Tuesday already, and we are falling in love with this town. The people are its great asset - we have yet to be treated in anything but a warm way by anyone. The large population of students means it is literally full of bookshops. Unlike Rome, much of the Roman and Etruscan history is hidden, allowing you to focus on the medieval years. Despite some pretty savage demolitions and some war damage, there is a lot to charm the visitor, and in particular the literally kilometres of porticos, a response to urban crowding that has become a point of singularity and a very comfortable way to get around. We may get a chance to test the latter point as rain is forecast for tomorrow!

As travellers do, we have one eye to the next step, so started today with a 20 minute walk to the station to buy seats on the Freccia Rossa to Milan on Friday. We managed the self serve, which is just as well seeing the ticket office seems to be in a secret location! The plan was then to do a bit of shopping in the Quadrilatero, the area where craftsmen used to ply their trades, and which now houses the various food markets. We decided to let someone else provide our tortellini at dinner, but did buy some mortadella, another local specialty, along with some local bread, some riberries and some fragoline- very small strawberries. The first two ingredients went together very nicely at lunch.

The post prandial exercise was intended to be to make a reservation at a Trip Advisor recommended restaurant - called Cinque 50. - then to take the trenino to the Santuario della Madonna do San Luca -a distance of about 4km. We found the restaurant and booked, but had less luck with the trenino, given that it only runs Thursday to Sunday. A small but important point on a Tuesday.

We then moved to plan B , which for us is always un buon caffe. We love the local tradition of providing a small glass of mineral water to cleanse the palate before the coffee. And all for 80 centesimi. Thus fortified we made for the Museo della Storia di Bologna - which was really a superb way to get a sense of some of the history we had been hearing in bits and pieces over the previous 48 hours. It is a very thoughtful chronology from the Etruscan city of Felsina to the Roman city of Bononia to what we now know as Bologna. They make excellent use of video and even a lovely 3D film which encapsulates much of the story. By the end of two hours neither legs nor minds could take much more, so we glossed over the modern era, despite it including luminaries like Marconi.

While Anne had a rest after what the UP told us was 10.2km of walking, I sallied out to find an Italian novel that met the Three Bears test- not too long, not too hard. I also picked up a couple of DVDs with Italian subtitles - which stops me being too lazy! (I should probably explain that Anne has a bit of RSI that is preventing her from using the iPad, so Mick is doing all the initial writing, but be assured of strict editorial oversight!)

I joined the resting brigade and then we did some housekeeping before heading to our dinner reservation in Via Goita. The TA reviews were almost universally 5/5. The average between Anne and I would probably be 4.5. Wine excellent - a San Giovese- local. Antipasti excellent - the bufala mozzarella was beautifully creamy, and the crescentine were as light as feathers. The fresh pasta was all you could desire- mine tagliatelle con porcini, and Anne's tortellini alla panna. Anne had fresh fruit, and I had an affogato with Tartuffo ice cream - a first, but hopefully not a last. My only real reservation was that the menu was just a bit limited with several appetisers reappearing as secondi! The host was charming without being over the top and explained the significance of the name of the restaurant - Cinque 50. He wanted the business to last 5 years at which time he would be fifty. It has, and he is now onto his second 5 years.