Emilia-Romagna

Up early to get to the station taking bags up and over all the canal bridges. But not too bad, and when we were nearby we stopped and had yum juice, coffee and croissant. Sorry to say goodbye to the magic of Venice, but I do find now that we are in Bologna it is good to have a bit more space walking the streets! An easy ride on a fast regional train, and a waste of money buying tickets as no one ever checked them (likewise on our trip to Vicenza)! Oh well…we are honest people…and no masks on these trains, though I believe you are meant to on PT…we were told to put them on on the high speed train from Rome….

Arrived at Bologna just before 12 and staying at the Mercure right near the station, so handy, where we have stayed before. Though early, our room was ready and we were upgraded to a high level with balcony and quite swish! Treated like platinum Accor people, and were given our welcome drink voucher!!

It is another fine and perfect day, and we walked out in short sleeves, though will probably cool off deliciously in the evening. We walked along the long main street into the old historic centre. Such a lovely city, with colonnades along all the streets - shade from the sun and protection from rain…the colonnades are varied and just delightful - kilometres of them. Wandered round the old part and went into the building which was part of the very old university of Bologna famous for its medical school and went into the old anatomy theatre and the old law lecture theatre. All decorated rooms, and one sculpture is of a cherub handing what looks like a flower to a lady, but on close inspection it is a femur! And inspected several enormous cathedrals, churches.

The biggest and main one, on the Piazza maggiore is S Petronius …very interesting facade - the bottom half pink marble, and the top is brown bricks. I overheard a guide telling a group that tomorrow is the feast day of S Petronius and everything will be closed (schools etc, not shops) and we saw that tomorrow there is a tortellini festival with 20 chefs each demonstrating their tortellini skills!

Tomorrow we also plan to go to Modena where Amr wants to visit the Ferrari museum…not my choice, and I will explore the streets and read my kindle while he does the Ferrari bit.Leia mais