Bologna.. the Fat

After much debate and anticipation about whether or not I was going to get to see my cousin's, Jennifer and Dustin, it was decided that it was just not feasible. We both had conflicting time constraints so it wouldn't work. I was bummed because its always cool to be able to see people you know on a different continent... especially family. BUT......

I had a back up plan... you see we had three days off during this time, so I was dead set on going somewhere besides Asolo. Gen and I loaded up and set off to Bologna.

Bologna is known for a few things, but the one thing we were most interested in was the FOOD! The city is nicknamed Bologna the fat. It is the home to tortellini and other delicious foods.

When we got there we walked around the center for a bit... it is also supposed to be one of the most beautiful cities in Italy, but I would have to disagree. The church with the meridian line was neat and the Neptune fountain was interesting, but as for second most beautiful?... Maybe it deserves another visit.

The first night we were planning on a nice meal, too bad there was some sort of trade fair in town and every place we tried was booked. We basically got laughed at! Maybe it was because we had met up with some other CIMBA people so we were looking for a table of 7.... I don't know. We ended up at some awful pizzeria.

Anyway, so the first night wasn't so great.... BUT let me tell you about the second day. Gen and I were up early so we laid around a bit. We then went shopping where I got some new summer undershirts... mine are gross after months of use - TMI, I know! We then caught a taxi to the restaurant that a faculty member had suggested... it was closed the night before because we actually tried to book that one in advance.

Trattoria della Melancello. It was amazing! We got tortellini and gramigna (sp?) pasta... They elt us order two then split. They also did not have menus. We then had a second course of stuffed zucchini and meatballs. OMG, everything was delicious. Just that meal made up for the night before.

We then decided to find the university since its the oldest in Italy... maybe one of the oldest in the world? I forget. Little did we know that the university is scattered all over the city! We did find our way to the center building. As we were walking there, we found an Irish pub and this is St. Patty's day. So we ended up stopping on the way to leave for one beer.... well after meeting an Italian who was into Gen, speaking broken Italian for 4 hours, eating another pizza only this one was better.... we caught the last train home, barely. Good times!

Roadtrip!

What to do with a few days off and a friend's cousin in the counrty?.... Rent a car and go see her!! Gen's cousin was in Turino at an international fencing tournament.. she is the #1 fencer in Canada.. so we decided to go visit her. Mind you, this is a four hour drive and we don't have a car. Plus, we had already decided that a train just would not do.

So we rent a car under the assumption that I would drive, since I know how to drive a manual, although I hadn't done so in years...

Getting to Turino was crazy! I drove the entire time... only had a few mishaps. No wrecks... did have a leaky gas tank that we didn't know about until the drive home. The mechanics freaked us out but then I called Stefano and had him talk to them... everything worked out. We stopped off at Lake Como on the way to Turino - George Clooney has a house there. Its really pretty, but I can guarantee it'll be better in a few months. It was SO cold.

Turino is like a large colony of Sicilians, they are the forward Italians you hear about. I have never been whistled out/ talked to in a way that I'm sure they were (thank goodness I couldn't understand a lot if it) We took cabs at night bc it was so bad.

On the way back we hit massive traffic on the outskirts of Milan. What normally is a 4 hour drive took us 9 but we did eat in a town, Brescia. We found some enoteca (which is a wine bar) and they made us some food, they didn't even have a menu. It was the best pasta I've had. Artichokes and fish, but it all blended so well. YUMMY!

That's all for now folks! Love you guys!!