Northern Italy

The River Countess docked at Chioggia, and we are taking a bus to Bologna. Now we are passing through a beautiful little town called Monselice, where there is an old, medieval fort atop the Eugenian Hills. There is very flat land here with small farms and terra cotta roofs. At 9:00 am it starts to rain. We are in the back of the bus with Ray and Ada from California and also with Beth and Pete from Portland. Our bus guide is Monica, whose English is not the best. She overuses the expression, “Oh, my God.” Many church steeples in the distance are poking up from flat land. I see many lines of trees used as wind breaks. We had dinner with Jim and Betty from Richmond, VA; Chuck and Debbie from Houston. Chuck and Patty live in a haunted house. They are missing their luggage. Linda is the heavy girl with a cloud of dark brown hair. In Bologno we visited the cathedral in the rain. Then I went to the university and Glenda went to the markets. The university has what may be the oldest medical school in Europe. The old lecture room has carved wooden statues of the great minds of medicine. It also has two anatomically correct carvings of male bodies with the skin removed supporting the sounding board over the lecture stand. Before lunch we went to a Bolognese cooking school where Glenda was chosen at random to go up and participate in the making of tortellini. She was chided by the instructor. She didn't seem to enjoy raw beginners. Our guide also barked at Glenda when she suggested that we sometimes put both garlic and Parmesan cheese on pasta. Apparently doing so in Bologna constitutes culinary heresy.Read more