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Up a little earlier than most days as Christina and I had to go get the laundry. Yesterday, I was commenting on how quiet San Marco is before the crowds, well at 8:30, it is empty, just the deliveries being made on the canal the musicians of the larger restaurants lining the square setting up for the day, full of activity but empty of tourists.
Picking up the laundry was fairly simple, grandma was working so the language barrier was an issued but we figured it all out. When we got back to the hotel, we finished packing and headed to the vaporetto stop to take our last trip up the grand canal to the train station.
Traveling with our new luggage has been quite nice, the 360 wheels make it so much easier to get around, they do like to roll away from you, but still easier than the version with just two wheels with one direction. We loaded on to the vaporetto and were off to the train station. This was Christina’s one and only trip up the canal, so Jerry and I made sure we pointed out the highlights, the various Ca, the Rialto Bridge and
the Rialto Market. It took us about 45 minutes to get to the train station. We had some time to kill, so we grabbed a quick bite and waited for the track to be posted.
Just before we left the place we got our snack, Jerry noticed something he had been looking for that is a Venetian specialty, Polenta Buns, so he bought one for us to eat on the train. They were great, buns made with polenta stuffed with ricotta and a bit of fruit. Very tasty.
There was again a last-minute coach change, the don’t seem to like coach 1 and always switch it. This was a smoother transition, as the conductor told you right away the correct coach when you arrived at coach 1, other stop on the trip it was not so smooth as everyone lines up at the spot where they believe their coach will be, well in 1 becomes 3 and 3 becomes 8 you can imagine the confusion and frustration.
Before I start on Bologna a brief Venice recap:
Favorite site: Doge’s palace secret itineraries tour
Best meal Al Paradiso
And you need at least 3 nights
in Venice, there is just too much to see and the pace slows way down.
On to Bologna.
Bologna We arrived in Bologna on time and relaxed. We took a taxi instead of the bus, to many people to much luggage. The train station in Bologna is a bit larger than most and a bit more confusing, coming back to catch the train to Florence might be a bit hectic.
Once we arrived at the Hotel Al Cappello Rosso (4 star) we checked in, our room was ready but Christina’s was not. The same thing happened in Verona, I guess Jerry and I are just having hotel karma this trip. The hotel is very nice, and a bit trendy for my taste. Each room is themed, ours is some comic theme from the 2016 comic festival held here. Doesn’t mean much to me, but it is interesting. Christina’s room is labeled cheap with cardboard boxes on the wall. Again, doesn’t make any sense, as your room is a bigger and more luxurious room than ours. Our room is very nice and the staff is very helpful and friendly, bed a bit soft, but a
nice sized room and shower and most importantly A/C works great, it is a bit hotter here than other cities we have been in.
After checking in, we headed out for our walking tour, first stop Mercato di Mezzo for lunch. This is a market similar to the one in Madrid they we loved. A food hall, with various stalls selling different types of food, a place for salads, one for pasta, wine bar and so on. It is much smaller than in Madrid so more manageable, just not as many choices. After walking around the entire market, we decided upon our lunch. Jerry and I split a beautiful caprese salad and a tagliatelle with Bolognese sauce. They were both very delicious, Christina also had the pasta. I had a couple glasses of reginal white wine. Its vacation, and I am just now getting in to the wine with lunch, not sure what has taken so long, but I am in full vacation mode now. It always takes a week to fully unwind, which is why we like 3-week vacations.
After lunch, Jerry and I went to the ATM to replenish our Euros. Along the way we stumbled
upon Tamburini, and salumeria on steroids, it had every cheese and meat you could imagine. Would come back later to by some salami for Nick, an associate at work. We found the ATM easily, even the right bank. When we stepped out the bank and looked down the street we saw the La Due Torri, these are two of 60 remaining tours in the city. In the height of Bologna every family of importance had a tower there were over 200 back in the day. The Torre degli Asinelli is 320 feet tall and leans 7 ½ feet. You can go to the top if your up for 500 wooden close quarter steps. We thought about it and then after seeing it said NO. We headed back to the market where we left Christina and then did our little walking tour.
Most of what we were seeing today were in around the Piazza Maggiore, which was right by our hotel. We went in the Basilica di San Petronio (patron saint of the city) which is still unfinished to this day. Next up was Fontana Del Nettuno, apparently a racy fountain for its day, with a naked Neptune, seductive angels
and women holding their breast while water sprang from their nipples, yet the people put that aside and used the fountain to do their wash.
The Palazzo on the square were both under renovation so they could not be seen the Palazzo Comunale was not being renovated and it is the largest of the structures on the square next to the church. This is mainly a government building then and now. We then walked down the street to the Maercarto Erbe, one of the markets where the locals shop, it was pretty late in the day and they were basically closing down.
On the way back to the hotel we stopped in our first grocery store of the trip and bought some wine for, yes wine-thirty, back in the room.
When we checked in we had the woman at the front desk reserve a restaurant recommended to us in Rome, Trattoria dal Biassanot (night owl) mascot is a black cat.
The walking tour complete we all adjourned to our rooms to relax enjoy wine and of course for me blogging.
Dinner We were excited for our first dinner in Bologna, food center of Italy.
Lunch was really good and simple so we figured dinner would be as well. We meet in the lobby and headed to the restaurant, we missed one turn but eventually found the place. We opted for inside, mistake number one as it was just too hot, even though the supposedly had AC, not much use when you keep the door open. The place was quaint enough and very busy, several large tables, lots of young male students, people seemed to be enjoying themselves.
It took awhile to go through the menu, the primi choices were 2 pages, it was easy to pick our appetizer we all agreed on the antipasti, meats, cheese and crispy fired veggies. There was a two-person minimum so we just said for three, big mistake they brought out a platter that almost covered our table.
We then reached ordered a primi as follows:
Jerry – Tortellini stuffed with Ham with pine nuts (they used turnips and this made the tortellini pink.
Christina – Tortellini Brodo – Tortellini in broth, tasty but a huge portion
Chris – Lasagna Verde. A spinach pasta lasagna with Bolognese sauce, best pasta of the three.
We were actually full at this point, but we had already ordered entrees, so on to the next course.
Jerry and Christina – Braised wild boar over polenta. This was not a good dish, the boar was not braised long enough so not that tender, and the addition of raisins just made it to sweet. Christina did not like the polenta. However, it was basic polenta. Let’s face it polenta is the poor Italian’s staple, just as grits are in the south and in truth they are really just the same thing with different names.
Chris – A Bolognese version of saltimbocca, veal was breaded and friend then prosciutto layered on top and cheese melted on the top of that, it was really pretty good.
We had a local red wine Sangioveose of some sort, inexpensive but pretty good.
As full as we were we all had dessert. Jerry and Christina had semifreddo, both were disappointed, had strawberries with ice cream. The strawberries were fine, but they certainly were not Oregon strawberries, and nothing ever will be.
After dinner we went to check out where the cooking class would be tomorrow, since it was on
the same street. Good thing we did, because the entrance was in the alley behind the street. Then we strolled back to the hotel, all a bit disappointed with our first dinner, but with hopes of things to come.
Dish of the day – Antipasti
Step count 50, it’s a flat city and we didn’t climb any tours.
Tomorrow Cooking Class
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Connie Craddock
non-member comment
Favorite sites
What is your favorite site of the day each day? Take a picture of the markets - sounds interesting. I know nothing of the areas- trees, flowers?