Bologna

Bologna:

Thursday March 4:

We left for Bologna Thursday afternoon around 3:30. Kayley, Hilary, Kelsey and I were off on our first travel break! Once we arrived in Arezzo, we took a train the rest of the way to Bologna. The train only lasted an hour and half. Unfortunately we had assigned seats and we had to kick someone out of our seat. This made for an interesting ride though. He was a young guy about 20 or so, he was in military attire. Hilary kept saying how sorry she felt for him and that she felt bad kicking him out of our seats. She even suggested that we all squeeze together so that he could sit with us. He was sitting in the aisle and I kept reminding them to speak quietly since we were all talking about him. They informed me that he could not hear us because the door was closed, however when he made a call on his cell phone, we could hear him. I laughed at Hilary, and she then resorted to “oh, well maybe he doesn’t speak English” which is a ridiculous assumption. It did suffice for the time being though. Meanwhile we continued to discuss how cute he was and were staring at him through the glass; must have been awkward for him. We never did find out if he spoke English, but either way I’m sure he didn’t mind. Once we arrived in Bologna we were met by Kyle, Hilary’s boyfriend, who accompanied us to the bed and breakfast we were staying at. The bed and breakfast Baroni was very nice; that is once we found it. It took us quite a while to weave through all of the little streets, but we made it there. We were given 2 rooms, one king bed and one with three single beds. The rooms were clean and the family running the B&B were very nice and homey. Although Kayley does not think it is true, I am convinced that the beds were temprapedic imitators, they were extremely comfortable to say the least. Once we were settles in, we decided to go out in search of food; the woman running the B&B gave us a suggestion. It was not one of our most memorable eating experiences, the food was good but it didn’t impress otherwise. After dinner, we were all so tired from traveling and wanted to be well rested for the coming day, we retired for the evening.

Friday March 5:

We woke at 8am to breakfast in our rooms. It was simple, some nutella and toast, but definitely nothing substantial. While the B&B was extremely safe and clean, it is not the place to go if you are excited for breakfast, because you will be disappointed. We got ourselves together and decided to find something else for breakfast. We happened upon this amazing place called La Raquette Caffetteria Aperitivi, we had the best cappuccinos and chocolate croissants. To add to that, it was really inexpensive. We then visited the oldest university in the world, the University of Bolgna. It was so interesting to see all of the old classrooms and all of the crests on the walls of all of the former students. We even eavesdropped on a tour group; the guide was telling them that one of the crests had come from an American that had come to Bologna to study there. The university was built in 1563 and is called the Archiginnasio Palace. The university was built by an architect from Bologna named Antonio Morandi. We were able to go into the classroom that was used for teaching about surgery and any medical classes. There was a piece of marble in the center of the room that the professor would use to show examples of medical procedures to the students. The university is still an acting university and there were parts of the newer university that we could not go into because they were for current students. I think that would be interesting to attend a university and have someone giving a tour on the other side of campus. It seems ironic to me!

After that we popped over to see the Archaeological museum. That museum was mainly focused on Egyptian and ancient artifacts. There was art from the prehistoric age, the Etruscan age, the Gallic age, and the roman age. As we were concluding the museum I happened upon an alligator that had been preserved in a way so that every part of it was still intact. I also saw mummified cats and dogs, quite interesting. I am not really sure what to think of that, on one hand they were taking their pets with them to the afterlife and on the other they were wrapping them up to bury with them. The museum had a fountain in the main courtyard, it had a small child and inside the fountain there were fish. It was raining that day and it looked so peaceful and serine with the rain hitting the water with the fish in it.

Lunch…… A whole other world of yummyness!!!

We ate lunch at a place called Cesari, it was wonderful! Kayley spotted the restraint because it had a Michelin sticker on it, indicating that it was recognized in a guide book. It was a wonderful meal and the price was moderate. The setting was quaint and family style.

Until next time, we will continue with the rest of my exciting day!!!!!