Bologna Sandwich

We woke up and got packed and ready to leave Venice in the morning. Before we left we went and had some breakfast and I wanted to go for a ride on the water bus one last time but they were actually checking tickets for once so that plan was foiled. So went back (picture 1 is of the balcony of our hotel), got our bags, and walked to the train station. We talked to the guy about how much going straight to Florence was (€30) or how much a ticket to Bologna was (€8). So we went to Bologna and then went to Florence. It worked out really well because I wanted to go to Bologna anyway.

Bologna is located about an hour train ride north of Florence and is a major transportation hub because it is in the middle of Italy. It is known as "the red city" because of all the red bricks that are used in the buildings. The other kind of big thing about Bologna is that it has over 40 km of arcades in the city (picture 2 has both of those characteristics, the red brick and the arcade beneath the building). I don't mean the arcades with video games either. Almost all of the sidewalks are covered with arches along the side and on the top, that's the kind of arcades I am talking about. They are probably really nice in the summer because of the shade they provide. Besides the fact that they just look cool. We only left Vanessa's suitcase at the train station. I lugged my big and small backpacks with me all day. Not a good idea. My shoulders were killing me almost the whole time. I should have just paid the €4. Oh well, live and learn.

Anyway, so we started walking around. When we left Venice it was really cloudy but in Bologna, it was bright and sunny which was good. We went to the Piazza Maggoire and Piazza Nettuno first. They are the two main squares in Bologna. In the Piazza Nettuno, there is a fountain with a sculpture of Neptune. Right below him on the fountain is 4 sirens which have water coming out of their breasts which I thought was quite strange (picture 3). The church at the center of Piazza Maggoire is Basilica di San Pietro. It is the 5th largest church in the world. It also is not finished. The outside of the church is still only half done and will probably never be done (picture 4). It makes it really ugly because there is a line all the way around the church of white marble and the rest of it is ugly brown bricks. We didn't go inside the church just yet. Next, we found a small cafe to eat lunch in. Eating was always a little tenuous for the two of us because Vanessa wanted something more healthy and cheap usually where as all I wanted was something with meat that was cheap. In Italy, that usually led to a difference of opinion. We ended up finding a cafe and had (what else?) panini sandwiches. Next, we walked to the Le Due Torri, or the Two Towers (picture 5). Not the World Trade Center. They are two square skinny towers that lean. One tower is 95 m tall and leans 1.5 m. The other tower is 48 m tall and leans 3.9 m. The 48 m tower was supposed to be just as tall as the other but during construction, it leaned so much that they quit. You can climb to the top of the 95 m tower but we didn't.

We walked into the University District and went inside a small chapel called Oratorio di Santa Ceilia. There were 10 frescoes along both walls telling the story of St. Cecilia's life. From there we walked back past Le Due Torre and to the Basilica. There was a trio of guys playing guitars in the square out front (picture 6) so Vanessa watched the bags while I went inside the Basilica. It was MASSIVE. Along each side of the nave were probably 10 smaller chapels, each with a different theme and look to them. The columns were white and pink marble. Vanessa and I switched places and she went inside. Then we walked back to the train and got on.

The sun was setting over the Tuscan hills while the train sped along the tracks. It was very pretty. The hills with the green pine-looking trees reminding me vaguely of Oregon. We arrived in Florence and got to our hostel. My reservation didn't work apparently but we got a room anyway. It was a 4 bedroom that we shared with two Asian guys. They seemed nice enough but we never talked to them. We got settled then went out in search of food which took a while (for reasons mentioned before) and eventually settled on pizza. My pizza had bits of hot dog on it. Too weird. I wish I would have taken a picture of it. While we were out walking around we walked past the Duomo and Campanile which were just spectacular. It was love at first sight. I had read about them in ALP and in preparation but that didn't make me prepared for actually coming face to face with them. We came back and I read a bunch of books about Florence in preparation for out next day. I found out that I have 5 books that discuss Florence. I might have gone a it overboard but that's ok. I ended up going to bed a little early but woke up later when the two guys came back. One of them ended up snoring which sucked. I just can't get away from it. Another thing to mention about Florence is that it was quite a bit cooler there than London. Venice was the same way. Not good.