Things I learned in Bologna:
1. Planning has a weird way of working itself out.
2. Many Italians have small bears (not DOGS) as pets.
3. Don't be afraid of being touristy.
4. Stairs are the WORST.
5. PIGEONS ARE WORSE THAN STAIRS.
This post is long, and I would apologize for talking your ear off, but this is my blog and I'm not your clown.
#sorryimnotsorry
Today's trip was my first time outside of Parma since arriving in Italy, and it went pretty well, I think. I had a croissant and some coffee before hitching a ride with my host mom to the train station as she thoroughly explained the importance of validating my train ticket, which is technically valid for a period of 2 months, by putting into a small machine that would date-stamp it, effectively rendering it useless after my trip from Parma Centrale to Bologna Centrale.
Parma Centrale was the station I arrived at over 2 weeks ago, but that day was so hectic and tiring I barely remembered being at the station. We hopped on our train at 8:28 and arrived in Bologna about an hour later.
Our initial reason for visiting Bologna was for a large Saturday market that my friend's host mother had told her about. From the station, we should have been able to see it, but, of course, we went in the opposite direction and ended up on the far side of the city. We stopped by a few churches on the way and took some great pictures. After only two weeks in Parma I'm already feeling bias towards my little city and think our Duomo is much more impressive than some of the places we saw.
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| Inside the church of San Francesco |
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| A typical street in Bologna - lots of arches! |
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| 1 of the 342384729 palazzos |
We eventually landed in downtown Bologna as we fruitlessly attempted to find Piazza Maggiore, the main piazza in Bologna. We ended up finding Piazza Nettuno, which had a large statue of Neptune. The sunlight was ridiculous again today, but we were all thankful for the heat it provided.
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| Piazza Nettuno - casually naked Neptune, nbd |
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| Family crests of Bolognese families |
It was stupidly difficult to locate Piazza Maggiore, which was, more or less literally, right next to Piazza Nettuno. While Piazza Maggiore was large it didn't have a specific statue/landmark, which is probably why its name pales in comparison to some of the other piazzas I've already visited in Italy. Next, my friend suggested we make our way towards the local gardens. At this point we were starving so we were also trying to find a restaurant that A.) was open already (most places are either closed for lunch so workers can go home to eat with their families AND b/c we wanted to eat earlier than most Italian places allow) B.) had tortellini alla bolognese, which is a delicacy in Bologna.
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Piazza Maggiore
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We found another fun piazza with an overbearing bust, but sadly, the restaurant across the street was out of tortellini. Eventually, we found an open pizzeria WITH tortellini. Our lunch was b-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l. Sorry Grinnell DHall, I'm boycotting you. I had tortellini with ragù while my friends had tortelloni, which has cheese and no meat, and steak (ini vs. oni - who knew, right?). I paid 10 euro for a rather smallish portion of tortellini and 3 euro for a coke, but I was totally satisfied at the end of the meal. We were all happy until we got the check with the 7.50 euro service/sitting charge. Welp tourist moment. We split it between the three of us, but that was still crappy to deal with. We've definitely learned our lesson - next week in Pisa I am buying a slice of pizza from a pizzeria and eating it outside.
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| A bust of Camillo di Cavour |
After our overpriced lunch, we visited another church that was exceptionally beautiful - La Chiesa di San Domenico before heading over to the gardens. We found Vittorio Emanuele on the way and I got his facial hair confused with Garibaldi's — sorry, world.We also found a lovely little antique flea market outside of another church we wanted to see but, but the name is currently escaping me and I'm too tired to both looking for it. The market was nice and had some particularly....interesting memorabilia. I really want to buy some antiques before I leave Italy, but I'm extremely paranoid about buying a "fake" antique and wasting my time, money, and luggage space to take it back to the States.
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The church of San Domenico
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FINALLY, the biggest highlight of the trip. First, you need to know: I hate heights. So did Rachel. 2/3 of our group hated heights. Second, this shenanigan cost money. A small cost, but still. Third, it involved 300+ stairs. Fourth, I have a crappy knee that hurts when it's about to rain/is raining***. So, what did we do? Rachel, Elena, and I climbed 300+ stairs at Bologna's Two Towers***, or specifically, the taller tower, Torra Asinelli.
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| The two towers. Naturally, we went up the taller one |
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| After 2343423890 stairs |
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| My favorite picture! |
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| A pretty fountain! |
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| Roman ruins, nbd |
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| What a nice dude parking next to ROMAN RUINS |
lolcoolthanksbye
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