Bologna!

Monday, Sept 8, 2014

Welcome to the food portion of our travels!  (yeah, like we haven't been eating great food til now)

Today we drove from Cortina to Bologna, a city I've been wanting to go to for years.  Bologna is considered the capital of the food world in Italy, home to tortellina en brodo, ragu bolognese, mortadella, and of course, bologna (baloney).  Can't wait to get my taste on!

Ed is a natural at driving in Italy.  He doesn't get phased at all when scoooters and cars are weaving in and out of traffic patterns, or when he goes the wrong way, he just zips around and gets to where we need to be.  Nerves of steel, that man.

The AirBnB place we booked in Bologna was awesome!!  3 bedrooms, 2 full bathrooms, decent sized kitchen, lots of space in the living/dining room to hang out, just outside the old city center...really, just the perfect place for our city adventures.  The elevator to our 7th floor apartment was typical European - teeny tiny.  Too tight for all 4 of us to get in at once, at least for claustrophobic Tracy and me.

Happy Hour eats

Supposedly there's a great place to see the sun set in Bologna, but by the time we got there, it was too late, so we just enjoyed the famous happy hour - for 7 euros get a glass of wine (or, in our case, unlimited wine) and enjoy the buffet of food.  At the place we went to were lots of different bruschetta, so we made it a dinner as we soaked up the city ambience.

Joe at the base of Asinelli Tower

The next day the couples split up and Joe and I climbed the Asinelli Tower on our own - all 498 steps.  At first it was VERY narrow at the bottom, and claustrophobia was turning me back, but the large man in the teeny ticket booth (who has the worse office since he told me HE has claustrophobia as well) told me it opens up at the next level.

I would not have wanted to do this in high tourist season, because the stairs are very narrow, and having a line of people going up and down at the same time would be difficult.  Getting to the top was a workout, but well worth it for the view over Bologna.  A sea of red tiled roofs, then more modern world beyond.  Imagining what it might have looked like in the 1100's when the tower was built, this symbol of Bologna.

Ok, whatever, I'm hungry, and I want ragu bolognese!  Running down the stairs as fast as we could (which was not fast at all), we made it to Trattoria AnnaMaria, which is apparently a very popular place at dinner, but at lunch it was fairly empty.  My first taste of homemade tagliatelle ragu - indescribably delicious!!

OMG Yum!

Even though we're staying in Bologna for the next few days, this is the only day we have to explore this city.  Joe and I meandered down streets, headed to Quadrilatero (former medieval market) to peruse the food stores and stalls.  I picked up some things for dinner tonight at the apartment, then went to an interesting place - Teatro de Anatomica.  I'll let Joe tell you about that since that was his pick to do today.  Really wanted to see the whispering walls work in Piazza Maggiore, but there was music playing in the square, so it wouldn't work.

The most unusual thing we saw in Bologna (IMO) was a street dance performance - it was silent.  All the dancers had headphones on so they were listening to something (I think), and they all had strange hats and masks, but they would dance fast, then freeze, then dance slowly, then speed up, then move on to another area, all quiet to the onlookers.  Kinda cool.

Shockingly, I didn't once taste bologna or mortadella the whole time I was here.  Every time I saw them in a case, and I thought about asking for a tasting, the place was very busy and I didn't want to bother the guys working.  I regret it a little...but not much.

Dinner at the apartment was a nice change from eating out all the time, and the game of hearts we played was a great way to end the day...even if Ed did win.  Whatever.