middle of the summer.  

I'm not so sure what this was for, but there was this still water pond surrounded by the trees at the entrance to the city.  After you walk through the ancient walls to get into the city, the first thing you see is this modern park-like set up, which was kind of weird.

Okay, so I've been trying to research these buildings for the past 20 minutes, and I apparently didn't take any pictures of the "notable" architecture in Parma, so here are pictures of some unknown, un-notable architecture in Parma.

Sometimes the most commonly known and used buildings are absolutely stunning.  I couldn't resist a picture with a little bit of the beautiful sky as well.

Yep.  This may be the worst post ever, because I have absolutely no idea what any of those buildings are.  My apologies.

Since Jameson was so tired, we figured the backpack would be the best option since he's fallen asleep in it before.  Parma was having their weekly market when we arrived, and, as you read in yesterday's post, Jameson is obsessed with Up, and balloons of any kind.  Balloon! Balloon!!  We had to get him one, which actually kept him pretty entertained for much of the day.  We kept laughing at Christer calling him a one-man parade with the backpack and the balloon attached to it.  He could have passed for one of those tour guides that walk around with something high in the air so everybody can see and follow.


We ate lunch at a really lovely restaurant in this plaza where Christer is standing.  We couldn't figure out why, but we were the only people dining for lunch the entire time we were in there.  The food was good and the location was great, so we couldn't think of any reasons it would be empty unless it was just more of an evening restaurant.  After lunch we were on the hunt for gelato while we headed back to the car.  All 5 blocks we walked and we didn't find a single gelateria, but I did get this AMAZING photo.  This is absolutely hands down the BEST outfit I've seen out in public EVER!

This is just eccentric to the nth degree right here.  TLC's 'What Not to Wear' couldn't even begin to give this guy pointers on fashionable dress.  I mean, where do you start?  The mesh shirt?  Brown belt with black clothing?  The side-pack fanny pouch-ish accessory he's sporting?  The black denim shorts that are just a tad too short, even by Italian standards.  Or do you start with the cowboy boots?  From the looks of it though, this guy is 100% confident in his appearance, so more power to him.  I've got to be honest, if I was walking around in a mesh shirt with shorts and cowboy boots, I wouldn't be as confident as he is, and I have better looking legs than him!  Rock on, space cowboy, rock on.


Today my favorite thing about Italy is: Biking.  Corn fields, sun flowers, mountains, and church bell towers make for a much better scenery than neighborhoods and pine trees at home.