Advertisement
Leaning Tower Of Bologna?
Yes, Bologna had a leaning tower as well. We headed out on the 12:25pm train to La Spezia from Riomaggiore. Was sad to see the cliffs and sea disappear. We had about an hour to kill till our train to Parma and I hate to say that Richard and I violated one of our cardinal rules here at this train station. We ate at McDonald's. We had just gotten kind of sick of eating pasta and pizza in a continuous rotation with a gelato sometimes in bewteen. I'll admit it though, it felt good to be in warm embrace of the Golden Arches.
Caught the train to Parma. We passed through the mountains that pretty much divide Italy in half vertically, almost like its spine. It reminded me of the US, because after we had finished going through the mountains, it was nothing but plains, resembling the Midwest. Got to Parma two hours later. We had 45 minutes till our train to Bologna left, so we walked around the town a bit. Not much to see, just shops selling big balls of parmasean cheese. No tourists which meant one thing, no English. I stopped at a place to grab a bite and it was this ham sandwhich
Chaplin And Bologna
An exhibit of Charlie Chaplin themed art. I don't know if he is from Bologna or not. Stupid question...maybe. wrapped in pizza dough. Wasn't bad, but the guy at the restaurant didn't speak a word of English and I really had to use the restroom, but didn't know the Italian word for "bathroom" but I knew the word for "piss". So I pointed down this hallway in the place and said "pisha, pisha" and I think the guy thought I wanted to urinate on his floor. So we left and went back to the station to find a bathroom. Couldn't find one anywhere, so I asked this Italian kid where it was, he pointed me to the very end of the station and when I walked in to the bathroom, there was guy sitting at a table with a cash register. It was 60 cents to use the bathroom. Money well spent.
Sat by three Northern Illinois students on the train to Bologna and they let us try a piece of the parmasean cheese they had bought. It was really good, but I think I just figured because it was from the place that invented it, well, it must be the best. An hour later we were in Bologna. Bologna is known as a college town, couple tourist
Via Zamboni
This is what Via Zamboni probably looks like after 10 beers. sites, but for the most part its just a normal Italian city, which was cool, but it meant it would be more difficult for Richard and I at restaurants and bars.
Got to the hotel, unpacked our stuff, and walked down to the happening street there, Via Zamboni. We walked past bar after bar after restaurant after club. It was a cool street, then we came to this plaza and it was just hordes of young, dirty, hippie looking kids sitting down and drinking. We ate at this place that served wraps, walked to a liquore store, bought a beer, and walked back to the plaza to soak it in. When we got there, a guy approached Richard and said "You look like you speak English" so we yelped yes and attached ourselves to this college aged guy and his girlfriend. They were from Canada and were really funny and nice. We bought some more beers and sat in this plaza talking. Then this homeless, stoned out of his mind Italian guy walked over to us, put on a Groucho Marx looking mask, and starting playing air guitar and singing "Message in a bottle, message in a bottle" over
Message In A Bottle
Because of this crazy guy, I had that song stuck in my head over the next two days. and over. Snuck some pictures of him and decided to move on.
We walked to a nearby bar and had some beers. Ate a crepe filled with nutella. It was amazing. I had never heard of nutella before this trip, but our friends from Canada said its everywhere there. Their hotel was near ours so we walked back to the hotel with them, said sayonara, and then Richard and I crashed.
It was fun being in a normal Italian town. Richard said Bologna is like the Italian Lincoln, Nebraska and I think he is right. Tomorrow will be the complete opposite when we head into Venice. We changed our plans and will only be there a day and a half, before moving onto Milan just to get closer to Switzerland. I hope to find a place to upload some photos because I have some great ones of historical landmarks, Tuscan countrysides, beautiful coastlines, and a drunk guy in a mask swaying to The Police.
Have fun,
Matt
Advertisement
Tot: 0.055s; Tpl: 0.014s; cc: 7; qc: 44; dbt: 0.0253s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Gram
non-member comment
Nutella
I will get you some nutella...they sell it here and usually have it on buffets in Europe..a kid that was here from Germany visiting some of our friends (he was a relative of some sort) won't eat anything else...keep on having fun...love you , Gram