Best Western City Hotel Bologna

... there is a line up at the door. This culture is so different, and takes some getting used to I think.

Wednesday I woke up able to breathe a little better, and I had made some friends at Breakfast. Tessa, Raachel and Lissie who had all met in Florence doing a teaching course. We all sharted sharing out stories and decided to walk around together, it was nice to have company again. We chatted about Twilight ...

... power of the ruthless Este dynasty who built the fortress to protect themselves from their own citizens.

Ferrara's Cathedral, built in 1135, is a gem of Romanic and Gothic architecture featuring a 3 tier facade with boney arches.

The Church of Sant'Antonio in Polesine contains beautiful frescoes from the 13th and 14th centuries.

The Palazzo del Diamanty (palace of Diamonds) was close to the castle and we leaned on it and check it off our list.

Short train ride from Florence after a hair raising trip trying to return the rental car in confusing, congested and traffic restrictied Florence (don't rent a car downtown go to the airport). Bologna is an university town (even Johns Hopkin has a campus). Very historical town with a great plaza area like most towns and a great antique market.

After flying from Lisbon to Madrid airport, spending a sleepless night there, and an early morning flight to Bologna we were pretty tired when we finally arrived! We had booked into a cheap hotel, but got an email just before we left Lisbon saying that they had overbooked and we had been moved to a 4 star hotel for the same price – WOOHOO! We had the address but had no idea where it was, so we asked at the tourist info desk and jumped on the shuttle to the city ...

... few minutes later. I was comfortable on the ride over, but then outside the stand the biting wind kicked up and nearly froze in my two long sleeve shirts. I had promised to cook for Chiba and Christine after the junior team game on Sunday so I hit the local grocery store on the way home. My menu: Breakfast Burritos with bacon (Speck), peppers, potatoes, salsa, and mozzarella (there are no yellow/ cheddar cheeses out here, so I think mozzarella while not ideal ...

Hello!! greetings to everyone from Europe. For those of you unsure as to what this is, it is Antony Maanum and Allison Pinks 3 month European travel blog. It is day eight of our trip and we are just now sending out our 1st entry. Needless to say things have been a bit crazy the first week. As you can see this blog is without pictures. I will let you know that there will be pictures in the future. To spare you an incredibly long read, I will go over the highlights ...

... Wow, flexibility in time tables! I have been told that when going from Italy to Switzerland it is common to wait for an hour at the border. This isn't for customs or legal reasons, it's because the Swiss don't want their timetables disrupted by the Italians tardiness. So this gives the Italian trains an hour buffer zone. Another huge difference I have noticed between Switzerland and Italy is cleanliness. Switzerland is obsessively clean. Sure ...

... heavy rain cutting our visibility. I was definitely fortunate enough that Hoges had asked for directions at a service station near Brescia (not something my pride normally allows), as that made spotting the turns we needed to make so much easier. Once in Iseo we met Hoges’ mate Gerry who was renting an apartment here for a couple of months, using it as a base for his family on an extended holiday, and who was toiling away to cook up a great feed for all of us.

June 10, 2002

Back on the bus! This time to Italy!! We went to Pisa (and had pizza for lunch!) We saw the tower, of course, and the church. Got to shop in the souvenir shops and sit for awhile in the sun. Very peaceful day. I can tell I'm getting tired, because the travel journal entries are shorter and shorter!




We were in ...

... by the palaces on every street. We took a night train to Bologna, arriving this morning at 5:40. Our hostel is so far from the centre that we would be prisoners in the event of a transit strike. I bring this up because we read in the paper that as of tomorrow, a series of transit strikes will take place in the next week, including the buses (we think). So all that weight we've gained ...