The night was surprisingly quiet on the whole and it wasn't until six or six thirty that we were woken by the trains. It must have been very close to freezing over night and it was still very cold. A quick dash from the bed allowed me to put on the gas heating, fill the saucepan with water and light the gas. The low-power electric kettle takes ages to boil and this gives the heating time to warm things up but the gas boils much faster and it was still very cold when I filled the teapot. A relaxed two cups of tea allowed Henrietta time to warm up before breakfast.
We decided that we would stay for another night so that we could watch the rugby and I could enjoy a drink. We enquired about buses at the tourist information and discovered that they were every 20 minutes from the city centre. We had a quick snack on the hoof and caught the bus to the stadium. Unlike Bath, we arrived just over 1 hour before the game and the stadium was deserted apart from a coach of Perpignan supporters in the car park. For 16 Euro (£11.20) we had covered 'seating' in the main stand, very close to the halfway line. I had the foresight to buy two natty Benneton Traviso cushions (2 Euro each) because the 'seats' turned out to be concrete and, without the cushions, we would have had totally frozen bums by the end of the first half.
We tried some beer whilst we were waiting for the kick-off but that was far too cold and they brought out some hot mulled wine, which seemed like a good idea. This kept us going though the very cold first half and a top-up at half-time made the second half bearable.
The match was excellent but, although we were neutrals, we really wanted Treviso to win. They lost 29 – 17 and Perpignan thoroughly deserved their victory. Their small band of supporters, with the mandatory two large very noisy drums, were delighted. We got talking to some of their supporters after the match – they were, understandably confused by the fact that there were two Bath supporters in Italy watching Treviso v Perpignan. They had lost to Newport Dragons by 5 points the previous week in Perpignan in what they described as "a very hard match", so victory was sweet this week. I have to say that, on that performance, Bath could have beaten both of these teams, but it was a very enjoyable match to watch.
We caught the bus back to the city centre and had a meal in 'Toni del Spin', a traditional trattoria. We had the local speciality of 'Risotto al Radicchio' as a first course. For those that are not familiar with it, radicchio looks like a red lettuce and is grown and used extensively in the Veneto region, Treviso being the main area of production. In addition to risotto, it can also be found in ravioli, as a vegetable accompanying a main course or even in deserts. The slight bitterness and crunchy texture was ideal in the risotto. I had guinea fowl served with a liver, heart and salami sauce served with polenta. Polenta is very popular here and at least a third of all of the main courses, including Jane's chicken Treviso style, were served with it. After rice and polenta, we couldn't face desert, with or without radicchio! The whole meal came to £31 (44 Euro) and it was very refreshing that a good restaurant did not load the price of the wine - £2.80 (4 Euro) for half a litre of good red wine.
After my comments yesterday about flowery tourist information brochures, I would like to share this Province of Treviso brochure description of Radicchio:-
}An intense red wine... with a pleasant bitter taste yet of a crunchy consistency, radicchio of Treviso has a kind of vertical vocation, aimed directly at the sky, according to a gothic line... the other from Castlefranco entirely golden, with its Baroque extravagance, has the joyfulness of a magnificent open flower". Even allowing from the translation, that has got to be total rubbish!
Photos: Right in the centre of Treviso is this mill and behind is the fish market on an island in the river; Perpignan fans nervously await the kick-off; the Perpignan scrum half passes the ball from the break-down.
We decided that we would stay for another night so that we could watch the rugby and I could enjoy a drink. We enquired about buses at the tourist information and discovered that they were every 20 minutes from the city centre. We had a quick snack on the hoof and caught the bus to the stadium. Unlike Bath, we arrived just over 1 hour before the game and the stadium was deserted apart from a coach of Perpignan supporters in the car park. For 16 Euro (£11.20) we had covered 'seating' in the main stand, very close to the halfway line. I had the foresight to buy two natty Benneton Traviso cushions (2 Euro each) because the 'seats' turned out to be concrete and, without the cushions, we would have had totally frozen bums by the end of the first half.
We tried some beer whilst we were waiting for the kick-off but that was far too cold and they brought out some hot mulled wine, which seemed like a good idea. This kept us going though the very cold first half and a top-up at half-time made the second half bearable.
The match was excellent but, although we were neutrals, we really wanted Treviso to win. They lost 29 – 17 and Perpignan thoroughly deserved their victory. Their small band of supporters, with the mandatory two large very noisy drums, were delighted. We got talking to some of their supporters after the match – they were, understandably confused by the fact that there were two Bath supporters in Italy watching Treviso v Perpignan. They had lost to Newport Dragons by 5 points the previous week in Perpignan in what they described as "a very hard match", so victory was sweet this week. I have to say that, on that performance, Bath could have beaten both of these teams, but it was a very enjoyable match to watch.
We caught the bus back to the city centre and had a meal in 'Toni del Spin', a traditional trattoria. We had the local speciality of 'Risotto al Radicchio' as a first course. For those that are not familiar with it, radicchio looks like a red lettuce and is grown and used extensively in the Veneto region, Treviso being the main area of production. In addition to risotto, it can also be found in ravioli, as a vegetable accompanying a main course or even in deserts. The slight bitterness and crunchy texture was ideal in the risotto. I had guinea fowl served with a liver, heart and salami sauce served with polenta. Polenta is very popular here and at least a third of all of the main courses, including Jane's chicken Treviso style, were served with it. After rice and polenta, we couldn't face desert, with or without radicchio! The whole meal came to £31 (44 Euro) and it was very refreshing that a good restaurant did not load the price of the wine - £2.80 (4 Euro) for half a litre of good red wine.
After my comments yesterday about flowery tourist information brochures, I would like to share this Province of Treviso brochure description of Radicchio:-
}An intense red wine... with a pleasant bitter taste yet of a crunchy consistency, radicchio of Treviso has a kind of vertical vocation, aimed directly at the sky, according to a gothic line... the other from Castlefranco entirely golden, with its Baroque extravagance, has the joyfulness of a magnificent open flower". Even allowing from the translation, that has got to be total rubbish!
Photos: Right in the centre of Treviso is this mill and behind is the fish market on an island in the river; Perpignan fans nervously await the kick-off; the Perpignan scrum half passes the ball from the break-down.
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