Le lezioni imperato

The Seffalice is not yet used to the Italian custom of shops, museums and services being shut between 12.30 and 3.30 for lunch; typically we arrive somewhere just as everyone is closing up for several hours. Plainly it's a nice relaxed way of living and, restaurants being the only places tht stay open, it wouldn't be a problem at all if the Seffalice wasn't being such a cheapskate and making packed lunches.

Another thing learned over the past couple of weeks is that it's usually better to take the bus than the train (on short excursions at least), particularly to towns with old centres; the train stations are invariably outside the city walls whereas buses drop you in the middle of town.

Case in point: Castelnuovo di Garfagnana in the Garfagnana hills, and on the edge of the Apuane Alps national park. I headed there last week to have a nose around, but mostly to buy some walking maps from the national parks office there. My thousand-mile trek from the train station into the town proper meant I found everything had shut up by the time I got there. I ate my packed lunch in the drizzle and gave up when the drizzle became a downpour and I still had two hours left before everything reopened. Lesson 2:there is no shortcut from Castelnuovo old town to the station, and trying to find one is fruitless. Lesson 3: nor are there pavements.