[ Jan.2018 ] At one weekend with fine weather, we realised we had no appointments, so we went to Cremona in Lombardy, from Milan in Italy.
We have not been there for seven years.
Cremona is of course famous as the birth place of Antonio Stradivari, the historic luthier (violin maker).
Even now there are many violin manufactures here.
As soon as we entered the town, we found a statue of a man not playing the violin, but looking at it, thinking deeply, and many shops had decorations with violins.
But in this town, there are not only violins, but there is a magnificent cathedral, too.
When we came here 7 years ago, we climbed up the bell tower called Il Torrazzo di Cremona and saw a wonderful view from the top.
This time, the sky was as blue as 7 years ago, but we did not have the energy to go up there and instead, we went straight to the restaurant diagonally in front of the cathedral.
The sundial on the wall of the bell tower is apparently one of the largest in the world, by the way.
The name of the restaurant we went was Il Violino (the violin) and we went there last time, too.
I seem to remember that last time it was the lunch time on a weekday and maybe because of that, there were no other customers at that time, but this time, it was full.
You had better book a table for this restaurant.
The interior was lovely and quaint and the waiters were dressed neatly and working briskly, which was nice but a bit posh.
Many of their customers were dressed up, too, so I felt a little bit awkward because I was dressed casually, jeans and a jumper.
When we sat at the table, they served glasses of Prosecco, some canapes and profiteroles with Ricotta cheese as appetizers.
We shared the assorted hams (two kinds of ham and fruits: the ham with the paler colour was nice) as the starter and Chateaubriand steak for the main (using French is another sign that this place is posh).
I would say that the meat was like Tataki (lightly roasted sliced beef) and served with grilled vegetables.
I had Zabaione for the dessert.
Actually in the menu it said that Zabaione serves 2 people, but when my husband asked if it is OK for one person, they said ‘no problem’.
It is always worth a try.
It tasted rich with a lot of alcohol and very nice.
The bill was about €140 (£125, $174) including a bottle of wine, which was not cheap.
On the day, they were having a flea market in the square near the cathedral.
There were nice cumbersome coats, but I limited my shopping to one silk scarf there.
