Today we farewelled southern Tuscany and headed north visiting Siena on our way to Bologna. Our start was a little halted by trying to find someone to check us out of our accommodation. It appears 8.30am might have been a little early for the hosts. Siena is a not quite as large a city as Arezzo yesterday. We wondered if we had parked in the right place when we first walked into the no drive zone. There was very little clue as to what was to come. Very early on it was apparent this was a university town. It had a very different vibe to it, with lots of young adults on the streets. The main Piazza being the host of the famous horse races was architecturally not as grand as some we have visited over the last few days, but made up for this with scale. It was much larger, and like most we have experienced over the last few days in the hill towns, it had quite a slope to it. For R there was a strong sense of having been here before. A walk out of the square through the shopping Main Street led us and a few tour groups at the same time, to the Duomo or Cathedral. What a sight this makes. Ornate and very large, with amazing detailing inside and out. This is a building of craftsmanship, and to think it was designed to be even bigger, with half a wing left uncompleted (or destroyed) being used for live music. The flautist and a Brazilian guitar player, were entertaining the passers by some very appropriate atmospheric music. Siena appears to have a strong music tradition, with many buildings dedicated to the musical arts. It was then onto the Autostrada heading north out of Tuscany over the (or in our case through the hills) to Bologna. Donkey did a great job of cruising at 120km and was happy to oblige 130km when allowed by the speed limits. R a little worried about speeding tickets when we get home! Two lanes of traffic with the inside lane almost being back to back trucks. Having purchased a data mobile package (R's phone now has a new number), we were able to navigate to our accommodation using Google maps. It got the time from Siena to our accommodation in central Bologna correct to the minute - very impressive. Our new 'digs' are fine. Small hotel style B&B, very centrally located, with (expensive, 25E a day) car parking garage thirty metres away. We walked into town and investigated the Jewish quarter where we had dinner at a recommended restaurant. It was a very small restaurant only open for two hours but showcased Bologna's famous food reputation. It's certainly lived up t its billing. We left very happy and looking forward to exploring more of the inner cityq highlights tomorrow. As we checked in we were informed that Bologna was famous for having the first University in Europe which began about 1000 years ago, so please disregard incorrect entry about Perugia claiming this fact! A lot more bicycles here with dedicated lanes here and there. Again many young people out and about to indicate the cities purpose and absence of the many tourists we saw in Siena. Now to plan tomorrow - a trip to Maranello and the Ferrari museum (M will take her book to read...) and another dreaded trip to a local laundromat. We didn't need to use it but have given the best looking laundromat prize to Montepulciano, it even provided a comfy looking sofa...