BolognaOn our way up to Bologna we accidently found our way onto the famed Futa Pass so that worked out well and made up for the “crazy pregnant dog” (more on her later) unnecessarily directing us back into the thick of Florentine traffic. She has another brain snap later on which takes us down some roads we really didn’t need to experience.
Along the pass we climb to almost a thousand metres, the road is nice and twisty, wide enough most of the time and well cambered. We encounter some heavy vehicle traffic especially early on but the biggest concern is the local propensity to use all of the road – it certainly keeps you alert. Photo opportunities were few and far between on the Pass and unfortunately with Jukie having a great time at the controls any opportunity that arose quickly disappeared as we tore past.
We had previously spent a week in Bologna ... but the Boss saw little more than one room and I really only covered the few hundred metres between the hotel and hospital. I had read and heard that Bologna is a lovely place (and less touristy) ... but in reality found it much the same as many other places we visited.
Possibly counting against us was our location which was in the University district – quite close to the centre of town ... but it always seemed a bit seedy walking through there. Around the towers is busy, congested and quite grotty but the true centre of town was a bit more pleasant. The biggest problem with Bologna is the apparent scarcity of gelato ... it proved rather difficult to find gelato and even harder to find a decent one ... so I have to wonder: what sort of a place is this? I thought somebody was playing a cruel joke on me until I found a nice place tucked away not too far from the hotel.
As you all know Bologna was affected by two earthquakes which sadly resulted in the loss of lives – one struck before we left and there was another before we arrived. From what we saw and the people that we spoke to there was very little impact on Bologna itself, but some of the outlying towns were severely impacted.
We took the chance to head back to the Hospital where the Boss caught up with a couple of the nurses and we managed to track down her doctor who is now Director of the Trauma Department. Being the big man didn’t stop him from getting told off though when his conversation with an excitable woman from Australia became a little too exuberant – apparently the nurses aren’t as much fun in his new area.
Finally we are able to climb the Torre Asinelli which was closed for our first couple of days as it seems to be undergoing some sort of restoration work which perhaps takes place during the week and they open it up on the weekend. It looks as though this work would pre-date the earthquakes but it may change the way they do things.
Other places around town that we visited included: Abbazia di Santo Stefano, San Domenico, Piazza Cavour, San Petronio, and various public buildings around the main squares and Neptune’s Fountain.
The view from our hotel ... God's country?:
The twin towers:
Porticoes:
Porticoes, everywhere:
For the ladies ... Neptune:
For the blokes ... Neptune's women:
Churches is purdy:
A very hazy Bologna from the top of the tower:
A bit of girl-on-girl action for the voyeurs:
