After having the coffee in our room (which Dan doesn’t like much — I do not have discerning taste when it comes to coffee so it’s fine by me), we went outside. I looked to the left, where I think people who buy the breakfast here eat. Hm. Perhaps I’m wrong: it wasn’t open. Then we noticed that our little side street, off of the main one, was blocked at both sides. And it sure seemed quiet. Maybe people don’t get up as early as we did (but it was 10:00!) here? Walking to the main street we realized there were no cars, although the silly little tourist train was still running. Interesting! We looked online to see if there was some sort of special event but came up empty. Then I realized if this was the case for tomorrow we might have difficult getting a cab, so I got on WhatsApp and contacted the man who filled me in on where we are staying to ask what was up and how we would get a cab.

This street is normally quite busy with cars, motorcycles, buses, taxis, and bikes:

We landed at this church for a brief time, as we were really going to find better coffee…

After that we headed up to the street with restaurants, went up one street and down the next, and (typical of us) landed at the first place on the first street to have our coffees and croissants.

While there I received a reply to my message. The streets in the center here are closed on Saturday and Sunday. To get a cab (he didn’t offer to help — the first time that’s happened on our trip) I have to call and we meet the cab on another street. But the walk to the station is less than a mile, and it can be done under the porticos, so we are thinking we might just walk instead. Stay tuned to find out what we finally did!

And, finally, breakfast. After breakfast we walked a different direction than we had gone before (I think it was east). We were protected from the sun nearly the entire time, but up and down, and I just love these porticos!

We entered a church (and heard a group playing The Four Seasons, but we weren’t able to get into that area of the church.

More walking …

I’m not sure I’d want to be in the building at the top of this photo above!

On the way back we took a side street and, lo and behold, we wound up at Santo Stefano: a place I tried to get to yesterday (without using a map) but didn’t manage to figure out. Cool! Unfortunately we couldn’t get into the church(es) because they were just closing for a few hours.

More walking …

We walked west, trying to find the tortellini place with the two sisters who have been on several tv shows we’ve seen. Unfortunately they must be closed on Saturdays. Then we headed toward a place well known for sandwiches and that was so crowded — a huge long line) — and they have no chairs and tables so people eat sitting on curbs or stairs and we just weren’t up for that so we walked on, finally ending up a spot on another main drag. We ordered our sandwiches (which ended up not being sandwiches because they were out of those) and eventually wound up talking to a man and his wife who were visiting from Germany, a bit north of where my brother and wife (hi Greg & Jan!) live.

Then it was back to our room, but first a small gelato which I soon regretted. Just too much food! (Does gelato count as food?) Dan was working on getting more photos posted on his site, and I snoozed a bit and wasted time during the hottest part of the day (it got to 91°) … air conditioning is our friend.

Finally we went out again (but it was still awfully hot!), and ambled a while since the place we were hoping to be at for dinner didn’t open until 7:00. It was a nice little walk, and we did make a few photos.

Then we arrived at our dinner spot, Trattoria dal Biassanot, and enjoyed a dinner where … surprise, surprise … we had a bit too much to eat. I couldn’t finish my tortelloni, and we didn’t even bother with dessert. I’m hoping tomorrow will be a light meal day.

Our train is at a bit after 2:00 PM, so we have time to spare in the morning. And tomorrow is also a Very Important Day for two people in my life. You’ll have to stay tuned to find out who those two are (they know, though!). You also have to stay tuned to find out where we wind up. I can’t divulge that yet … gotta keep the suspense going. But you can try and guess if you’d like!

Where will Dan & Patty go next?

Ciao!

What a lazy day today. Dan was still not quite up to par, and we just took our time doing anything.

Dan figured out the shower (turns out the device on the thing is to turn on lights, a fan, and music. I’m sorry, but I do NOT want to listen to music when I’m in the shower! Oh .. wait … I lied. I am not at all sorry about that!

We had coffee in our room since they do provide that here (I didn’t pay for their breakfast), and eventually we got outside. There is an area with an indoor market, along with a multitude of restaurants and food shops, and we went into the market area to have another (and better) coffee, OJ, and we shared a croissant. So many of the croissants I’ve had in Italy have been sweet, and this was the case with this one.

We walked a while, seeing more graffiti than you can ever imagine. Or maybe not. Maybe you have a very graffiti-filled brain. Heck if I know. But there was a lot of graffiti. We knew to expect that this time: when we first came to Bologna years ago we were rather shocked. I think it’s the only city I’ve been to where, had I an implement that would work, I would feel nearly comfortable putting something up on a wall. (I hope there is nothing written that is offensive, but I don’t speak Italian so pardon me if that’s the case! I realize some just find graffiti offensive and I can’t do much about that. It’s just a reality in Bologna.)

Both of us began to feel a bit weary — Dan due to recovering and me due to that sweet croissant — so we we went back to our room where one of us napped and the other just wasted her time.

After a time Dan suggested I could go out on my own … a good suggestion because I was getting antsy and rather bored. So I took a somewhat long walk, wandering here and there with no destination in mind. I think I found the restaurant we ate the first time we were here. Pretty sure, anyway. I might have found the garage we parked in as well. I never did find the place where we spent the night though. If I remember correctly the entrance was rather nondescript, so it’s no wonder I can’t remember. (Plus we were barely here.) I think I could wander Bologna for a fairly long time. I did take one little break on a bench in the shade and just enjoyed the people passing by. (I’d never heard of the man pictured with the clarinet, but figured I’d post it in case any of my clarinet friends are interested.)

I came back to the room and decided to give that fancy shower a whirl. For the life of me I can’t figure out how to get the water to come out from above, but only from the side thingie (does that have a name?). After the walk the shower did feel mighty fine. I did not, however, listen to the music. Nope. I said I wouldn’t do it and I didn’t.

Out the door we went, and we walked a little and then headed to Sfoglia Rina for dinner. Neither of us had lunch, so dinner was on the early side (which is good since this restaurant closes quite early). I had lasagna and it was quite delicious! While we don’t eat meat at home, aside from some chicken and the occasional fish, here we try to have what locals have and/or recommend. So yes, I had lasagna alla bolognese. Quite yummy! The place is not your run of the mill restaurant. They have a board with items written on it (some crossed out if they are no longer available that day), and then you write what you want on the paper provided at your table, along with your table number (which we neglected to write … oops!), and hand the order to a server. While the photos below show empty seats it was full shortly after that and people were waiting outside.

We walked more, had (gulp … shame on me) a small cone of gelato, and yet more walking. We amble slowly, so I only got eight miles in today, but my watch is happy with me. Hey, maybe I’ll sleep tonight …? I can dream, right? Or, should I not sleep, I suppose I can’t.

A domani!

We had to wake on the early side today so we could get to the Siena train station too early. Yes, you read the correctly. We always get to train stations too early! I’m fine with the waiting, though, as long as I can sit somewhere.

Goodbye Siena. We loved visiting you!

Todays travel meant to trains. The first, a slower train, was quite full, but we managed to grab two seats together. A few stops later we wouldn’t have been as fortunate, so I’m glad there were only two stops before ours. That trip took us from Siena to Florence, and we had over an hour to spare before catching the next train.

Hello Florence. Or at least Firenze Santa Maria Novella train station.

One thing to note about train stations, or at least the one in Florence: continue to check to see what track you are on. The Trenetalia app may tell you one thing, and it sticks to that. But the board will post the correct one. This happened both times at that station.

Train #2 was a fast train. My fave! As before, I managed to book seats that were NOT facing each other, but instead were back-to-back. I honestly don’t know how I blew it on every train, but I did (I just checked and our final train is the same issue. Argh! That one is somewhat full, so we may have to ask someone to switch with us. We’ll see.). Thankfully the train was rather empty, and we were only going to the very next stop so we could sit together (At the last moment two men came in and I was in one of their seats, but one man was more than happy to move into mine and the other one sat across from him.) I was sort of sorry our train ride was only 35 minutes (and so much was in tunnels), but we quickly arrived at our next city.

Hello Bologna!

I’m not really prepared for this city: I did no research, I’ve read very little, and Rick Steve’s doesn’t include it in the Italy book. We just knew we wanted to return because we were here for a very brief time some years back.

We got situated in our room (never had to even see anyone: I was sent codes to get into the building and then into our fourth floor room — thankfully with a lift for this, contrary to so many places we’ve stayed this time), and puzzled over how we use a shower with some sort of remote control. Guess we’ll learn soon! (Photos below show our room, the view from a window, the lift, and the interesting front door.)

Leaving our room, we ventured out. We walked to Piazza Maggiore, which we remembered from our earlier visit and I was disappointed to see a huge screen and chairs set up for movies. It also means photographing the Basilica di San Petronio won’t be quite as easy. But so it goes. I realize for people living here movie nights are probably great fun, but I was so hoping to photograph the square, especially at night when everyone comes there to hang out. I have very good memories of seeing that before. Ah well. There is also a whole lot of construction going on in the area. Seems to be the way things are this year in a lot of cities.

Then it was time to search out lunch and we selected a place somewhat rapidly and — DRUM ROLL — we only ordered one thing (pizza) and shared it and we didn’t eat too much! Yes. Miracles do happen, even in the 21st century.

After eating on “La strada del Jazz” (there are stars with famous jazz artists’ names on the sidewalk, two of which you can see above) we wandered a little, but I think we both were kind of weary. Funny how train travel can do that … it’s not like we moved around at all while on the train! So rest time it was.

After a while Dan started to feel a bit poorly (food poisoning, perhaps?) so we hung out longer than expected in our room. Eventually I opted to go for a short walk. As I headed toward the door of our “inn” (or whatever it’s called) I saw a passport on the floor. Earlier I had heard a woman outside our door — I think she was having trouble getting inside her room or something — so I figured it was probably hers and, sure enough, it was. She was, as you might imagine, very relieved, saying that had it been taken it would have been sold on the black market. Probably so (although only people staying in this place can manage to get inside, I think). Then out on my walk I went. I thought perhaps I could find the place we ate when we were here years ago, but that was a fail. So I just rambled a bit.

(And yes, the tower in Pisa isn’t the only one that leans.)

And now I’m back in our room. It’s a dinner-less night. That’s probably good, since I’ve been eating far too much! I just hope Dan feels better tomorrow.

Ciao for now!