Bologna

I took the train from Florence to Bologna, which took about 40 minutes, getting in around 3:45 in the afternoon.  When I arrived there, I walked about 15 minutes down the main street, Via dell Indipendenza, to Piazza Maggiore, the main square in the center of town. The tourist information there helped me find a place to stay, so I went to the` hotel to relax for a little bit because I was feeling pretty tired and hoping I wasn't getting sick.  A little bit later, I went looking for a place to eat.  The guy at the front desk of the hotel recommended a few places for me.  He was a cute friendly older man who was quite proud of his city!  Besides the restaurant recommendations, he told me all about how Bologna used to have a wall around the city (you can still see remnants of the wall and arches), and how there used to be many canals all around before the city built up over them (you can still see one of them near my hotel).  I walked around for a bit before coming upon a group of guys playing music outside a wine bar.  They were singing some Elvis and Johnny Cash and were pretty good!  I love live music and will usually always stop to listen for a while, so that's what I did.  I decided to grab a glass of wine and sit, and as I was sitting there, one of the waiters brought me some chips and a plate of food similar to bruschetta to snack on.  He said it was included with the wine.  That's when I remembered reading about how some places do that here.  You can go have an apertif drink that includes some snacks or finger foods with it.  For some people, as it was in my case that night, it can end up being dinner.  So after a couple glasses of wine and some food, the band finished playing, and I was ready to call it a night.

The next day I went out to see what the city of Bologna had to offer me.  There was actually still snow on the ground here, so it was pretty cold, and I had to watch out so as to not walk through any slush!  I walked up to Piazza dell VIII Agosto, where there is usually a big market (in better weather, I guess, since it wasn't up and running).  Across the street is Parco della Montagnola, which I walked around a bit before heading up Via Irnerio to the university area.  I think I read that the university here is the oldest or one of the oldest in Europe.  Some parts were kind of charming, but not many, unfortunately, so I headed down to Porto Ravegnana, where the Due Torri (two towers) are.  There are pretty much Bologna's version of the Leaning Tower of Pisa (but not nearly as nice to look at), and there are two of them.  One's much taller than the other, and you can climb it for views of the city.  I walked around, passed some museums, and ended up at Saint Stefano Church, which the guy at the reception of my hotel told me to check out.  It was a really pretty little church, and while I was in there, mass started!  I hung around for a little while before eventually sneaking out the back.  I wandered around some more, stopped in at the Basilica de San Dominico, bypassed a few more museums (I really just didn't feel like doing much that day - I would later realize why...), and ended up at the main square.  I noticed that there was confetti and streamers randomly strewn about on the ground, and there were some tables set up around the square where people were selling those things, plus masks. I saw a sign that said something about Carnavale, and I remembered reading that this is the time of year that Venice has its huge Carnavale (like our Mardi Gras), so I figured that the other cities in Italy must have their own versions.  I decided to go back to the hotel for a little bit because I was feeling under the weather.  My ear was starting to bother me, too.  I chilled out for a bit before heading out to dinner because I was determined to have pasta bolognese, since this was Bologna, where bolognese sauce come from (and pretty much the main reason I even came here).  I had some tagliatelle bolognese, which was good, then went back to the hotel to crash.

In the morning, I decided to head on to Parma.  I don't want to say that I didn't like Bologna, but it just wasn't as charming as the other places I've been so far.  After two days, I was ready to move on, though as it turns out, I really was getting sick, so that may have had an effect on how I felt about being there.