Italy 38 - a trip to Bologna that wasnt a trip at all

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Bologna and the visit that wasn’t . We had planned to stay at the Municipal camping ground just outside the city and use the public transport system to get in to see the sights. That was the plan anyway.

But as you know with motorhoming the best of plans do not always work. The campground was large and set in an industrial belt of the city. It reminded me of Campaniles, the Ibis and even the Premier Inns back home which seem to be built in the roughest industrial areas the builders could find, Usually a long way from civilisation. . A circus was parked up nearby. Eventually we found the site and were almost beaten to reception by a bus full of young lady modern dancers from some troupe or other. The friendly receptionist took our passports and told us to park up anywhere apart from one end of the campground which was wet and muddy. It again looked as if Italy had suffered from bad weather conditions over the last few weeks . We even saw signs of burning along the way as if the grass was so dry it had burned taking with it trees and bushes. Odd that on one hand they mentioned rain and floods and on the other we saw evidence of fires.

We found a hard standing spot and tried Kathrein. Sadly she didn’t work so we moved to another plot and hoped that as we were not under trees we would pick up a signal. Sadly though again this time she failed so we guessed we were too far south for her work. After connecting up to the electric, switching the gas on and settling in we were joined across the way by our neighbours Mr Underpants man as he became known as later. He and his wife/partner took their bikes and rode off but within minutes were back with some one from the camp who ordered us off our plot informing us we were the wrong way round. In England the Caravan Club put pegs to the back to the pitches and the van is parked either front end or back end to the peg. You cannot get it wrong. Here we copied the van next to us and got it wrong. They then spent some while banging on the next door van (which was empty) trying to get the owners to move. Our plot was close to the shower blocks which were clean, tidy and rather large. Being large is a good thing the older you get as you need more room to bend down and dress.

There was a lovely swimming pool which I used. The pools are very welcome when the weather is hot and the water warm. I seemed to be the only person swimming lengths, most people were just sun bathing. We then went into the bar to buy our return tickets for the bus in to Bologna. The cost was reasonable 4 euros and 80 cents return and the bus left the campsite every two hours giving you plenty of time to sightsee. If you missed the campsite bus there was another one leaving from half a mile away so no excuses to see the city.

When I returned from swimming Mr Underpants man had returned from his shower. He sat outside his Italian motorhome in his Y-fronts and nothing else . Not a pretty sight I can tell you. I think he was trying to impress but sadly failed.

Our evening was not good, there was a bar on site which was both noisy and busy. Perhaps we need to make sure the sites we use do not have bars. There was a restaurant which again was noisy and we found we were unable to sleep for the noise of people talking all the time. Not a good night and we decided to move without seeing Bologna – well without me seeing it as Glenn had visited many years ago. Ah well perhaps another time. The twin towers of Bologna would have to wait.

One good thing though I finally managed to get one of the disks for parking that you put in the window of a vehicle. We noticed years ago that all Europeans except us use free parking for 1 or 2 hours as long as you display a blue disk in your window showing your time of arrival. These are provided in hire cars but of course in the van we don’t have one. I had found one on Ebay but didn’t bother buying it and decided to find a disc de stationment in France as I knew they sold them for a couple of euros in petrol stations. Didnt find one though and had to wait until we got to a garage in Italy where I spotted them on the shelf. I still don’t know if I should have paid but they laughed at me, said English and gave it me. Result .

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