Blogs from Emilia-Romagna, Italy, Europe
May 23rd 2012
A hop, skip and a plane ride from London! We had a great flight then proceeded to get on the train fro Parma to reggio emilia. Glad we came after the big Quake that happened here. There is some damage as you can expect fro an area that has such old buildings. he sad part was that at this point 7 people lost their ives and any are left without homes. For the most part everything seems to be going as usual even though several buildings have some daage and barriers surrounding them. Nick and Marks place is very centrally located with cafe's, shop's surroundng it. We wet right away to their favorite hang out spot here everyone seems so nice and welcoming. They go have coffee in the ornng, Prosecco and apertivos in the evenng ... read more
May 15th 2012
After a wonderful breakfast of searching for flights for Ashley and pastries, we were off to Ravenna for the day to tour some very old mosaiced cathedrals and churches. None of us were entirely sure what to expect but we were all pleasantly surprised at the end of the day. We started out in the rain, wandering around the charming city of Ravenna. We found our first destination, a baptistery with a tiled ceiling depicting the baptism of Christ. We were blown away by the colors, the detail and especially the longevity of these mosaics. This particular mosaic was almost entirely intact and had already survived about 1500 years! The contrast between the religious art in Ravenna and Bologna was as stark as can be. Because of all the rain in Ravenna, frescos, which are so ... read more
May 13th 2012
We are traveling in Italy - but where is Ashley? She has a later flight and we're anticipating her arrival when Aunt Sue gets a call... MAMA MIA! Ashley forgot her passport in La Crosse. We climbed a huge watch tower in the center of Bologna, which gave a beautiful view of the city. We finally discovered why the city is nicknamed La Rossa "Red," because all the rooftops are a reddish color. And also La Grassa "Fat" because of the pasta!... read more
May 7th 2012
We took a late night flight to Bologna, Italy for a burn around the country side and some fine eating. We woke in our reasonably priced, but very clean hotel room to bright blue skies. Which was a nice change from a gloomy April in London. Scott and I headed into the main square to wait for a flying pick up by Adam and Myles who had been driving around Tuscany leading up to the long weekend. We had a poke around the square and found an excellent little foodie alley with amazing hams, cheeses, fish and fresh fruit and vegetables which was a buzz with locals picking up their groceries. We enjoyed one of many espressos watching the world go by, including a pensioner enjoying an early morning dirty martini. Why not on a beautiful ... read more
April 15th 2012
After breakfast in the hotel, we walked down Via Settembre to the Santa Maria....Bascilica. This is a beautiful church with amazing art and surprise, a lot of information on Galelio. Fortunately we had purchased umbrellas the afternoon before and we used them on our drizzly stroll. In the afternoon, we were driven to the next county-the Vatican.While we had overcast skys all day, it didn't rain in the afternoon. I guess it was worth lighting the candle in church this morning. I don't think I can begin to describe the beauty of St Peter's Square and the Sistene Chappel. To see work by Raphael, Michaelangelo, and Bernini to name a few-well, it was just incredible. How can one describe being surrounded by the m of theasterpieces of the greatest artists of the Baroque and Renaissance? Pictures ... read more
April 14th 2012
Our flights were smooth and uneventful, in my book Perfect.About 6 hours into our 8 hour flight from Newark, I decided to raise the shade knowing it was completely dark outside. (Did I mention it was an 8 hour flight?) Expecting total darkness, I was pleasantly surprised to see bright star clusters. At 34,000 feet it seemed that I was at eye level with the stars. As daylight approached, the horizon turned from a deep red to a brilliant gold. Rising from the cloudcover were magestic peaks of the Alps. If I were writing a screenplay, this is how I would create the view from Heaven. We touched down at 7:30 am Roma time on Friday (12:30 pm Thursday, Houston time). We shared a New York type cab ride to our hotel in the historic section ... read more
Italy, Chapter IV-Bologna and Parma
Published: October 17th 2011Europe » Italy » Emilia-Romagna » Bologna
October 17th 2011
Note: All events mentioned in this entry occurred back in late February 2007. For more updated trips and entries, please refer back to this entry at a later date. An updated trip or entry will NOT include a note like this. Thanks and enjoy! The next day, I check out of the hostel around 8 AM GMT and head to the train station, where I buy a train ticket from Florence to Bologna. My train finally arrives 30 minutes later, and is a fast train. About an hour and a half later I arrive in Bologna and take a taxi to my hotel, which is under heavy construction and renovation. By the time my room is ready and I put my luggage up it is 2 PM GMT, therefore all I have very limited amount of ... read more
September 25th 2011
After sleeping well from an evening of eating and drinking we woke early and had a breakfast of cooked prosciutto, bread, fruit with a few double espressos. Ernesto and Ginetta came by to see us off. Son Patrick came from his house around the mountain and brought his baby boy Filipo with him. Family and all the people up here are very friendly and life is enjoyed at a more relaxed pace than in the big cities. Artemio and Mirella were great hosts. This area has many peaks that are a haven for outdoor enthusiasts and cyclists. There are clear mountain streams for fly fishing and alpine meadows to enjoy. We had to get to Molina across the valley and up and over another mountain. We descended from Arina using a partially paved back mountain road ... read more
September 19th 2011
We had two lucky breaks today. Traveling from Venice to Cinque Terre involved several changes of train, so when planning we had decided to stay overnight somewhere on the way to break up the travel. Parma was a small town on the way, so we decided to book accommodation, blessing in disguise. We had not been able to book online the train to La Spezia, so we decided before leaving the station to book the train for the following day. Whilst in the long line up, many people were indicating frustration at not being able to see on the boards what platform to go to for the La Spezia connection from Parma, due in only about 15 mins. It seems there is a train strike today, so no train connections to La Spezia were going ... read more
August 2nd 2011
This part of the trip was one of my favourites. Rimini is a party town but full of Germans, a bit like their version of Magaluf or somewhere British young people go. Our hostel called the Jammin party hostel lived up to it's name. When we arrived we went down to the beach and just sat looking out to the sea as this was our first time at a beach resort. That night we decided to go to bed early, the German girls in our room were going out and their male friends were there. A while after they left the boys burst back into the room and demanded that Ally kiss them!!! She didn´t luckily and since then we have tried to stay away from groups of German boys. The next day we hired sun ... read more
