We went back to sleep and slept until noon! That's a first for me!! My body obviously needed it. I really needed to get some Advil and some Alka Seltzer Plus because we are all out of both. Ted asks me if I'm well enough to go to the Commissary. It's a gorgeous day outside so against my better judgment we go. I had a list prepared and we were able to get everything on the list. I'm feeling OK but not 100% and Ted asks me if I wanted to go to the Mondo Italia festival after returning our purchases to the apartment.
I was feeling better so we went. It was out at Stuttgart airport which I thought was a funny place for it to be but there are a lot of odd things here in Germany, so I didn't question it. We get there and didn't see any type of festival going on anywhere.
We stopped a young couple who said, yes it was here, but they didn't know exactly where. How could you miss an Italian festival? We saw some people walking across a huge expanse of concrete so we decided to park the car and follow them.
We parked the car in the airport short term lot. We know it's going to cost us but we don't know where any other parking lot is! We were not planning on staying very long anyways because it was already 4pm and it's over at 6pm. We walk towards the tinkling sound (which I THOUGHT was coming from the sign on top of the tunnel. We stop at the ice cream vendor outside of the hotel and ask if she knows where it's being held. She told us to walk through the tunnel and go 100 meters and we would be there.
We walked into the tunnel and the tinkling sound kept getting louder. I realized that there was a man positioned on the opposite end of the tunnel hand-cranking a Calliope!! And I thought the music was coming from the sign. Just goes to show you how sound can be deceiving. He posed for a photo after I gave him a Euro.
To stem the monotony of what he was doing, he would jump around as he cranked the Calliope. He positioned himself perfectly. That tunnel made those Calliope sounds travel from one end of the square to the other side of the tunnel! We recognized some of the tunes. "The Boxer" by Simon and Garfunkel was one.
We get stopped by an older German couple who tells us we need a ticket. I ask him if he speaks English, and he says, "a little". He tells us to fill out the form and we could get one ticket for free. That's all they had. We go inside and we don't know where we're going or how to redeem this ticket. There are kiosks in the center of the building. Ted said it was late and he didn't want to mess around with finding out how to redeem the coupon so he buys two tickets. What a waste but I'm not going to argue with him.
At the information desk we ask where Mondo Italia is, and she said it was in Hall 4 and Hall 6. This is a convention center!! And I'm wondering just what kind of festival is inside.
So off we trek to Hall 4 and give the lady our tickets. She scans them and hands them back to us.
As we walk into Hall 4, we realize this is not the kind of festival that I was thinking we were attending. No matter, though...we are here and we paid for the tickets, so we might as well check out the various booths.
Upon arriving, we are greeted with more cars (I'm a bit tired of looking at cars). From Fiats to Lamborghini's, to Ferrari's to Maserati's to Alpha Romeos. I'm partial to the fiats because we bought one years ago when we went to Italy. It was cheaper than renting a car for 6 weeks! I'm not sure that's the case today.
I decided one photo of the cars was appropriate for today and I chose the sleek and stylish Maserati.
Most of the booths were now pretty much deserted because it was the end of the day. There were many, many travel booths for each state in Italy. I went to the one that my dad is from but I didn't get a chance to go to the one from my mom's town.
By this time, Ted was hungry, again. We decided to have a 1/4 slice of pizza and an Orangiata by San Benedetto (that's my husband's favorite brand of tea so he should like it). The pizza was good albeit a little cold, but what did you expect at the end of the day? Hot Pizza? It's not going to happen.
As we walked around, we saw booths for jewelry, leather handbags (they were beautiful but pricey), Venezia Glass and a life-size Gondola with a mural of Venice behind it. People were getting in and taking photos. If the man and little boy to the right of the gondola had not been in the photo, this would have looked like the real thing.
There was live music and singers singing in Italian, of course. There was a man demonstrating the fine art of pizza throwing. He was pretty good, actually. He threw that pizza at least six feet in the air. I could see it from across the room!
In addition, there was a huge display of Gladiator helmets, swords and uniforms. There were several men dressed in the uniforms of the day. Many of the children were taking photos with the gladiator helmets on. The man asked me if I would like to take a photo like that too. No way! I asked him about the helmets. They were all different and I wanted to know if there was meaning behind them. He told me they represented different classes of Roman Soldiers and that their jobs were delineated by their helmet. That makes sense. Without today's' sophisticated equipment, it was an easy way for commanders to see whether a soldier was in the wrong spot!
He also told me that they do re-enactments much like our Civil War re-enactments. The display was written first in Italian and then in German. Thankfully, I could read the Italian display. And the Italians are great on posing for photos. It reminds me of my sister-in-law's father, who always poses for a photo! Check it out!
There were wedding dress designers as well as dress designers along with men's clothiers. There was only one wedding dress that was gorgeous. It's hard to tell by the photo but there were lovely, raised Lilly-like flowers all over the dress.
Italian women have a custom of having a "going away" dress for leaving the reception after the wedding. At first I thought it was a bridesmaid's dress but then I saw the suitcase at her feet and realized what it was! That's a REALLY short mini skirt combined with a midi-skirt!
I couldn't resist taking a photo of this dress. I don't know how the person wearing this would be able to function. Those sleeves would be everywhere, hooked on door knobs, dragging through one's food, in some one's face. Not at all practical but fun to look at nonetheless!
This was my favorite outfit because it had a beautiful embroidered skirt and top. Although, I must say, that red tulle does nothing to show off the beauty of that outfit. It would have been far more effective if they had used black, silver or gold tulle. What is it with Italians and red?
And this must be what every Italian man is wearing this season. It sort of reminded me of the Nehru jackets from the 60s! I wonder if it will catch on in the states.
It's time to go to Hall 6 and I'm wondering what is there. As we walk in, there is stall after stall of cheeses, Prosciutto hams, baked goods, candies. Of course, Ted has to try the chocolate, just one though. It was fabulous, of course!
I stop by and browse the stall with tablecloths and bedspreads. Everything is beautiful (and picked over) but I'm not interested in buying anything.
We walk further and see they had set up a beauty shop in the middle of the hall with full hair washing capabilities. A woman was getting her hair washed and another was getting her hair styled. I told Ted, "I really need to get a hair cut soon." He said, "why don't you do it here?" Are you crazy? NO way am I having hundreds of people looking at me while I get my hair washed and cut. If I had great hair, maybe. But since I don't, forget it. Another woman was getting her face done.
More stalls with cheeses, gelatos and another bread bakery. That bakery had a loaf of bread hanging from the wall that was at least four feet long, one foot wide and six inches high. I can't even imagine how much that thing weighed! The only place that could possibly use a loaf of bread that big would be a very, very busy restaurant!
We decide to sit for a few minutes before leaving. There's a man opposite of us tearing down his booth. He's from Naples. I don't know what he was selling but he began to shout, much like they do in Italy when they are selling goods from a cart. Ted said, "he's a barker". Yes...that's exactly it! He's a barker. We watched for a few more minutes and then left.
By the time we got to the square, I was feeling poorly. Coming here was NOT a good idea and I'm going to pay for it. So we stopped every now and again to rest. Finally we got to the car. I felt dizzy. Going to Mondo Italia was not something I should have done and I probably will not do again.
By the time we got home, I was ready for bed but I still had to put away some of the stuff we bought at the store today. We only put away the perishables when we unloaded earlier. It took every ounce of strength I had to put them away.
It is time for Advil, Alka Seltzer Plus and bed.
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