The Bahblog

Bologna

We had a wonderfully lazy start to our day, with a late lunch at our favorite cafe, La Biote, before heading out for an afternoon in Bologna. Bologna is the Tuscan city credited as the birth place of classic Tuscan cuisine - think "Bolognese", as well as Mortadella Bologna. We were both excited for an afternoon and evening of exploration and good food!

We snagged a cheaper ticket up to Bologna, and had to trek to the farther train station in Florence, which included passing through a graffiti covered tunnel.

Once on the train, it was an easy hour ride through the beautiful Italian mountains.

Upon arrival in Bologna, it was apparent to see we'd landed in a bustling city. One large difference from Florence was that no one was speaking English - the city appeared self container, instead of relying on tourist dollars. The authenticity was refreshing.

We set course to Piazza Maggiore, but took a detoir to wander through an enormous flea market, full of cheap and knock off items.

We get it Piazza Maggiore, and are immediately struck by the statue of Neptune in the plaza. This has to be the strangest statue I've come across - a naked and flaunting god of the sea, with water spouting from the nipples of the women statues below.

We were also struck by a gentleman in the Piazza with a microphone and a kareoke machine, singing classic American tunes to an audience of whomever walked by.

We say plenty of young folks wearing leafy wreathes around their heads, and later discovered it was traditional dress for graduation.

After the piazza, it was time to get lunch. We walked to a place called Breaking Toast, the reference to Breaking Bad I only got later (even after seeing the logo), and got sandwiches. I got a Mortadella Bologna sandwich, and cursed the name of Oscar Meyer for ruining such a delicious sandwich meat. We were building up our energy reserves to climb the Asinelli tower, the taller of Bologna's twin towers.

We finished our sandwiches and headed over to the towers.

We'd purchsed a ticket on line, and after waiting in a small queue, we began our climb.

The stairs wound and found, and felt never ending. But finally, we made it to the top.

After enjoying the views and snapping some photos, it was time to head down.

We did it!

From then we had a few hours to kill, so we walked south to Giardini Margherita park (the Margarita Gardens), and enjoyed a leisurely stroll.

The park was beautiful - full to the brim with locals relaxing and enjoying their Friday evening. A true slice of life.

With a bit more time before dinner, we returned to the city center and back to Piazza Maggiore. We sat on the square thinking back on our travels and enjoying the moment. Just before heading to dinner, we enjoyed street performers on the square playing "Daylight Come and Me Wanna Go Home"

Dinner was so enjoyable that we didn't stop to take pictures. I got reservations at a place called Gessetto Ristorante - we each got tagliatele dishes, shared a vegitable plate and enjoyed some chainti. For desert I ordered a vin santo, and we split an apple crumble. A woman in a Jack Daniels shirt came up to us and offered us a free "amaro." I accepted, and next thing I knew we had a shot of Jack Daniels Tennessee Honey at the table. Of this - I got a photo.

And before we knew it, it was time to head back to Florence!

We loved our time in Bologna. If I had to choose a place to spend quality time to actually learn Italian, Bologna would be the city, hands down.