Bologna

1st - 2nd September 2009

We eventually arrived into Bologna after all the trouble with the trains back at Verona. Again we had really clear directions to our hotel, which needed to a bus to get us there. We found a tabacchi in the station and purchased two tickets for our bus, next we just had to find where the number 25 left from. We found the stop, but the bus wasn't heading in the direction we needed. There were plenty of other stops in the bus terminus of the train station, however we just couldn't find where the 25 left from. Turns out we had to cross the busy road, and hidden underneath a big verandah was the bus stop! We jumped on the bus and our hotel was at the very last stop on the line, so needless to say it was a little way out of the city centre, but it only took about 15 minutes. The hotel was a luxurious palace compared to some of the other places we've stayed so far. The thing I was most impressed with was the fact that it had air conditioning, so I was assured of a good nights sleep at the least. Dan was impressed that they had Sky TV, and changeable languages on most shows, so he was able to watch Seinfeld and Simpsons in English. I found it funny that they had McLeod's Daughters on, dubbed into Italian!

After dropping our bags we headed back into the city to have a bit of a look around. We found a little café and ate some lunch, it wasn't very nice, but it was cheap. After eating we checked out the big Basilica (San someone - it started with B or maybe M) in the centre of town. It is the 5th largest in the world, but it was never completed. It was pretty nice, and there was some sort of zodiac date line on the floor, which neither Dan nor I could figure out.

We wandered a bit further and found 2 of the leaning towers of Bologna. One of them has about a 3m lean to it. The other, which has only about a 1m lean, you can actually climb the 498 stairs to the top of it for 3 Euros. We couldn't be bothered to do so, but still read all about these towers. They were built back in the 12th and 13th century as defense towers, and there is estimates that there may have actually been over 100 of them scattered around bologna, but only 30 or so still survive. Lightning and Earthquakes continue to damage them, but people are trying to restore them to safety.

We ended up spending the rest of the afternoon having a look in the shopping area. I found a bookstore that sold English books and was excited to see that there was a book that I'd wanted to read, for a nice cheap price. We also found a little café and got some Panini's to go, and Dan picked up some beer at a very cheap price. I find it amusing that beer over here is actually cheaper than Coke, and in some cases water.On the bus back out to the hotel, I actually read the blurb of the book that I'd bought and realised that I'd read it, but it just had a different cover over here. Damn.

We spent the rest of the evening trying to figure out how to get the wireless Internet to connect to my laptop, with very little success. I could connect to facebook, Gmail and Google, but no other pages would load. Bizarre. We ended up using the computer that they had in the lobby for a little bit and checked up on the other goings on in the world. We ate our Panini's for dinner and relaxed in air-conditioned comfort watching Entourage and Seinfeld.

The next morning we had to set the alarm to make sure that we got up for breakfast. We made our way down to the buffet breakfast and filled up on hams, cheeses, breads, pastries and all the other good stuff. We had some very strong coffee and some yogurts and cereals and everything. If it's free, we'll eat it, and we did. After breakfast we showered and caught the bus back into the centre of town. There are really no big attractions to Bologna, so we just wandered through more of the city streets looking at all the pretty cool buildings, and we did manage to see nearly every point of interest marked on our map. The Neptune fountain with the 4 sirens that shoot water out of their boobs was pretty cool. Lonely Planet informed us that there were 100's of good eating spots up near the university, so we made our way up there to find some lunch. I feel completely lied to, because we only managed to find 3 or 4 dodgy little café bars. So after an hour loop we found our way back to the main street, still hot, thirsty and hungry. We eventually found a nice looking restaurant and sat down for some lunch. Dan was finally able to get his bolognaise in Bologna, and I was less exciting and opted for a carbonara, again. The funny thing is, that although spaghetti bolognaise was supposedly created here, no one has it on the menu. It's always tagliatelle bolognaise, which seems odd. Tortellini is also supposed to have come from the area, and it was virtually impossible to find a place that made homemade stuff. I was severely disappointed, because after a good agnolotti/ravioli, tortellini is my favourite kind of pasta. Dan's lunch was much nicer than mine, and we both found it odd that it wasn't overly tomatoey, but it was damn nice. I still think the one we make at home is nicer though!

I was feeling the effects of the heat, and was feeling pretty s***ty. So we decided to call it a day after lunch and head back to the hotel and relax in comfort while we could. A number of panadol's later and a nap and I was still feeling crap, so we decided to just have dinner in the little restaurant they had in the hotel. It was pretty basic, but it was cheap and tasty. Dan had the ragu (Bolognaise) again - twice in the one day is a pretty good effort. I had the ragu too. It was pretty ordinary, but it filled the spot. It was pretty early to sleep for me, I was completed knackered and needed to energise myself for the next few days which we're spending in Firenze, or Florence to you English folk.

We're on the train there now, it should only take about 55 minutes, but for some reason the train is going really slowly and stopping every few minutes, I hope it doesn't break down. The train travel over here is ridiculously cheap; depending on which train operator you travel with. So far we've been lucky and been able to get on the cheap ones each time - until now. Our only option was to travel on the euro star for this one, so instead of 9 Euros, it is costing us 18 each, but it is a bloody nice train, it seems a shame we're not even going to be on it for an hour.