Crickets are bleating and the sun is once again thumping down on us. We are in a small village in the province of Parma, it's about 38 degrees and it's only 10am. The smell of grass pollen and dust fills the air as we walk through this simple town. Widows dressed in black, wearing matching headscarves line the streets and stare unashamedly at us as we walk past. We don't blame them. I am pulling myself up to windows and taking in the aroma of the listless building that occupies the majority of the street. We try to blend in as much as three sweating English people can in a rural community such as this. It appears that a language school has taken up part of the building so we go against all my firmly held beliefs and do a circuit of the building. It is here that we notice cats seemingly disappearing into a void in the wall.
In my experience, it has always paid to follow cats. They don't go anywhere without intention and sure enough, they led us to our required destination. It appeared that the asylum is where these cats had taken up residence and the local townsfolk had even given the cats a little ladder to help them get in and out of the building. Never before had I seen two of my most favourite things in one place in such abundance.
Having done all the planning for the Italian leg of our journey, I had a general idea of what this asylum was going to be like. It fulfilled all the stored up excitement I had been feeling for the last month and greatly exceeded my expectations. My stomach and heart were fluttering with every new room that we found. It was to be one of the best hospitals we saw on our trip. Thankyou to DjMike who helped me finally locate this because as much as I tried, I searched in vain and found nothing that I could pinpoint exactly. The research game had begun and my eyes were falling out.
In my experience, it has always paid to follow cats. They don't go anywhere without intention and sure enough, they led us to our required destination. It appeared that the asylum is where these cats had taken up residence and the local townsfolk had even given the cats a little ladder to help them get in and out of the building. Never before had I seen two of my most favourite things in one place in such abundance.
Having done all the planning for the Italian leg of our journey, I had a general idea of what this asylum was going to be like. It fulfilled all the stored up excitement I had been feeling for the last month and greatly exceeded my expectations. My stomach and heart were fluttering with every new room that we found. It was to be one of the best hospitals we saw on our trip. Thankyou to DjMike who helped me finally locate this because as much as I tried, I searched in vain and found nothing that I could pinpoint exactly. The research game had begun and my eyes were falling out.
